(ob
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A:^rTE-NICENE
CHRISTIAN LIBRAE Y;
TRANSLATIONS OF
THE WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS
DOWN TO A.D. 325.
EDITED BY THE
EEV. ALEXANDER EGBERTS, D.D.,
JA:\[ES DONALDSON, LL.D.
VOL. XIII.
THE WEITINGS OF CYPRIAN, ETC
A'OL. 11.
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK,. 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXIX.
MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.
THE
WRITINGS OF CYPRIAN,
BISHOP OF CAETHAGE.
VOL. II.
CONTAINING THE REMAINDER OF THE TREATISES.
TOOETHEK WITH
THE WRITINGS OF NOVATIM, MINUCIUS FELIX,
TRANSLATED BY
REV. EOBEET ERNEST WALLIS, Ph.D.
SENIOli PRIEST VICAR OF WELLS CATHEDRAL, AXD INCUMBENT OF
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LONDOX: HxVMILTO]^, ADxUIS, & CO. DUBLIN: J. ROBERTSON & CO.
MDCCCLXIX.
CONTENTS.
The Treatises of Cr-pRixy:— continued.
8. On Works and Alms, ....
9. On the Advantage of Patience,
10. On Jealousy and Envy,
11. Exhortation to Martyrdom, addressed to Fortunatus.
12. Three Books of Testimonies agamst the Jews, .
1
21
39
52
78
The Seyexth Council of Carthage under Cyprian—
Concerning the Baptism of Heretics,
199
Treatises attributed to Cyprian on Questionable Authority—
On the Public Shows, .....
On the Glory of Martyrdom, ....
Of the Discipline and Advantage of Chastity,
Exhortation to Repentance, ....
221
231
253
261
The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas,
27G
The Writings of Novatian-
Concerniug the Trinity,
On the Jewish Meats,
297
382
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
Acts and Records of the Famous Controversy about the
Baptis:m of Heretics —
A Roman Council celebrated under St. Stephen, . . 397
Carthaginian Councils, ..... 397
A Fragment of a Letter of Dionysius of Alexandria to Pope
Stephen, ....... 399
A Treatise on Re-baptism, ..... 401
a tr.eatise against the heretic novatian, . . . 429
The Works of Minucius Felix—
The Octavius of Minucius Felix, .... 451
THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
TREATISE VIIL
ON WORKS AND ALMS.
ANY and great, beloved brethren, are tlie divine
benefits wherewith the large and abundant
mercy of God the Father and Christ both has
laboured and is always labouring for our sal-
vation : that the Father sent the Son to preserve us and give
us life, in order that He might restore us ; and that the Son
was willing^ to be sent and to become the Son of man, that
He might make us sons of God ; humbled Himself, that He
might raise up the people who before were prostrate ; was
wounded that He might heal our wounds ; served, that He
might draw out to liberty those who were in bondage ; under-
went death, that He might set forth immortality to mortals.
These are many and gi'eat boons of divine compassion. But,
moreover, what is that providence, and how great the cle-
mency, that by a plan of salvation it is provided for us, that
more abundant care should be taken for preserving man after
he is already redeemed ! For when the Lord at His advent
had cured those wounds which Adam had borne," and had
healed the old poisons of the serpent,^ He gave a law to the
sound man, and bade him sin no more, lest a worse thing
^ A slight and scarcely noticeable difference occurs here in the Oxford
text, which reads the passage, " that the Son was sent, and willed to be
called the Son of man."
2 Portaverat ; " had brought" (Oxf. transl.)-
^ " Poisons of the old serpent."
CYP. — VOL. II. A
2 THE TREATISES OF CTPBIAN.
should befall the sinner. We had been limited and shut up
into a narrow space by the commandment of innocence. Nor
would the infirmity and weakness of human frailty have any
resource, unless the divine mercy, coming once more in aid,
should open some way of securing salvation by pointing out
works of justice and mercy, so that by almsgiving we may
wash away whatever foulness we subsequently contract.
2. The Holy Spirit speaks in the sacred Scriptures, and
says, " By almsgiving and faith sins are purged." ^ Not
assuredly those sins which had been previously contracted,
for those are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ.
Moreover, He says again, " As water extinguisheth fire, so
almsgiving quencheth sin."^ Here also it is shown and
proved, that as in the laver of saving water the fire of Gehenna
is extinguished, so by almsgiving and works of righteousness
the flame of sins is subdued. And because in baptism re-
mission of sins is granted once for all, constant and ceaseless
labour, following the likeness of baptism, once again bestows
the mercy of God. The Lord teaches this also in the
Gospel. For when the disciples were pointed out, as eating
and not first washing their hands. He replied and said, " He
that made that which is within, made also that which is
without. But give alms, and behold all things are clean
unto you ;"^ teaching hereby and showing, that not the hands
are to be washed, but the heart, and that the foulness from
inside is to be done away rather than that from outside ; but
that he who shall have cleansed what is within has cleansed
also that which is without ; and that if the mind is cleansed,
a man has begun to be clean also in skin and body. Further,
admonishing, and showing whence w^e may be clean and
purged. He added that alms must be given. He who is
pitiful teaches and warns us that pity must be shown ; and
because He seeks to save those whom at a great cost He has
redeemed. He teaches that those who, after the grace of
baptism, have become foul, may once more be cleansed.
3. Let us then acknowledge, beloved brethren, the whole-
some gift of the divine mercy ; and let us, who cannot be
1 Prov. xvi. 6. - Ecclus. iii. 30. ^ jjoke xi. 41.
ON WORKS AND ALMS. 3
without some wound of conscience, heal our wounds by the
spiritual remedies for the cleansing and purging of our sins.
Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure
and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own inno-
cence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to
his wounds ; since it is written, " Who shall boast that he
hath a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from
sins?"^ And again, in his epistle, John lays it down, and
saj^s, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us." ^ But if no one can be without
sin, and whoever should say that he is without fault is either
proud or foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine mercy,
which, knowing that there are still found some wounds in
those that have been healed, even after their healing, has
given wholesome remedies for the curing and healing of their
wounds anew !
4. Finally, beloved brethren, the divine admonition in
the Scriptures, as well old as new, has never failed, has
never been silent in urging God's people always and every-
where to works of mercy ; and in the strain and exhorta-
tion of the Holy Spirit, every one who is instructed into tlie
hope of the heavenly kingdom is commanded to give alms.
God commands and prescribes to Isaiah : " Cry," says lie,
"with strength, and spare not. Lift up thy voice as a
trumpet, and declare to my people their transgressions, and
to the house of Jacob their sins." ^ And when He had com-
manded their sins to be charged upon them, and with the
full force of His indignation had set forth their iniquities,
and had said, that not even though they should use suppli-
cations, and prayers, and fastings, should they be able to
make atonement for their sins ; nor, if they were clothed in
sackcloth and ashes, be able to soften God's anger, yet in the
last part showing that God can be appeased by almsgiving
alone, he added, saying, " Break thy bread to the hungry,
^ Prov. XX. 9.
^ 1 Joliri i. 8, 9. Oxford editors add : *' If we confess our sins, the
Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."
^ Isa. Iviii. 1.
4 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
and bring the poor that are without a home into thy house.
If thou seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not the house-
hold of thine own seed. Then shall thy light break forth in
season, and thy garments shall arise speedily ; and righteous-
ness shall go before thee, and the glory of God shall surround
thee. Then shalt thou cry, and God shall hear thee ; whilst
yet thou art speaking, He shall say. Here I am." ^
5. The remedies for propitiating God are given in the
words of God Himself ; the divine instructions have taught
what sinners ought to do, that by works of righteousness God
is satisfied, that with the deserts of mercy sins are cleansed.
And in Solomon we read, "Shut up alms in the heart of
the poor, and these shall intercede for thee from all evil." ^
And again : " Whoso stoppeth his ears that he may not hear
the weak, he also shall call upon God, and there will be
none to hear him."^ For he shall not be able to desen^e the
mercy of the Lord, who himself shall not have been merciful ;
nor shall he obtain aught from the divine pity in his prayers,
wdio shall not have been humane towards the poor man's
prayer. And this also the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms,
and proves, saying, " Blessed is he that considereth of the
poor and needy ; the Lord will deliver him in the evil day." *
Kemembering which precepts, Daniel, when king Nebuchodo-
nosor was in anxiety, being frightened by an adverse dream,
gave him, for the turning away of evils, a remedy to obtain
the divine help, saying, " Wherefore, O king, let my counsel
be acceptable to thee ; and redeem thy sins by almsgivings,
and thine unrighteousnesses by mercies to the poor, and God
will be patient ^ to thy sins." ^ And as the king did not obey
him, he underwent the misfortunes and mischiefs which he
had seen, and which he might have escaped and avoided had
he redeemed his sins by almsgiving. Kaphael, also, the angel
witnesses the like, and exhorts that alms should be freely and
1 Isa. Iviii. 1-9. ^ Ecclus. xxix. 12.
3 Prov. xxi. 13. * Ps. xli. 1.
« Some editors read " parcens " instead of " patiens," making the
meaning " sparing to thy sins."
6 Dan. iv. 27.
ON WORKS AND ALMS. 5
liberally bestowed, saying, " Prayer is good, witli fasting and
alms ; because alms doth deliver from death, and it purgeth
away sins."^ He shows that our prayers and fastings are of
less avail, unless they are aided by almsgiving ; that entrea-
ties alone arc of little force to obtain what they seek, unless
they be made sufficient ^ by the addition of deeds and good
works. The angel reveals, and manifests, and certifies that
our petitions become efficacious by almsgiving, that life is
redeemed from dangers by almsgiving, that souls are deli-
vered from death by almsgiving.
6. Neither, beloved brethren, are we so bringing forward
these things, as that we should not prove what Kaphael the
angel said, by the testimony of the truth. In the Acts of the
Apostles the faith of the fact is established ; and that souls
are delivered by almsgiving not only from the second, but
from the first death, is discovered by the evidence of a matter
accomplished and completed. When Tabitha, being greatly
given to good works and to bestowing alms, fell sick and
died, Peter was summoned to her lifeless body ; and when
he, with apostolic humanity, had come in haste, there stood
around him widows weeping and entreating, showing the
cloaks, and coats, and all the garments which they had pre-
viously received, and praying for the deceased not by their
words, but by her own deeds. Peter felt that what was
asked in such a way might be obtained, and that Christ's aid
would not be wanting to the petitioners, since He Himself
was clothed in the clothing of the widows. When, therefore,
falling on his knees, he had prayed, and — fit advocate for
the widows and poor — had brought to the Lord the prayers
entrusted to him, turning to the body, which was now lying
washed on the bier,^ he said, " Tabitha, in the name of Jesus
Christ, arise ! "'^ Nor did He fail to bring aid to Peter, who
had said in the Gospel, that whatever should be asked in His
name should be given. Therefore death is suspended, and
1 Tob. xii. 8, 9.
2 Some have read for "satientur," " farciantur," and others " socicn-
tur," "be filled up," or " be associated."
^ Other translators read, " in the upper chamber." * Acts ix. 40.
6 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
the spirit is restored, and, to the marvel and astonisliinent of
all, the revived body is quickened into this worldly light once
more ; so effectual were the merits of mercy, so much did
righteous works avail ! She who had conferred upon suffering
widows the help needful to live, deserved to be recalled to
life by the widows' petition.
7. Therefore in the Gospel, the Lord, the Teacher of our
life and Master of eternal salvation, quickening the assembly
of believers, and providing for them for ever when quickened,
among His divine commands and precepts of heaven, com-
mands and prescribes nothing more frequently than that we
should devote ourselves to almsgiving, and not depend on
earthly possessions, but rather lay up heavenly treasui'es.
" Sell," says He, " your goods, and give alms." ^ And again :
" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where
moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and
steal. But lay up for 3- ourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there
vnll thy heart be also." ^ And when He wished to set forth
a nian perfect and complete by the observation of the law,^
He said, " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ;
and come and follow me." * Moreover, in another place He
•says that a merchant of the heavenly grace, and a gainer of
eternal salvation, ought to purchase the precious pearl — that
is, eternal life — at the price of the blood of Christ, from the
amount of his patrimony, parting with all his wealth for it.
He says : " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-
man seeking goodly pearls. And when he found a precious
pearl, he went away and sold all that he had, and bought
it." '
8. In fine. He calls those the children of Abraham whom
He sees to be laborious in aiding and nourishing the poor.
1 Luke xii. 33. 2 ^i^^^^ ^i 19-21.
2 " When He would show to one who had observed the law how to
become perfect and finished" (Oxf. transl.).
4 Matt. xix. 21. 5 ]^£.^tt. xiii. 45, 46.
ox WORKS AND ALMS. 7
For when Zaccliseus said, " Behold, the half of my goods I
give to the poor; and if I have done any ^y^ong to any man,
I restore fourfold," Jesus answered and said, " That salva-
tion has this day come to this house, for that he also is a son
of Abraham." ^ For if Abraham believed in God, and it was
counted unto him for righteousness, certainly he who gives
alms according to God's precept believes in God, and he who
has the truth of faith maintains the fear of God ; moreover,
he who maintains the fear of God considers God in showing
mercy to the poor. For he labours thus because he believes
— because he knows that what is foretold by God's word is
true, and that the holy Scripture cannot lie — that unfruitful
trees, that is, unproductive men, are cut off and cast into
the fire, but that the merciful are called into the kin^rdom.
He also, in another place, calls laborious and fruitful men
faithful ; but He denies faith to unfruitful and barren ones,
saying, "If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous
mammon, who wdll commit to you that which is true ? And.
if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's,
wdio shall give you that which is your own? " ^
9. If you dread and fear, lest, if you begin to act thus abun-
dantly, your patrimony being exhausted with your liberal deal-
ing, you may perchance be reduced to poverty ; be of good
courage in this respect, be free from care : that cannot be ex-
hausted whence the service of Christ is supphed, whence the
heavenly work is celebrated. Neither do I vouch for this on
my own authority ; but I promise it on the faith of tlie holy
Scriptures, and on the authority of the divine promise. The
Holy Spirit speaks by Solomon, and says, " He that giveth
unto the poor shall never lack, but he that tumeth aw^ay his
eye shall be in great poverty ; " ^ showing that the merciful
and those who do good works cannot want, but rather that
the sparing and barren hereafter come to want. Moreover,
the blessed Apostle Paul, full of the grace of the Lord's
inspiration, says : " He that ministereth seed to tlie sower,
shall both minister bread for your food, and shall multiply
your seed sown, and shall increase the growth of the fruits of
1 Luke xix. 8, 9. 2 L^ke xvi. 11, 12. ^ ^^^y^ xxviii. 27.
8 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
your righteousness, that in all things ye may be enriched." ^
And again : " The administration of this service shall not
only supply the wants of the saints, but shall be abundant
also by many thanksgivings unto God;"^ because, while
thanks are directed to God for our almsgivings and labours,
by the prayer of the poor, the wealth of the doer is increased
by the retribution of God. And the Lord in the Gospel,
already considering the hearts of men of this kind, and with
prescient voice denouncing faithless and unbelieving men,
bears witness, and says : " Take no thought, saying, What
shall we eat ? or. What shall we drink ? or. Wherewithal
shall we be clothed ? For for these thinojs the Gentiles seek.
And your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteous-
ness ; and all these things shall be added unto you." ^ He
says that all these things shall be added and given to them
who seek the kingdom and righteousness of God. For the
Lord says, that when the day of judgment shall come, those
who have laboured in His church are admitted to receive the
kingdom.
10. You are afraid lest perchance your estate should fail,
if you begin to act liberally from it ; and you do not know,
miserable man that you are, that while you are fearing lest
your family property should fail you, life itself, and salva-
tion, are failing ; and whilst you are anxious lest any of your
wealth should be diminished, you do not see that you your-
self are being diminished, in that you are a lover of mam-
mon more than of your own soul ; and while you fear, lest
for the sake of yourself, you should lose your patrimony, you
yourself are perishing for the sake of your patrimony. And
therefore the apostle well exclaims, and says : " We brought
nothing into this world, neither indeed can we carry anything
out. Therefore, having food and clothing, let us therewith
be content. For they who will be rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many and hurtful desires, which drown
a man in perdition and in destruction. For covetousness is a
root of all evils, which some desiring, have made shipwreck
1 2 Cor. ix. 10. - 2 Cor. ix. 12. ^ ^jatt. vi. 31-33.
ON WORKS AND ALMS. 9
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows." ^
11. Are you afraid that your patrimony perchance may fall
short, if you should begin to do liberally from it ? Yet when
has it ever happened that resources^ could fail the righteous
man, since it is written, " The Lord will not slay with famine
the righteous soul ? " ^ Elias in the desert is fed by the
ministry of ravens ; and a meal from heaven is made ready
for Daniel in the den, when shut up by the king's command
for a prey to the lions ; and you are afraid that food should
be wanting to you, labouring and deserving well of the Lord,
although He Himself in the Gospel bears witness, for the re-
buke of those whose mind is doubtful and faith small, and
says : " Behold the fowls of heaven, that they sow not, nor
reap, nor gather into barns ; and your heavenly Father f eedeth
them : are you not of more value than they ? " * God feeds
the fowls, and daily food is afforded to the sparrows ; and to
creatures which have no sense of things divine there is no
want of drink or food. Thinkest thou that to a Christian —
thinkest thou that to a servant of the Lord — thinkest thou
that to one given up to good works — thinkest thou that to
one that is dear to his Lord, anything will be wanting ?
12. Unless you imagine that he who feeds Christ is not
himself fed by Christ, or that earthly things will be wanting
to those to whom heavenly and divine things are given.
Whence this unbelieving thought, whence this impious and
sacrilegious consideration ? What does a faithless heart do in
the home of faith ? Why is he who does not altocrether trust
in Christ named and called a Christian ? The name of
Pharisee is more fitting for you. For when in the Gospel the
Lord was discoursing concerning almsgiving, and faithfully
and wholesomely warned us to make to ourselves friends of
our earthly lucre by provident good works, who might after-
wai'ds receive us into eternal dwellings, the Scripture added
after this, and said, '^ But the Pharisees heard all these
things, who were very covetous, and they derided Him."^
^ 1 Tim. vi. 7-10. ^ Some editors read, " the resources of life."
3 Prov. X. 3. 4 Matt. v. 26. ^ Luke xvi. lA,
10 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
Some suchlike we see now in tlie cliurcli, whose closed ears
and darkened hearts admit no light from spiritual and saving
warnings, of whom we need not wonder that they contemn
the servant in his discourses, when we see the Lord Himself
despised by such.
13. Wherefore do you applaud yourself in those vain and
silly conceits, as if you were withheld from good works by
fear and solicitude for the future? Why do you lay out
before you certain shadows and omens of a vain excuse?
Yea, confess what is the truth ; and since you cannot deceive
those who know,^ utter forth the secret and hidden things
of your mind. The gloom of barrenness has besieged 3^our
mind ; and while the light of truth has departed thence, the
deep and profound darkness of avarice has blinded your
carnal heart. You are the captive and slave of your money ;
you are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness ;
and you whom Christ had once loosed, are once more in
chains. You keep your money, which, when kept, does not
keep you. You heap up a patrimony which burdens you"
with its weight ; and you do not remember vrhat God an-
swered to the rich man, who boasted with a foolish exultation
of the abundance of his exuberant harvest : " Thou fool,"
said He, " this night thy soul is required of thee ; then whose
shall those things be which thou hast provided ? " ^ Why do
you watch in loneliness over your riches ? why for your
punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony,
that, in proportion as you are rich in this world, you may
become poor to God ? Divide your returns with the Lord
your God ; share your gains with Christ ; make Christ a
partner with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may
make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.
14. You are mistaken, and are deceived, whosoever you
are, that think yourself rich in this world. Listen to the
voice of your Lord in the Apocalypse, rebuking men of your
^ " Him who knows it," Oxford translation.
2 According to Manutius, Pamelius, and others, " too heavily" is here
added.
3 Luke xii. 20.
ON WORKS AND ALMS. 11
stcamp with rigliteoiis reproaches : " Thou sayest," says He,
^' I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing ; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and bhnd, and naked. I counsel thee
to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich ;
and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that
the shame of thy nakedness may not appear in thee ; and
anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see."^
You therefore, who are rich and wealthy, buy for yourself of
Christ gold tried by fire ; that you may be pure gold, with
your filth burnt out as if by fire, if you are purged by alms-
giving and righteous w^orks. Buy for yourself white raiment,
that you who had been naked according to Adam, and were
before frightful and unseemly, may be clothed with the white
garment of Christ. And you wdio are a wealthy and rich
matron in Christ's church,^ anoint your eyes, not with the
collyrium of the devil, but with Christ's eye-salve, that you
may be able to attain to see God, by deserving well of God,
both by good works and character.
15. But you who are such as this, cannot labour in the
church. For your eyes, overcast with the gloom of black-
ness, and shadowed in night, do not see the needy and poor.
You are wealthy and rich, and do you think that you celebrate
the Lord's Supper, not at all considering the offering,^ who
come to the Lord's Supper without a sacrifice, and yet take
part of the sacrifice which the poor man has offered ? Con-
sider in the Gospel the widow that remembered the heavenly
precepts, doing good even amidst the difficulties and straits
of poverty, casting two mites, which were all that she had,
into the treasury ; whom when the Lord observed and saw,
regarding her work not for its abundance, but for its inten-
tion, and considering not how much, but from how much,
she had given, He answered and said, " Verily I say unto
you, that that widow hath cast in more than they all into the
offerings of God. For all these have, of that wdiich they had
1 Rev. iii. 17, 18.
2 These words, " in Christ's church," are omitted in a few texts.
» " Corban." '
12 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
in abundance, cast in unto the offerings of God ; but she of
her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." ^ Greatly
blessed and glorious woman, who even before the day of
judgment hast merited to be praised by the voice of the
Judo-e! Let the rich be ashamed of their barrenness and
unbehef. The widow, the widow needy in means,^ is found
rich in works. And although everything that is given is
conferred upon widows and orphans, she gives, whom it be-
hoved to receive, that we may know thence what pimishment
awaits the barren rich man, when by this very instance even
the poor ought to labour in good works. And in order that
we may understand that their labours are given to God,
and that whoever performs them deserves well of the Lord,
Christ calls this " the offerings of God,'' and intimates that
the widow has cast in two farthings into the offerings of God,
that it may be more abundantly evident that he who hath
pity on the poor lendeth to God.
16. But neither let the consideration, dearest brethren,
restrain and recall the Christian from good and righteous
works, that any one should fancy that he could be excused
for the benefit of his children ; since in spiritual expenditure
we ought to think of Christ, who has declared that He re-
ceives them ; and not prefer our fellow-servants, but the Lord,
to our children, since He Himself instructs and warns us,
saying, " He that loveth father or mother more than me is
not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daugliter more
than me is not worthy of me." ^ Also in Deuteronomy, for
the strengthening of faith and the love of God, similar things
are written : " Who say," he saith, *^ unto their father or
mother, I have not known thee ; neither did they acknow-
ledge their children, these have observed Thy words, and
kept Thy covenant." * For if we love God with our whole
heart, we ought not to prefer either our parents or children
to God. And this also John lays down in his epistle, that
1 Luke xxi. 3, 4.
2 This is differently read " a widow, a poor widow is found," etc. ;
or, " a woman widowed and poor."
3 Matt. X. 37. ^ Deut. xxxiii. 9.
ON WORKS AND ALMS, 13
the love of God is not in tliem whom we see unwilling to
labour for the poor. "• Whoso," says he, " hath tliis world's
goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his
bowels from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? " ^
For if by almsgiving to the poor we are lending to God —
and when it is given to the least it is given to Christ — there
is no ground for any one preferring earthly things to heavenly,
nor for considering human things before divine.
17. Thus that widow in the third book of Kings, when
in the drought and famine, having consumed everything, she
had made of the little meal and oil which was left, a cake
upon the ashes, and having used this, was about to die with
her children, Elias came and asked that something should
first be given him to eat, and then of what remained that
she and her children should eat. Nor did she hesitate to
obey ; nor did the mother prefer her children to Elias in her
hunger and poverty. Yea, there is done in God's sight a
thing that pleases God : promptly and liberally is presented
what is asked for. Neither is it a portion out of abundance,
but the whole out of a little, that is given, and another is fed
before her hungry children ; nor in penury and want is food
thought of before mercy ; so that while in a saving work the
life according to the flesh is contemned, the soul according
to the spirit is preserved. Therefore Elias, being the type
of Christ, and showing that according to His mercy He re-
turns to each their reward, answered and said : '' Thus saith
the Lord, The vessel of meal shall not fail, and the cruse of
oil shall not be diminished, until the day that the Lord giveth
rain upon the earth." ^ According to her faith in the divine
promise, those things which she gave were multiplied and
heaped up to the widow ; and her righteous works and deserts
of mercy taking augmentations and increase, the vessels of
meal and oil were filled. Nor did the mother take away from
her children what she gave to Elias, but rather she conferred
upon her children what she did kindly and piously. And
she did not as yet know Christ ; she had not yet licard His
precepts ; she did not, as redeemed by His cross and passion,
^ 1 John ill. 17. - 1 Kings xvii. 14.
14 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
repay meat and drink for His blood. So that from this it may
appear how much he sins in the church, who, preferring him-
self and his children to Christ, preserves his wealth, and does
not share an abmidant estate with the poverty of the needy.
18. Moreover, also, [you say] there are many children at
home; and the multitude of your children checks you from
giving yourself freely to good works. And yet on this very
account you ought to labour the more, for the reason that you
are the father of many pledges. There are the more for whom
you must beseech the Lord. The sins of many have to be re-
deemed, the consciences of many to be cleansed, the souls of
many to be liberated. As in this worldly life, in the nourish-
ment and bringing up of children, the larger the number the
greater also is the expense; so also in the spiritual and heavenly
life, the larger the number of children you have, the greater
ought to be the outlay of your labours. Thus also Job offered
numerous sacrifices on behalf of his children ; and as large
as was the number of the pledges in his home, so large also
was the number of victims given to God. And since there
cannot daily fail to be sins committed in the sight of God,
there wanted not daily sacrifices wherewith the sins might
be cleansed away. The holy Scripture proves this, saying :
" Job, a true and righteous man, had seven sons and three
daughters, and cleansed them, offering for them victims to
God according to the number of them, and for their sins one
calf." ^ If, then, you truly love your children, if you show
to them the full and paternal sweetness of love, you ought
to be the more charitable, that by your righteous works you
may commend your children to God.
19. Neither should you think that he is father to your chil-
dren who is both changeable and infirm, but you should obtain
Him who is the eternal and unchanging Father of spiritual
children. Assign to Him your wealth which you are saving up
for your heirs. Let Him be the guardian for your children ;
let Him be their trustee ; let Him be their protector, by His
divine majesty, against all worldly injuries. The state neither
takes away the property entrusted to God, nor does the ex-
1 Job i. 5, LXX.
ON WORKS AND ALMS, 15
cliequer intrude on It, nor does any forensic calumny over-
throw it. That inheritance is placed In security which Is kept
under the guardianship of God. This is to provide for one's
dear pledges for the coming time ; this is wltli paternal affec-
tion to take care for one's future heirs, according to the faith
of the holy Scripture, which says : " I have been young,
and now am old ; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed wanting bread. All the day long he is merciful,
and lendeth ; ^ and his seed is blessed." ^ And again : " He
who walketh without reproach in his integrity shall leave
blessed children after him." ^ Therefore you are an unfair
and traitorous father, unless you faithfully consult for your
children, unless you look forward to preserve them in religion
and true piety. You who are careful rather for their earthly
than for their heavenly estate, rather to commend your chil-
dren to the devil than to Christ, are sinning twice, and
allowing a double and twofold crime, both in not providing
for your children the aid of God their Father, and in teach-
ing your children to love their property more than Christ.
20. Be rather such a father to your children as was Tobias.
Give useful and saving precepts to your pledges, such as he
gave to his son ; command your children what he also com-
manded his son, saying : " And nov*^, my son, I command
thee, serve God in truth, and do before Him that which
pleaseth Him ; and command thy sons, that they exercise
righteousness and alms, and be mindful of God, and bless
His name always." * And again : " All the days of thy life,
most dear son, have God in your mind, and be not willing
to transgress His commandments. Do righteousness all the
days of thy life, and be not willing to walk in the way of
iniquity ; because if thou deal truly, there will be respect of
thy works. Give alms of thy substance, and turn not away
thy face from any poor man. So shall it be, that neltlier
shall the face of God be turned away from thee. As thou
hast, my son, so do. If thy substance is abundant, give alms
of it the more. If thou hast little, communicate of that
^ The original is variously read " foenerat " and " commodat."
2 Ps. xxxvii. 25, 26. » Prov. xx. 7. "* Tob. xiv. 10, 11.
16 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
little. And fear not when thou doest alms ; for thou layest
up a good reward for thyself against the day of necessity,
because that alms do deliver from death, and suffereth not
to come into Gehenna. Alms is a good gift to all that give
it, in the sight of the most high God." ^
21. What sort of gift is it, beloved brethren, whose setting
forth is celebrated in the sight of God ? If, in a gift of the
Gentiles, it seems a great and glorious thing to have pro-
consuls or emperors present, and the preparation and display
is the greater among the givers, in order that they may
please the higher classes; how much more illustrious and
greater is the glory to have God and Christ as the spectators
of the gift ! How much more sumptuous the preparation
and more liberal the expense to be set forth in that case,
when the powers of heaven assemble to the spectacle, when
all the angels come together ! — where it is not a four-horsed
chariot or a consulship that is sought for the giver, but life
eternal is bestowed ; nor is the empty and fleeting favour
of the rabble grasped at, but the perpetual reward of the
kingdom of heaven is received !
22. And that the indolent and the barren, and those, who
by their covetousness for money do nothing in respect of the
fruit of their salvation, may be the more ashamed, and that
the blush of dishonour and disgrace may the more strike
upon their sordid conscience, let each one place before his
eyes the devil with his servants, that is, with the people of
perdition and death, springing forth into the midst, and pro-
voking the people of Christ with the trial of comparison —
Christ Himself being present, and judging — in these words :
^'I, for those whom thou seest with me, neither received
buffets, nor bore scourgings, nor endured the cross, nor shed
my blood, nor redeemed my family at the price of my suffer-
ing and blood ; but neither do I promise them a celestial
kingdom, nor do I recall them to paradise, having again re-
stored to them immortality. But they prepare for me gifts
how precious ! how large ! with how excessive and tedious a
labour procured ! and that, with the most sumptuous devices,
1 Tob. iv. 5-11.
ON WORKS AND ALMS. 17
either pledging or selling tlieir means in the procuring of
the gift ! and, unless a competent manifestation followed,
they are cast out with scoffings and hissings, and by the
popular fury sometimes they are almost stoned ! Show, O
Christ, such givers as these of Thine ^ — those rich men, those
men affluent with abounding wealth — whether in the church
wherein Thou presidest and beholdest, they set forth a gift
of that kind, — having pledged or scattered their riches, yea,
having transferred, them, by the change of their possessions
for the better, into heavenly treasures ! In those spectacles
of mine, perishing and earthly as they are, no one is fed, no
one is clothed, no one is sustained by the comfort either of
any meat or drink. All things, between the madness of the
exhibitor and the mistake of the spectator, are perishing in a
prodigal and foolish vanity of deceiving pleasures. There, in
Thy poor. Thou art clothed and fed ; Thou promisest eternal
life to those who labour for Thee ; and scarcely are Thy
people made equal to mine that perish, although they are
honoured by Thee wath divine wages and heavenly rewards.
23. What do w^e reply to these things, dearest brethren ?
With what reason do we defend the minds of rich men,
overwhelmed with a profane barrenness and a kind of night
of gloom? With what excuse do we acquit them, seeing
that we are less than the devil's servants, so as not even
moderately to repay Christ for the price of His passion and
blood ? He has given us precepts ; what His servants ought
to do He has instructed us ; promising a rew^ard to those
that are charitable, and threatening punishment to the un-
fruitful. He has set forth His sentence. He has before
announced what He shall judge. AVhat can be the excuse
for the laggard ? what the defence for the unfruitful ? But
when the servant does not do what is commanded, the Lord
will do wdiat He threatens, seeing that He says : " When
the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the angels
with Him, then shall He sit in the throne of His glory :
and before Him shall be gathered all nations ; and He shall
^ Some editors add here, " warned by Thy precepts, and -who shall
receive heavenly things instead of earthly."
CYP. — VOL. II. * B
18 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
separate tliem one from another, as a slieplierd divideth his
sheep from the goats : and He shall set the sheep on His
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King
say unto them that shall be on His right hand, Come, ye
blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that is prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an
hungered, and ye gave me to eat : I was thirsty, and ye gave
me to drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked,
and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in
prison, and ye came to me. Then shall the righteous answer
Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and
fed Thee ? thirsty, and gave Thee drink ? When saw we
Thee ^a stranger, and took Thee in ? naked, and clothed
Thee ? Or when saw we Thee sick, and in prison, and came
unto Thee ? Then shall the King answer and say unto
them. Verily I say unto you. Insomuch as you did it to one
of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. Then
shall He say also unto those that shall be at His left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which my
Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels. For I
Avas an hungered, and ye gave me not to eat : I was thirsty,
and ye gave me not to di'ink : I was a stranger, and ye took
me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer
Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or
athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and
ministered not unto Thee? And He shall answer them,
Verily I say unto you. In so far as ye did it not to one of
the least of these, ye did it not unto me. And these shall
go away into everlasting burning : but the righteous into life
eternal." ^ What more could Christ declare unto us ? How
more could He stimulate the works of our righteousness and
mercy, than by saying that whatever is given to the needy
and poor is given to Himself, and by saying that He is
aggrieved unless the needy and poor be supplied ? So that
he who in the church is not moved by consideration for his
brother, may yet be moved by contemplation of Christ ; and
1 Matt. XXV. 31-46.
ON WORKS AND ALMS. 19
he who does not think of his fellow-servant in suffering and
in poverty, may yet think of his Lord, who abideth in that
very man whom he is despising.
24. And therefore, dearest brethren, whose fear is inclined
towards God, and who having already despised and trampled
under foot the world, have lifted up your mind to things
heavenly and divine, let us with full faith, with devoted mind,
w^ith continual labour, give our obedience, to deserve well of
the Lord. Let us give to Christ earthly garments, that we
may receive heavenly raiment ; let us give food and drink
of this world, that we may come with Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob to the heavenly banquet. That we may not reap
little, let us sow abundantly. Let us, while there is time,
take thought for our security and eternal salvation, according
to the admonition of the Apostle Paul, who says : " There-
fore, while Ave have time, let us labour in wdiat is good unto
all men, but especially to them that are of the household
of faith. But let us not be weary in well-doing, for in its
season we shall reap." ^
25. Let us consider, beloved brethren, what the cono-recra-
lion of believers did in the time of the apostles, when at the
first beginnings the mind flourished with greater virtues,
when the faith of believers burned w^ith a warmth of faith
as yet new. Then they sold houses and farms, and gladly
and liberally presented to the apostles the proceeds to be
dispensed to the poor ; selling and alienating their earthly
estate, they transferred their lands thither where they might
receive the fruits of an eternal possession, and there prepared
homes where they might begin an eternal habitation. Such,
then, was the abundance in labours, as was the agreement in
love, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles : " And the mul-
titude of them that believed acted with one heart and one
soul ; neither was there any distinction among them, nor did
they esteem anything their own of the goods which belonged
to them, but they had all things common." ^ This is truly
to become sons of God by spiritual birth ; this is to imitate by
the heavenly law the equity of God the Father. For what-
1 Gal. vi. 10, 9. 2 Acts iv. 32.
20 THE TREATISES OF CYPEIAN.
ever is of God is common in our use; nor is an}^ one excluded
from His benefits and His gifts, so as to prevent the whole
human race from enjoying equally the divine goodness and
liberality. Thus the day equally enlightens, the sun gives
radiance, the rain moistens, the wind blows, and the sleep is
one to those that sleep, and the splendour of the stars and of
the moon is common. In which example of equality,^ he
who, as a possessor in the earth, shares his returns and his
fruits with the fraternity, while he is common and just in his
gratuitous bounties, is an imitator of God the Father.
26. What, dearest brethren, will be that glory of those
who labour charitably — how great and high the joy when the
Lord begins to number His people, and distributing to our
merits and good works the promised rewards, to give heavenly
tilings for earthly, eternal things for temporal, great things
for small ; to present us to the Father, to whom He has re-
stored us by His sanctification ; to bestow upon us immor-
tality and eternity, to which He has renewed us by the
quickening of His blood ; to bring us anew to paradise, to
open the kingdom of heaven, in the faith and truth of His
promise ! Let these things abide firmly in our perceptions,
let them be understood with full faith, let them be loved with
our whole heart, let them be purchased by the magnanimity
of our increasing: labours. An illustrious and divine thino\
dearest brethren, is the saving labour of charity ; a great
comfort of believers, a wholesome guard of our security, a
protection of hope, a safeguard of faith, a remedy for sin, a
thing placed in the power of the doer, a thing both great. and
easy, a crown of peace without the risk of persecution ; the
true and greatest gift of God, needful for the weak, glorious
for the strong, assisted by which the Christian accomplishes
spiritual grace, deserves well of Christ the Judge, accounts
God his debtor. For this palm of works of salvation let us
gladly and readily strive ; let us all, in the struggle of right-
eousness, run with God and Christ looking on ; and let us
who have already begun to be greater than this life and the
1 This appears to be the less usual reading, the ordinary one being
♦' equity."
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 21
world, slacken onr course by no desire of this life and of this
world. If the day shall find us, whether it be the day of
reward ^ or of persecution, furnished, if swift, if running in
this contest of charity, the Lord will never fail of giving a
reward for our merits : in peace He will give to us who con-
quer a white crown for our labours ; in persecution, He will
accompany it with a purple one for our passion.
TREATISE IX.
ON TPIE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE.
Aegument. — Ci/prian hbnself hriefly sets forth the occasion
of tills treatise at the conclusion of his Epistle to Juhaianus
as folloios : " Charity of spirit^ the honour of our college,
the bond of faith, and priestly concord, are maintained by
us icith patience and gentleness. For this reason, more-
over, we have, with the best of our poor abilities, by the p)er-
mission and inspiration of the Lord, written a p)amphlet
* On the Benefit of Fatience^ ichich, for the sake of our
mutual love, ice have transmitted to your Having, there-
fore, at the outset distinguished true patience from tlie false
patience of philosophers, he commends Christian j^aiience
by the patience of God, of Clirist, and of all righteous
men. He farther proves, as ivell by Scrip)ture as by rea-
son, and, moreover, by the instances of Job and Tobias,
that not only is patience useful, but that it is needful also ;
and in order that the excellence of p)atience may shine forth
the more by contrast with the vice opposed to it, he sets
forth what is the evil of impatience. Finally, he reproves
the desire of vengeance, and teaches that o^evenge ought,
according to Scripture, to be left to God rather tlian to be
arrogated to ourselves. If in any ivriting Cyprian is an
imitator of Tertullian, assuredly in this he imitates that
writer s treatise " On Patience.^'
1. As I am about to speak, beloved brethren, of patience,
and to declare its advantages and benefits, from what point
^ A more ancient reading seems to be, " of return " (soil. " reditionis").
22 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
should I rather begin than this, that I see that even at this
time, for your audience of me, patience is needful, as you
cannot even discharge this duty of hearing and learning with-
out patience ? For wholesome discourse and reasoning are
then effectually learnt, if what is said be patiently heard.
Nor do I find, beloved brethren, among the rest of the
ways of heavenly discipline wherein the path of our hope
and faith is directed to the attainment of the divine rewards,
anything of more advantage, either as more useful for life
or more helpful to glory, than that we who are labouring in
the precepts of the Lord with the obedience of fear and
devotion, should especially, with our whole watchfulness, be
careful of patience.
2. Philosophers also profess that they pursue this virtue ;
but in their case the patience is as false as their wisdom also
is. For whence can he be either wise or patient, who has
neither known the wisdom nor the patience of God ? since
He Himself warns us, and says of those who seem to them-
selves to be wise in this world, '' I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and I will reprove the understanding of the pru-
dent." ^ Moreover, the blessed Apostle Paul, filled with the
Holy Spirit, and sent forth for the calling and training of the
heathen, bears witness and instructs us, saying, " See that
no man despoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the elements of the w*orld, and not
after Christ, because in Him dwelleth all the fulness of
divinity." ^ And in another place he says : " Let no man
deceive himself ; if any man among you thinketh himself to
be wise, let him become a fool to this world, that he may
become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God. For it is written, I will rebuke the wise in their
own craftiness." And again : " The Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise, that they are foolish." ^ Wherefore if
the wisdom among them be not true, the patience also cannot
be true. For if he is wise* who is lowly and meek — but we
do not see that philosophers are either lowly or meek, but
1 Isa. xxix. 14. 2 Col, ij, g^ iq. ^ i Cor. iii. 18-20.
■* The Oxford edition, and many others, read " patient."
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 23
greatly pleasing themselves, and, for the very reason that
they please themselves, displeasing God — It is evident that
the patience is not real among them where there is the inso-
lent audacity of an affected liberty, and the immodest boast-
fulness of an exposed and half-naked bosom.
3. But for us, beloved brethren, who are philosophers, not
in words, but in deeds, and do not put forward our wisdom
in our garb, but in truth — who are better acquainted with the
consciousness, than with the boast, of virtues — who do not
speak great things, but live them, — let us, as servants and
worshippers of God, show, in our spiritual obedience, the
patience which we learn from heavenly teachings. For we
have this virtue in common with God. From Him patience
begins ; from Him its glory and its dignity take their rise.
The origin and greatness of patience proceed from God as
its author. Man ought to love the thing which is dear to
God ; the good which the Divine Majesty loves. It commends.
If God is our Lord and Father, let us Imitate the patience of
our Lord as well as our Father ; because It behoves servants
to be obedient, no less than it becomes sons not to be dege-
nerate.
4. But what and how great is the patience in God, that,
most patiently enduring the profane temples and the images
of earth, and the sacrilegious rites Instituted by men, in con-
tempt of His majesty and honour. He makes the day to
begin and the light of the sun to arise alike upon the good
and the evil ; and while He waters the earth with showers,
no one is excluded from His benefits, but upon the righteous
equally with the unrighteous He bestows His undiscriminat-
ing rains ! We see that with undistlngulshlng^ equality of
patience, at God's behest, the seasons minister to the guilty
and the guiltless, the religious and the impious — those who
give thanks and the unthankful ; that the elements wait on
them ; the winds blow, the fountains flow, the abundance of
the harvests increases, the fruits of tlie vineyards ripen,- the
^ " Inseparabili."
- The original here is read variously " matnrescerc " and " inites-
cere."
24 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
trees are loaded with apples, the groves put on then* leaves,
the meado^YS their verdure ; and while God is provoked with
frequent, yea, with continual offences. He softens His indig-
nation, and in patience waits for the day of retribution, once
for all determined ; and although He has revenge in His
power. He prefers to keep patience for a long while, bearing,
that is to say, mercifully, and putting off, so that, if it might
be possible, the long protracted mischief may at some time
be changed, and man, involved in the contagion of errors and
crimes, may even though late be converted to God, as He
Himself warns and says, " I do not w^ill the death of him that
dieth, so much as that he may return and live."^ And again,
" Return unto me, saith the Lord."^ And again : " Return
to the Lord your God ; for He is merciful, and gracious, and
patient, and of great pity, and who inclines His judgment
towards the evils inflicted." ^ Which, moreover, the blessed
apostle referring to, and recalling the sinner to repentance,
sets forward, and says : " Or despisest thou the riches of His
goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing
that the patience and goodness of God leadeth thee to re-
pentance ? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart thou
treasurest up unto thyself wrath in the day of wrath and of
revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who shall ren-
der to every one according to his works."* He says that
God's judgment is just, because it is tardy, because it is long
and greatly deferred, so that by the long patience of God
man may be benefited for life eternal. Punishment is then
executed on the impious and the sinner, wdien repentance for
the sin can no longer avail.
5. And that we may more fully understand, beloved
brethren, that patience is a thing of God, and that whoever
is gentle, and patient, and meek, is an imitator of God the
Father; when the Lord in His gospel was giving precepts for
salvation, and bringing forth divine warnings, was instruct-
1 Ezek. xviii. 32.
- Mai. iii. 7. The Oxford edition omits this quotation, and introduces
the next with the words, " And again the prophet."
3 Joel ii. 13. ■* Rom. ii. 4-6.
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 25
ing His disci2:)les to perfection, He laid it down, and said,
*' Ye have heard that it is said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour,
and have thine enemy in hatred. But I say unto you, Love
your enemies, and pray for them which persecute you ; that
ye may be the chikh'en of your Father which is in heaven,
who maketh His sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and
raineth upon the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them
which love you, wdiat reward shall ye have? do not even the
publicans the same ? And if ye shall salute your brethren
only, what do ye more [than others] ? do not even the
heathens the same thing ? Be ye tlierefore perfect, even as
your Father in heaven is perfect." ^ He said that the chil-
dren of God would thus become perfect. He showed that
they were thus completed, and taught that they were restored
by a heavenly birth, if the patience of God our Father dwell
in us — if the divine likeness, which Adam had lost by sin, be
manifested and shine in our actions. What a glory is it to
become like to God ! w^hat and how great a felicity, to possess
among our virtues, that which may be placed on the level of
divine praises !
6. Nor, beloved brethren, did Jesus Christ, our God and
Lord, teach this in words only ; but He fulfilled it also in
deeds. And because He had said that He had come down
for this purpose, that Pie might do the will of Plis Father ;
among the other marvels of His virtues, whereby He showed
forth the marks of a divine majesty, He also maintained the
patience of His Father in the constancy of His endurance.
Finall}', all His actions, even from His very ad^-ent, arc
characterized by patience as their associate ; in that, first
of all, coming down from that heavenly sublimity to earthly
things, the Son of God did not scorn to put on the flesh of
man, and although He Himself was not a sinner, to bear the
sins of others. His immortality being in the meantime laid
aside, Pie suffers Himself to become mortal, so that the
guiltless may be put to death for the salvation of the guilty.
The Lord is baptized by the servant; an»! Pie wlio is about
to bestow remission of sins, does not Himself disdain to wash
1 Matt. V. 43-48.
26 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
His body in the laver of regeneration. For forty days He
fasts, by whom others are feasted. He is hungry, and suffers
famine, that they who had been in hunger of the word and
of grace may be satisfied with heavenly bread. He wrestles
with the devil tempting Him ; and content only to have over-
come the enemy, He strives no further than by words. He
ruled over His disciples not as servants in the power of a
master ; but kind and gentle. He loved them with a brotherly
love. He deigned even to wash the apostles' feet, that since
the Lord is such among His servants. He might teach, by
His example, what a fellow-servant ought to be among his
peers and equals. Nor is it to be wondered at, that among
the obedient^ He showed Himself such, since He could
bear Judas even to the last with a long patience — could take
meat with His enemy — could know the household foe, and
not openly point him out, nor refuse the kiss of the traitor.
Moreover, in bearing with the Jews, how great equanimity
and how great patience, in turning the unbelieving to the
faith by persuasion, in soothing the unthankful by concession,
in answering gently to the contradictors, in bearing the proud
with clemency, in yielding with humility to the persecutors,
in wishing to gather together the slayers of the prophets, and
those who were always rebellious against God, even to the
hour of His cross and passion !
7. And moreover, in His very passion and cross, before
they had reached the cruelty of death and the effusion of
blood, what infamies of reproach were patiently heard, what
mockings of contumely were suffered, so that He received^
the spittings of insulters, who with His spittle had a little
before made eyes for a blind man ; and He in whose name
the devil with his angels is now scourged by His servants,
Himself suffered scourgings ! He was crowned with thorns,
who crowns martyrs with eternal flowers. He was smitten
on the face with palms, who gives the true palms to those who
overcome. He was despoiled of His earthly garment, who
1 Baluzius reads, " compares obaudientes" — His obedient peers. The
MSS. liave " obaudientes" only.
2 Erasmus adds, " with patience."
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 27
clothes others in tlie vesture of immortality. He was fed with
gall, who gave heavenly food. He was given to drink of
vinegar, who appointed the cup of salvation. That guiltless,
that just One, — nay. He who is innocency itself and justice
itself, — is counted among transgressors, and truth is oppressed
with false witnesses. He who shall judge is judged; and
the Word of God is led silently to the slaughter. And when
at the cross of the Lord the stars are confounded, the ele-
ments are disturbed, the earth quakes, night shuts out the
day, the sun, that he may not be compelled to look on the
crime of the Jews, withdraws both his rays and his eyes. He
speaks, not, nor is moved, nor declares lils majesty even in
His very passion itself. Even to the end all things are borne
perseveringly and constantly, in order that in Christ a full
and perfect patience may be consummated.
8. And after all these things. He still receives His mur-
derers, if they will be converted and come to Him ; and
with a saving patience. He who is benignant^ to pre-
serve, closes His church to none. Those adversaries, those
blasphemers, those who were always enemies to His name, if
they repent of their sin, if they acknowledge the crime com-
mitted. He receives, not only to the pardon of their sin, but
to the reward of the heavenly kingdom. What can be said
more patient, what more merciful? Even he is made alive
by Christ's blood who has shed Christ's blood. Such and so
great is the patience of Christ ; and had it not been such and
so great, the church would never have possessed Paul as an
apostle.
9. But if we also, beloved brethren, are in Christ ; if we
put Him on, if He is the way of our salvation, who follow
Christ in the footsteps of salvation, let us walk by the ex-
ample of Christ, as the Apostle John instructs us, saying,
" He who saith he abldeth in Christ, ought himself cilso to
walk even as He walked."^ Peter also, upon whom by the
Lord's condescension the church was founded, lays it down
in his epistle, and says, " Christ suffered for us, leaving you
an example, that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin,
^ Some editors insert " and patient." ^ 1 John ii. G.
28 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
neither was deceit found in His mouth ; who, when He was
reviled, reviled not again ; when He suffered, threatened not,
but gave Himself up to him that judged Him unjustly."^
10. Finally, we find that both patriarchs and prophets,
and all the righteous men who in their preceding Ukeness
wore the figure of Christ, in the praise of their virtues were
watchful over nothing more than that they should preserve
patience with a strong and stedfast equanimity. Thus Abel,
who first initiated and consecrated the origin of martyrdom,
and the passion of the righteous man, makes no resistance nor
strusrsles acralnst his fratricidal^ brother, but with lowliness
and meekness he is patiently slain. Thus Abraham, believing
God, and first of all instituting the root and foundation of
faith, when tried in respect of his son, does not hesitate nor
delay, but obeys the commands of God with all the patience
of devotion. And Isaac, prefigured as the likeness of the
Lord's victim, when he is presented by his father for immo-
lation, is found patient. And Jacob, driven forth by his
brother from his country, departs with patience ; and after-
wards with greater patience, he suppllantly brings him back
to concord with peaceful gifts, when he is even more impious
and persecuting. Joseph, sold by his brethren and sent
away, not only with patience pardons them, but even bounti-
fully and mercifully bestows gratuitous supplies of corn on
them when they come to him. Moses is frequently con-
temned by an ungrateful and faithless people, and almost
stoned ; and yet with gentleness and patience he entreats the
Lord for those people. But in David, from whom, accord-
ing to the flesh, the nativity of Christ springs, how great and
marvellous and Christian is the patience, that he often had it
in his power to be able to kill king Saul, who was persecuting
him and desiring to slay him ; and yet, chose rather to save
him when placed in his hand, and delivered up to him, not
repaying his enemy in turn, but rather, on the contrary, even
avenging him when slain ! In fine, so many prophets were
slain, so many martyrs were honoured with glorious deaths,
1 1 Pet. ii. 21-23, with a singular departure from the received text.
2 According to some, " parricidal."
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 29
who all have attained to the heavenly crowns by the praise of
patience. For the crown of sorrows and sufferings cannot be
received unless patience in sorrow and suffering precede it.
11. But that it may be more manifestly and fully known
how useful and necessary patience is, beloved brethren ; let
the judgment of God be pondered, which even in the begin-
ning of the world and of the human race, Adam, forgetful
of the commandment, and a transgressor of the given law,
received. Then we shall know how patient in this life we
ought to be who are born in such a state, that we labour here
with afflictions and contests. " Because," says He, " thou hast
hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree
of which alone I had charged thee that thou shouldest not eat,
cursed shall be the ground in all thy works : in sorrow and in
groaning shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns
and thistles shall it give forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the
food of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou cat thy
bread, till thou return into the ground from which thou wast
taken : for dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou go." ^ We
are all tied and bound with the chain of this sentence, until,
death being expunged, we depart from this life. In sorrow
and groaning we must of necessity be all the days of our life :
it is necessary that we eat our bread with sweat and labour.
12. Whence every one of us, when he is born and received
in the inn of this world, takes his beginning from tears ;
and, althouo;h still unconscious and io;norant of all thincrs,
he knows nothing else in that very earliest birth except to
weep. By a natural foresight, the untrained soul laments
the anxieties and labours of the mortal life, and even in the
beginning bears witness by its wails and groans to the storms
of the world which it is entering. For the sweat of the brow
and labour is the condition of life so lonop as it lasts. Nor
can there be supplied any consolations to those that sweat
and toil other than patience ; which consolations, while in this
world they are fit and necessary for all men, are especially
so for us who are more shaken by the siege of the devil,
who, daily standing in the battle-field, are wearied with the
1 Gen. iii. 17-19.
30 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
wrestlings of an inveterate and skilful enemy ; for us who,
besides the various and continual battles of temptations, must
also in the contest of persecutions forsake our patrimonies,
undergo imprisonment, bear chains, spend our lives, endure
the sword, the Avild beasts, fires, crucifixions — in fine, all kinds
of torments and penalties, to be endured in the faith and
courage of patience ; as the Lord Himself instructs us, and
says, " These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye
might have peace. But in the world ye shall have tribula-
tion ; yet be confident, for I have overcome the world." ^
And if we who have renounced the devil and the world,
suffer the tribulations and mischiefs of the devil and the
world with more frequency and violence, how much more
ought we to keep patience, wherewith as our helper and ally,
we may bear all mischievous things !
13. It is the wholesome precept of our Lord and Master :
" He that endureth," saith He, " unto the end, the same
shall be saved ;"^ and again, ^^If ye continue," saith He,
" in my word, ye shall be truly my disciples ; and ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." ® We
must endure and persevere, beloved brethren, in order that,
being admitted to the hope of truth and liberty, we may
attain to the truth and liberty itself ; for that very fact that
we are Christians is the substance of faith and hope. But
that hope and faith may attain to their result, there is need
of patience. For we are not following after present glory,
but future, according to what Paul the apostle also warns
us, and says, " We are saved by hope ; but hope that is seen
is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth he hope for ?
But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we by
patience wait for it." * Therefore, waiting and patience are
needful, that we may fulfil that which we have begun to be,
and may receive that which we believe and hope for, accord-
ing to God's own showing.^ Moreover, in another place, the
1 John xvi. 33. 2 j^jatt. x. 22.
3 John viii. 31, 32. 4 ^^^^ ^-^^ 24, 25.
^A common reading here is "giving" instead of "showing," sell.
"prsestante" for " representante."
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 31
same apostle instructs the rigliteous and the doers of good
works, and them who lay up for themselves treasures in heaven
with the increase of the divine usury, that they also should
be patient ; and teaches them, saying, " Therefore, while we
have time, let us labour in that which is good unto all men,
but especially to them who are of the household of faith. But
let us not faint in well-doing, for in its season we shall reap." ^
He admonishes that no man should impatiently faint in
his labour, that none should be either called off or overcome
by temptations and desist in the midst of the praise and in
the way of glory ; and the things that are past perish, while
those which have begun cease to be perfect ; as it is written,
" The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in
whatever day he shall transgress ; " - and again, " Hold that
which thou hast, that another take not thy crown." ^ Which
word exhorts us to persevere with patience and courage, so
that he wdio strives towards the crown with the praise now
near at hand, may be crowned by the continuance of patience.
14. But patience, beloved brethren, not only keeps watch
over what is good, but it also repels what is evil. In harmony
with the Holy Spirit, and associated with what is heavenly
and divine, it struggles with the defence of its strength
against the deeds of the flesh and the body, wherewith the
soul is assaulted and taken. Let us look briefly |^into a
few things out of many, that from a few the rest also may
be understood. Adultery, fraud, manslaughter, are mortal
crimes. Let patience be strong and stedfast in the heart ;
and neither is the sanctified body and temple of God polluted
by adultery, nor is the innocence dedicated to righteousness
stained with the contagion of fraud ; nor, after the Eucharist
carried in it,* is the hand spotted witli the sword and blood.
15. Charity is the bond of brotherhood, the foundation of
peace, the holdfast and security of unity, which is greater
than both hope and faith, which excels both good works and
martyrdoms, which will abide with us always, eternal witli
1 Gal. vi. 10, 9. 2 Ezek. xxxiii. 12. ^ Rgy. iij. n.
* The older editions have "gustatam," "tasted," instead of "gesta-
tam," " carried," as above.
32 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
God in the kingdom of heaven. Take from it patience;
and deprived of it, it does not endure. Take from it the
substance of bearing and of enduring, and it continues
with no roots nor strength. The apostle, finally, when he
would speak of charitj, joined to it endurance and patience.
" Charity," he says, " is large-souled ; charity is kind ; cha-
rity envieth not, is not puffed up, is not provoked, thinketh
not evil ; loveth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all
thine^s, beareth all things." ^ Thence he shows that it can
tenaciously persevere, because it knows how to endure all
things. And in another place : " Forbearing one another,"
he says, "in love, using every effort to keep the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace." ^ He proved that neither
unity nor peace could be kept unless brethren should cherish
one another with mutual toleration, and should keep the
bond of concord by the intervention of patience.
16. What beyond ; — that you should not swear nor curse;
that you should not seek again your goods when taken from
you ; that, when you receive a buffet, you should give your
other cheek to the sniiter ; that you should forgive a brother
who sins against you, not only seven times, but seventy times
seven times,^ but, moreover, all his sins altogether ; that you
should love your enemies ; that you should offer prayer for
your adversaries and persecutors % Can you accomplish these
things unless you maintain * the stedfastness of patience and
endurance ? And this we see done in the case of Stephen,
who, when he was slain by the Jews with violence and ston-
ing, did not ask for vengeance for himself, but for pardon
for his murderers, saying, "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge." ^ It behoved the first martyr of Christ thus to be,
who, forerunning the martyrs that should follow him in a
glorious death, was not only the preacher of the Lord's
passion, but also the imitator of His most patient gentleness.
1 1 Cor. xiii. 4-7. - Eph. iv. 2, 3.
3 Manutius, Pamelius, and others add, " not only seventy times seven
times."
* Or, " them with the stedfastness of patience," etc.
« Acts vii. 60.
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 33
What shall I say of anger, of discord, of strife, which thino-s
ought not to be found in a Christian ? Let there be patience
in the breast, and these things cannot have place there ; or
should they try to enter, they are quickly excluded and de-
part, that a peaceful abode may continue in the heart, where
it delights the God of peace to dwell. Finally, the apostle
warns us, and teaches, saying : " Grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, in whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and anger, and wTath, and clamoui', and
blasphemy, be put away from you." ^ For if the Christian
have departed from rage and carnal contention as if from
the hurricanes of the sea, and have already begun to be
tranquil and meek in the harbour of Christ, he ought to ad-
mit neither anger nor discord within his breast, since he
must neither return evil for evil, nor bear hatred.
17. And moreover, also, for the varied ills of the flesh,
and the frequent and severe torments of the body, wherewith
the human race is daily wearied and harassed, patience is
necessary. For since in that first transgression of the com-
mandment strength of body departed with immortality, and
weakness came on with death — and strenorth cannot be re-
ceived unless when immortality also has been received — it
behoves us, in this bodily frailty and weakness, always to
struggle and to fight. And this struggle and encounter
cannot be sustained but by the strength of patience. But
as we are to be examined and searched out, diverse suffer-
ings are introduced ; and a manifold kind of temptations is
inflicted by the losses of property, by the heats of fevers, by
the torments of wounds, by the loss of those dear to us. Nor
does anything distinguish between the unrighteous and the
righteous more, than that in aflliction the unrighteous man
impatiently complains and blasphemes, while the righteous
is proved by his patience, as it is written : " In pain endure,
and in thy lov/ estate have patience ; for gold and silver are
tried in the fire." ^
18. Thus Job was searched out and proved, and was
raised up to the very highest pinnacle of praise by the virtue
1 Eph. iv. 30, 31. 2 Ecclus. ii. 4, 5.
CYP. — VOL. II. C
/
/
34 ■ THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
of patience. What darts of the devil were sent forth against
him ! what tortures were put in use ! The loss of his estate
is inflicted, the privation of a numerous offspring is ordained
for him. The master, rich in estate, and the father, richer
in children, is on a sudden neither master nor father ! The
wasting of wounds is added ; and, moreover, an eating pest
of worms consumes his festering and wasting limbs. And
that nothing at all should remain that Job did not experi-
ence in his trials, the devil arms his wife also, making use of
that old device of his wickedness, as if he could deceive and
mislead all by woman, even as he did in the beginning of
the world. And yet Job is not broken down by his severe
and repeated conflicts, nor the blessing of God withheld from
being declared in the midst of those difficulties and trials of
his, by the victory of patience. Tobias also, who, after the
sublime works of his justice and mercy, was tried with the
loss of his eyes, in proportion as he patiently endured his
blindness, in that proportion deserved greatly of God by the
praise of patience.
19. And, beloved brethren, that the benefit of patience
may still more shine forth, let us consider, on the contrary,
what mischief impatience may cause. For as patience is the
benefit of Christ, so, on the other hand, impatience is the
mischief of the devil ; and as one in whom Christ dwells
and abides is found patient, so he appears always impatient
whose mind the wickedness of the devil possesses. Briefly
let us look at the very beginnings. The devil suffered with
impatience that man was made in the image of God. Hence
he was the first to perish and to ruin others. Adam, contrary
to the heavenly command with respect to the deadly food, by
impatience fell into death ; nor did he keep the grace received
from God under the guardianship of patience. And in order
that Cain should put his brother to death, he was impatient
of his sacrifice and gift ; and in that Esau descended from
the rights of the first-born to those of the younger, he lost his
priority by impatience for the pottage. Why was the Jewish
people faithless and ungrateful in respect of the divine
benefits ? Was it not the crime of impatience, that they first
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 35
departed from God ? Not being able to bear the delays of
Moses conferring with God, they dared to ask for profane
gods, that they might call the head of an ox and an earthen
image leaders of their march ; nor did they ever desist from
their impatience, until, impatient always of docility and of
divine admonition, they put to death their prophets and all
the righteous men, and plunged even into the crime of the
crucifixion and bloodshedding of the Lord. Moreover, impa-
tience makes heretics in the church, and, after the likeness
of the Jews, drives them in opposition to the peace and
charity of Christ as rebels, to hostile and raging hatred.
And, not at length to enumerate single cases, absolutely
everything which patience, by its works, builds up to glory,
impatience casts down into ruin.
20. Wherefore, beloved brethren, having diligently pon-
dered both the benefits of patience and the evils of impa-
tience, let us hold fast with full watchfulness the patience
whereby we abide in Christ, that with Christ we may attain
to God; which patience, copious and manifold, is not re-
strained by narrow limits, nor confined by strait boundaries.
The virtue of patience is widely manifest, and its fertility
and liberality proceed indeed from a source of one name, but
^ si.;,\diffused by overflowing streams through many ways of
;And; nor can anything in our actions avail for the perfec-
tion of praise, unless from this it receives the substance of its
perfection. It is patience which both commends and keeps
us to God. It is patience, too, which assuages anger, which
l>ri.al\5s .the tongue, governs the mind, guards peace, rules
tisdpline, breaks die force of lust, represses the violence of
pride/ extinguishes, +,"210 fire of enmity, checks the power of
tne rick, soothes the want of the poor, protects a blessed
integrity in virgins, a careful purity in widows, in those who
ai*e united and married a single affection. It makes men
hnmble in prosperity, brave in adversity, gentle towards
w^-ongs and contempts. It teaches us quickly to pardon
those who wrong us ; and if you yourself do wrong, to entreat
long and earnestly. It resists temptations, suffers persecu-
tions, perfects passions and martyrdoms. It is patience which
36 THE TREATISES OF CYPPdAN.
firmly fortifies tlie foundations of our faith. It is this which
lifts up on high the increase of our hope. It is this which
directs our doing, that we may hold fast the way of Christ
while we walk by His patience. It is this that makes us to
persevere as sons of God, while we imitate our Father's
patience.
21. But since I know, beloved brethren, that very many
are eager, either on account of the burden or the pain of
smarting wTongs, to be quickly avenged of those w^ho act
harshly and rage against them,^ we must not withhold the
fact in the furthest particular, that placed as we are in the
midst of these storms of a jarring w^orld, and, moreover, the
persecutions both of Jews or Gentiles, and heretics, we may
patiently wait for the day of vengeance, and not hurry to
revenge our suffering with a querulous ^ haste, since it is
written, "Wait ye upon me, saith the I^ord, in the day of
my rising up for a testimony ; for my judgment is to the con-
gregations of the nations, that I may take hold on the kings,
and pour out upon them my fury." ^ The Lord commands
us to wait,* and to bear with brave patience the day of future
vengeance; and He also speaks in the Apocalypse, saying,
" Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book : for now
the time is at hand for them that persevere in injurin^"- .^
injure, and for him that is filthy to be filthy still ; bil^"''^
him that is righteous to do things still more righteous, and
likewise for him that is holy to do things still more holy.
Behold, I come quickly ; and my reward is with me, to render
to every man according to his deeds." * Whence pJiso 'cne
martyrs, crying out and hastening with grit;!: breaking forth
to their revenge, are bidden still to wait, and to give patience
for the times to be fulfilled and the martyrs to be cxiDipleted.
" And when He had opened," says he, " the fifth seal, 1 sav'/
1 The Oxford edition adds here, according to some authorities, " and
will not put off the recompense of evils mitil that day of last judgment,
we exhort you, for the meanwhile, embrace with us this benefit oi
patience, that," etc. ; and it omits the following ten words.
- On the authority of one codex, Pamehus here adds, "and envious."
" Zeph. iii. 8. * " Dearest brethren," Oxford edit.
5 Rev. xxii. 10-12.
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF PATIENCE. 37
under the altar of God the souls of them that were slain for
the word of God, and for their testimony ; and they cried
with a loud voice, saying. How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth ? And there were given to them each white
robes ; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for
a little season, until the number of their fellow-servants and
brethren is fulfilled, who afterwards shall be slain after their
example." ^
22. But when shall come the divine vengeance for the right-
eous blood, the Holy Spirit declares by Malachi the prophet,
saying, " Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, burning as an
oven ; and all the aliens and all the wicked shall be stubble ;
and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord."'^
And this we read also in the Psalms, where the approach
of God the Judge is announced as worthy to be reverenced
for the majesty of His judgment : " God shall come mani-
fest, our God, and shall not keep silence ; a fire shall burn
before Him, and round about Him a great tempest. He shall
call the heaven above, and the earth beneath, that He may
separate His people. Gather His saints together unto Him,
who establish His covenant in sacrifices; and the heavens
shall declare His rio-hteousness, for God is the Judo-e." ^
And Isaiah foretells the same things, saying : " For, behold,
the Lord shall come like a fire, and His chariot as a storm, to
render vengeance in anger ; for in the fire of the Lord they
shall be judged, and with His sword shall they be wounded."'*
And again : " The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and
sli '^ crumble the war to pieces : He shall stir up the battle,
anil mil cry out against His enemies with strength, I have
he. my peace ; shall I always hold my peace ? " ^
23. But who is this that says that he has held his peace
before, and will not hold his peace for ever? Surely it is He
who Avas led as a sheep to the slaughter ; and as a lamb before
its shearer is without voice, so He opened not His mouth.
Surely it is He who did not cry, nor was His voice heard
^ Rev. vi. 9-11. -' Mai. iv. 1. ^ p.^. i. 3_6.
* Isa. Ixvi. 15, 16. ^ Isa. xlii. 1^. 14.
38 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
in the streets. Surely He who was not rebellious, neither
contradicted, when He offered His back to stripes, and His
cheeks to the palms of the hands ; neither turned away His
face from the foulness of spitting. Surely it is He who,
when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered
nothing, and, to the wonder of Pilate, kept a most patient
silence. This is He who, although He was silent in His
passion, yet by and by will not be silent in His vengeance.
This is our God, that is, not the God of all, but of the
faithful and believing ; and He, when He shall come mani-
fest in His second advent, will not be silent. For although
He came first shrouded in humility, yet He shall come mani-
fest in power.
24. Let ns wait for Him, beloved brethren, our Judge and
Avenger, who shall equally avenge with Himself the congre-
gation of His church, and the number of all the righteous
from the beginning of the world. Let him who hurries, and
is too impatient for his revenge, consider that even He Him-
self is not yet avenged who is the Avenger. God the Father
ordained His Son to be adored ; and the Apostle Paul, mind-
ful of the divine command, lays it down, and says : " God
hath exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above
every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, of things heavenly, and things earthly, and things
beneath."^ And in the Apocalypse the angel withstands
John, who wishes to worship him, and says : " See thou do
it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren.
Worship Jesus the Lord." ^ How great is the Lord Jesus,
and how great is His patience, that He who is adored, in
heaven is not yet avenged on earth ! Let us, beloved jire-
thren, consider His patience in our persecutions and suffer-
ings; let us give an obedience full of expectation to His
advent ; and let us not hasten, servants as we are, to be
defended before our Lord with irreligious and immodest
eao-erness. Let us rather press onward and labour, and,
watching with our whole heart, and stedfast to all en-
durance, let us keep the Lord's precepts ; so that when that
1 Phil. ii. 9, 10. 2 Kev. xxii. 9.
ox JEALOUSY AND ENVY. 30
clay of anger and vengeance shall come, we may not be
punished with the impious and sinners, but may be honoured
with the righteous and those that fear God.
TEEATISE X.
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY.
Argument. — The deacon Pontius thus briefly suggests the
purpose of this treatise in his lAfe of Cyprian : " Who
was there to restrain the ill blood arising from the en-
venomed malignity of envy with the sweetness of a whole-
some remedy V After pointing out that jealousy or envy
is a sin all the more heinous in pro2:)ortion as its ivicked-
ness is hidden, and that its origin is to be traced to the
devil, he gives illustrations of envy from the Old Testa-
ment, and gathers, by reference to special vices, that envy
is the root of all wichedness. Therefore ivith reason was
fraternal hatred forbidden not in one j^lace only, both by
Clirist and His apostles. Finally, exhorting to the love of
ones enemies by God^s example, he dissuades from the sin
of envy, by urging the rewards set before the indulgence of
love.
1. To be jealous of what you see to be good, and to be
envious of those who are better than yourself, seems, beloved
brethren, in the eyes of some people to be a slight and petty
wrong ; and being thought trifling and of small account, it is
not feared ; not being feared, it is contemned ; being con-
temned, it is not easily shunned : and it thus becomes a dark
and hidden mischief, which, as it is not perceived so as to be
guarded against by the prudent, secretly distresses incautious
minds. But, moreover, the Lord bade us be prudent, and
charged us to watch with careful solicitude, lest the adver-
sary, who is ahvays on the watch and always lying in wait,
should creep stealthily into our breast, and blow up a flame
from the sparks, magnifying small things into tlie greatest :
and so, while soothing!: the un<Tuarded and careless with ii
40 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
milder air and a softer breeze, should stir up storms and
whirlwinds, and bring about the destruction of faith and the
shipwreck of salvation and of life. Therefore, beloved
brethren, we must be on our guard, and strive with all our
powers to repel, with solicitous and full watchfulness, the
enemy, raging and aiming his darts against every part of our
body in which we can be stricken and wounded, in accord-
ance with what the Apostle Peter, in his epistle, forewarns
and teaches, saying, " Be sober, and watch ; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking any
one to devour." ^
2. He goeth about every one of us ; and even as an enemy
besieging those who are shut up [in a city], he examines the
walls, and tries whether there is any part of the walls ^ less
firm and less trustworthy, by entrance through which he
may penetrate to the inside. He presents to the eyes seduc-
tive forms and easy pleasures, that he may destroy chastity by
the sight. He tempts the ears with harmonious music, that
by the hearing of sweet sounds he may relax and enervate
Christian vigour. He provokes the tongue by reproaches ;
he instigates the hand by exasperating wrongs to the reck-
lessness of murder ; to make the cheat, he presents dishonest
gains ; to take captive the soul by money, he heaps together
mischievous hoards; he promises earthly honours, that he
may deprive of lieavenly ones ; he makes a show of false
things, that he may steal away the true ; and when he cannot
hiddenly deceive, he threatens plainly and openly, holding
forth the fear of turbulent persecution to vanquish God's
servants — always restless, and always hostile, crafty in peace,
and fierce in persecution.
3. Wherefore, beloved brethren, against all the devil's de-
ceiving snares or open threatenings, the mind ought to stand
arrayed and armed, ever as ready to repel as the foe is ever
ready to attack. And since those darts of his which creep
on us in concealment are more frequent, and his more hidden
and secret hurling of them is the more severely and fre-
quently effectual to our wounding, in proportion as it is the
^ 1 Pet. v. 8. ^ Accordine to some, " of our members."
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY. 41
less perceived, let us also be watcliful to understand and
repel these, among which is the evil of jealousy and envy.
And if any one closely look into this, he will find that nothino-
should be more guarded against by the Christian, notliing
more carefully watched, than being taken captive by envy
and malice, that none, entangled in the blind snares of a de-
ceitful enemy, in that the brother is turned by envy to hatred
of his brother, should himself be unwittingly destroyed by his
own sword. That we may be able more fully to collect and
more plainly to perceive this, let us recur to its fount and
origin. Let us consider whence arises jealousy, and when
and how it begins. For so mischievous an evil will be more
easily shunned by us, if both the source and the magnitude
of that same evil be known.
4. From this source, even at the very beginnings of the
world, the devil was the first who both perished [himself]
and destroyed [others]. He who^ was sustained in angelic
majesty, he who was accepted and beloved of God, when he
beheld man made in the image of God, broke forth into
jealousy with malevolent envy — not hurling down another
by the instinct of his jealousy before he himself was first
hurled down by jealousy, captive before he takes captive,
ruined before he ruins others. While, at the instigation of
jealousy, he robs man of the grace of immortality conferred,
he himself has lost that which he had previously been. How
great an evil is that, beloved brethren, whereby an angel
fell, whereby that lofty and illustrious grandeur could be
defrauded and overthrown, whereby he who deceived was
himself deceived ! Thenceforth envy rages on the earth, in
that he who is about to perish by jealousy obeys the author
of his ruin, imitating the devil in his jealousy ; as it is
written, " But through envy of the devil death entered into
the world." ^ Therefore they who are on his side imitate him.
5. Hence, in fine, began the primal hatreds of the new
brotherhood, hence the abominable fratricides, in that the
unrighteous Cain is jealous of the righteous Abel, in that the
wicked persecutes the good with envy and jealousy. So far
^ Some add, " long ago." 2 \(i^d. ii. 2-i.
42 THE TREATISES OF CYPBIAN.
prevailed the rage of envy to the consummation of that deed
of wickedness, that neither the love of his brother, nor the
immensity of the crime, nor the fear of God, nor the penalty
of the sin, was considered. He was unrighteously stricken
who had been the first to show righteousness; he endured
hatred who had not known how to hate ; he was impiously
slain, who, dying, did not resist. And that Esau was hostile
to his brother Jacob, arose from jealousy also. For because
the latter had received his father's blessing, the former was
mflamed to a persecuting hatred by the brands of jealousy.
And that Joseph was sold by his brethren, the reason of
their selling him proceeded from envy. When in simpli-
city, and as a brother to brethren, he set forth to them the
prosperity which had been shown to him in visions, their
malevolent disposition broke forth into envy. Moreover, that
Saul the king hated David, so as to seek by often repeated
persecutions to Idll him — innocent, merciful, gentle, patient
in meekness — what else was the provocation save the spur of
jealousy ? Because, when Goliath was slain, and by the aid
and condescension of God so great an enemy was routed, the
wondering people burst forth with the suffrage of acclama-
tion into praises of David, Saul through jealousy conceived
the rage of enmity and persecution. And, not to go to the
length of numbering each one, let us observe the destruction
of a people that perished once for all.^ Did not the Jews
perish for this reason, that they chose rather to envy Christ
than to believe Him ? Disparaging those great works which
He did, they were deceived by blinding jealousy, and could
not open the eyes of their heart to the knowledge of divine
things.
6. Considering which things, beloved brethren, let us with
vigilance and courage fortify our hearts dedicated to God
against such a destructiveness of evil. Let the death of
others avail for our safety ; let the punishment of the un-
wise confer health upon the prudent. ^Moreover, there is no
ground for any one to suppose that evil of that kind is con-
fined in one form, or restrained Avithin brief limits in a narrow
^ Variously "semel" or " simul."
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY. 43
boundary. The mischief of jealousy, manifold and fruitful,
extends widely. It is the root of all evils, the fountain of
disasters, the nursery of crimes, the material of transgressions.
Thence arises hatred, thence proceeds animosity. Jealousy
inflames avarice, in that one cannot be content with what is
his own, while he sees another more wealthy. Jealousy stirs
up ambition, w^hen one sees atiother more exalted in honours.^
When jealousy darkens our perceptions, and reduces the
secret agencies of the mind under its command, the fear of
God is despised, the teaching of Christ is neglected, the day
of judgment is not anticipated. Pride inflates, cruelty em-
bitters, faithlessness prevaricates, impatience agitates, discord
rages, anger grows hot ; nor can he who has become the sub-
ject of a foreign authority any longer restrain or govern him-
self. By this the bond of the Lord's peace is broken ; by this
is violated brotherly charity ; by this truth is adulterated,
unity is divided ; men plunge into heresies and schisms wdien
priests are disparaged, when bishops are envied, when a man
complains that he himself was not rather ordained, or disdains
to suffer that another should be put over him. Hence the
man who is haughty through jealousy, and perverse through
envy, kicks, hence he revolts, in anger and malice the oppo-
nent, not of the man, but of the honour.
7. But what a gnawing worm of the soul is it, what a
plague-spot of our thoughts, what a rust of the heart, to be
jealous of another, either in respect of his virtue or of his
happiness ; that is, to hate in him either his own deservings
or the divine benefits — to turn the advantages of others into
one's own mischief — to be tormented by the prosperity of
illustrious men — to make other people's glory one's own
penalty, and, as it were, to apply a sort of executioner to one's
own breast, to bring the tormentors to one's own thoughts
and feelings, that they may tear us with intestine pangs, and
may smite the secret recesses of the heart with the hoof ot
malevolence ! To such, no food is joyous, no drink can be
cheerful. They are ever sighing, and groaning, and griev-
ing ; and since envy is never put off by the envious, the pos-
^ Or, with some editors, " more iucreased in hououis."
44 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
sessed heart is rent without intermission day and night.
Other ills have their limit ; and whatever wrong is done, is
bounded by the completion of the crime. In the adulterer
the offence ceases when the violation is perpetrated ; in the
case of the robber, the crime is at rest when the homicide is
committed ; and the possession of the booty puts an end to
the rapacity of the thief ; and the completed deception places
a limit to the wrong of the cheat. Jealousy has no limit ; it
is an evil continually enduring, and a sin without end. In
proportion as he who is envied has the advantage of a greater
success, in that proportion the envious man burns with the
fires of jealousy to an increased heat.
8. Hence the threatening countenance, the lowering aspect,
pallor in the face, trembling on the lips, gnashing of the teeth,
mad words, unbridled revilings, a hand prompt for the vio-
lence of slaughter ; even if for the time deprived of a sword,
yet armed with the hatred of an infuriate mind. And
accordingly the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms : " Be not
jealous against him who walketh prosperously in his way." ^
And again : " The wicked shall observe the righteous, and
shall gnash upon him with his teeth. But God shall laugh
at him ; for He seeth that his day is coming." ^ The blessed
Apostle Paul designates and points out these when he says,
" The poison of asps is under their lips, and their mouth is
full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, who have not
known the way of peace ; neither is the fear of God before
their eyes."^
9. The mischief is much more trifling, and the danger less,
when the limbs are wounded with a sword. The cure is easy
where the wound is manifest ; and when the medicament is
applied, the sore that^ is seen is quickly brought to health.
The wounds of jealousy are hidden and secret ; nor do they
admit the remedy of a healing cure, since they have shut
themselves in blind suffering within the lurking-places of the
1 Ps. xxxvii. 7. 2 Ps, xxxvii. 12, 13. ^ Rom. iii. 13-18.
^ Erasmus and others give this reading. Baluzius, Routh, and many
codices, omit " vulnus," and tliiis read, " what is seen."
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY. 45
conscience. Whoever you are that are envious and malig-
nant, observe how crafty, mischievous, and hateful you are
to those whom you hate. Yet you are the enemy of no one's
well-being more than your own. Whoever he is whom you
persecute with jealousy, can evade and escape you. You can-
not escape yourself. Wherever you may be, your adversary
is w^ith you ; your enemy is always in your own breast ; your
mischief is shut up within ; you are tied and bound wdth the
links of chains from which you cannot extricate yourself ; you
are captive under the tyranny of jealousy ; nor will any con-
solations help you. It is a persistent evil to persecute a man
who belongs to the grace of God. It is a calamity without
remedy to hate the happy.
10. And therefore, beloved brethren, the Lord, taking
thought for this risk, that none should fall into the snare of
death through jealousy of his brother, wdien His disciples
asked Him which among them should be the greatest, said,
" Whosoever shall be least among you all, the same shall be
great." ^ He cut off all envy by His reply. He plucked out
and tore away every cause and matter of gnawing envy. A
disciple of Christ must not be jealous, must not be envious.
With us there can be no contest for exaltation ; from humi-
lity we grow to the highest attainments ; we have learnt in
what way we may be pleasing. And finally, the Apostle
Paul, instructing and warning, that we who, illuminated by
the light of Christ, have escaped from the darkness of the
conversation of night, should walk in the deeds and works of
light, writes and says, " The night has passed over, and the
day is approaching : let us therefore cast away the works of
darkness, and let us put upon us the armour of light. Let
us walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting and drunken-
ness, not in lusts and wantonness, not in strifes and jealousy."^
If the darkness has departed from your breast, if the night is
scattered therefrom, if the gloom is chased away, if the bright-
ness of day has illuminated your senses, if you have begun to
be a man of light, do those things w^hich are Christ's, because
Christ is the light and the day.
1 Luke ix. 48. 2 ^^^^^ xiii. 1l\ 13.
46 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
11. Why do you riisli into the darkness of jealousy ? why
do you enfold yourself in the cloud of malice 1 why do you
quench all the light of peace and charity in the blindness of
envy? why do you return to the devil, whom you had re-
nounced ? why do you stand like Cain ? For that he who
is jealous of his brother, and has him in hatred, is bound
by the guilt of homicide, the Apostle John declares in his
epistle, saying, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer;
and ye know that no murderer hath life abiding in him." ^
And again : " He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his
brother, is in darkness even until now, and walketh in dark-
ness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that dark-
ness hath blinded his eyes."^ Whosoever hates, says he, his
brother, walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he
goeth. For he goeth unconsciously to Gehenna, in ignorance
and blindness ; he is hurrying into punishment, departing,
that is, from the light of Christ, who warns and says, " I am
the lio;ht of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk
in darkness, but shall have the light of life." ^ But he follows
Christ who stands in His precepts, who walks in the way of
His teaching, who follows His footsteps and His ways, who
imitates that which Christ both did and taught ; in accord-
ance with what Peter also exhorts and warns, saying, "Christ
suffered for us, leaving you an example that ye should follow
His steps."'*
12. We ought to remember by what name Christ calls His
people, by w^hat title He names His flock. He calls them
sheep, that their Christian innocence may be like that of sheep;
He calls them lambs, that their simplicity of mind may imi-
tate the simple nature of lambs. Why does the w^olf lurk
under the garb of sheep? why does he who falsely asserts
himself to be a Christian, dishonour the flock of Christ ? To
put on the name of Christ, and not to go in the way of Christ,
what else is it but a mockery of the divine name, but a de-
sertion of the way of salvation ; since He Himself teaches
and says that he shall come unto life who keeps His com-
1 1 John iii. 15. ^ i John ii. 9-11.
3 John viii. 12. * 1 Pet. ii. 21.
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY. 47
mandments, and that he is wise who hears and does His
words ; that he, moreover, is called the greatest doctor in the
kingdom of heaven who thus does and teaches ; that, then,
will be of advantage to the preacher what has been well and
usefully preached, if what is uttered by his mouth is fulfilled
by deeds following ? But what did the Lord more frequently
instil into His disciples, what did He more charge to be
guarded and observed among His saving counsels and hea-
venly precepts, than that with the same love wherewith He
Himself loved the disciples, we also should love one another?
And in what manner does he keep either the peace or the
love of the Lord, who, when jealousy intrudes, can neither be
peaceable nor loving ?
13. Thus also the Apostle Paul, when he was urging the
merits of peace and charity, and when he w^as strongly assert-
ing and teaching that neither faith nor ahns, nor even the
passion itself of the confessor and the martyr,^ would avail
him, unless he kept the requirements of charity entire and
inviolate, added, and said : " Charity is magnanimous, charity
is kind, charity envieth not ; " ^ teaching, doubtless, and show-
ing that wdioever is magnanimous, and kind, and averse from
jealousy and rancour, such an one can maintain charity.
Moreover, in another place, when he was advising that the
man who has already become filled with the Holy Spirit, and
a son of God by heavenly birth, should observe nothing but
spiritual and divine things, he lays it down, and says : " And
I indeed, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed
you with milk, not with meat : ^ for ye were not able hitherto :
moreover, neither now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal :
for whereas there are still among you jealousy, and conten-
tion, and strifes, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? "^
14. Vices and carnal sins must be trampled down, beloved
brethren, and the corrupting plague of the earthly body must
1 Or, according to ancient authority, " of confession and martyrdom."
2 1 Cor. xiii. 4.
3 Or, "I have given you milk to drink, not meat," is read by some.
* 1 Cor. iii. 1-3.
48 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
be trodden under foot with spiritual vigour, lest, while we
are turned back again to the conversation of the old man, we
be entangled in deadly snares, even as the apostle, with fore-
sight and wholesomeness, forewarned us of this very thing,
and said : " Therefore, brethren, let us not live after the
flesh ; for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall begin to die ; but
if ye, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye
shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they
are the sons of God." ^ If we are the sons of God, if we are
already beginning to be His temples, if, having received the
Holy Spirit, we are living holily and spiritually, if we have
raised our eyes from earth to heaven, if we have lifted our
hearts, filled with God and Christ, to things above and divine,
let us do nothing but what is worthy of God and Christ, even
as the apostle arouses and exhorts us, saying : " If ye be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
is sitting at the right hand of God ; occupy your minds with
things that are above, not with things which are upon the
earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God. But when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with Him in glory." ^ Let us, then, who
in baptism have both died and been buried in respect of the
carnal sins of the old man, who have risen again with Christ
in the heavenly regeneration, both think upon and do the
things which are Cluist's, even as the same apostle again
teaches and counsels, savino; : " The first man is of the dust
of the earth ; the second man is from heaven. Such as he is
from the earth, such also are they who are from the earth ;
and such as he the heavenly is, such also are they who are
heavenly. As we have borne the image of him who is of the
earth, let us also bear the image of Him who is from heaven." ^
But we cannot bear the heavenly image, unless in that condi-
tion wherein we have already begun to be, we show forth the
likeness of Christ.
15. For this is to change what you had been, and to begin
to be what you were not, that the divine birth might shine
forth in you, that the godly discipline might respond to God,
1 Kom. viii. 12-14. ^ q,q\^ iii, i_4. 3 i Cor. xv. 47-49.
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY. 40
the Father, that in the honour and praise of living, God may
be glorified in man ; as He Himself exhorts, and warns, and
promises to those who glorify Him a reward in their turn,
saying, " Them that glorify me I will glorify, and he who
despiseth me shall be despised."^ For which glorification
the Lord, forming and preparing us, and the Son of God in-
stilling ^ the likeness of God the Father, says in His Gospel :
" Ye have heard that it hath been said. Thou shalt love thy
neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love
your enemies, and pray for them which persecute you ; that
ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven,
who maketh His sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and
sendeth rain upon the just and on the unjust." ^ If it is a
source of joy and glory to men to have children like to them-
selves— and it is more agi'eeable to have begotten an offspring
then when the remaining "* progeny responds to the parent with
like lineaments — how much greater is the gladness in God
the Father, when any one is so spiritually born that in his
acts and praises the divine eminence of race ^ is announced !
What a palm of righteousness is it, what a crown, to be sucli
an one ^ as that the Lord should not say of you, " I have be-
gotten and brought up children, but they have despised me !" ^
Let Christ rather applaud you, and invite you to the reward,
saying, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom
which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world." ^
16. The mind must be strengthened, beloved brethren, by
these meditations. By exercises of this kind it must be con-
firmed ao;ainst all the darts of the devil. Let there be the
divine reading in the hands,® the Lord's thoughts in the
mind ; let constant prayer never cease at all ; let saving
labour persevere. Let us be always busied in spiritual
1 1 Sam. ii. 30.
2 " And engendering in the sons of God." — Oxford ed.
^ Matt. V. 43-45. * Or, " successive." ^ " Generositas."
® Or, " that one should be such ; " or, " that thou shouldst be such."
^ Isa. i. 2. 8 Matt. xxv. 34.
^ Pamelius, from four codices, reads, " Let there be the divine reading
before the eyes, good works in the hands."
CYP. — VOL. II. D
50 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
actions, that so often as the enemy approaches, however often
he may try to come near, he may find the breast closed and
armed against him. For a Christian man's crown is not
only that which is received in the time of persecution : peace
also has its crowns, wherewith the victors, from a varied and
manifold engagement, are crowned, when their adversary is
prostrated and subdued. To have overcome lust is the palm
of continency. To have resisted against anger, against in-
jury, is the crown of patience. It is a triumph over avarice
to despise money. It is the praise of faith, by trust in the
future, to suffer the adversity of the w^orld. And he who is
not haughty in prosperity, obtains glory for his humility ;
and lie who is disposed to the mercifulness of cherishing the
poor, obtains the retribution of a heavenly treasure ; and he
who knows not to be jealous, and who with one heart and
in meekness loves his brethren, is honoured with the recom-
pense of love and peace. In this course of virtues we daily
run ; to these palms and crowns of justice we attain without
intermission of time.
17. To these rewards that you also may come who had
been possessed with jealousy and rancour, cast away all that
malice wherewith you were before held fast, and be reformed
to the way of eternal life in the footsteps of salvation. Tear
out from your breast thorns and thistles, that the Lord's
seed may enrich you with a fertile produce, that the divine
and spiritual corn-field may abound to the plentifulness of a
fruitful harvest. Yomit forth the poison of gall, cast out
the virus of discords. Let the mind which the malice^ of the
serpent had infected be purged ; let all bitterness which had
settled within be softened by the sweetness of Christ. If
you take both meat and drink from the sacrament of the
cross, let the wood which at Mara ^ availed in a figure for
sweetening the taste, avail to you in reality for soothing your
softened breast ; and you shall not strive for a medicine for
your increasing health. Be cured by that whereby you had
^ The Oxford translator gives " blackness ; " the original is " livor."
2 Or " myrrh," variously given in originals as " myrrham " or
*' merrham."
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY. 61
been wounded. Love those whom you previously had hated ;
favour those whom you envied with unjust disparagements.
Imitate good men, if you are able to follow them ; but if
you are not able to follow them, at least rejoice with them,
and congratulate those who are better than you. Make
yoiurself a sharer ^ with them in united love ; make yourself
their associate in the alliance of charity and the bond of
brotherhood. Your debts shall be remitted to you when you
yourself shall have forgiven. Your sacrifices shall be re-
ceived when you shall come in peace to God. Your thoughts
and deeds shall be directed from above, when you consider
those things w^hich arc divine and righteous, as it is written :
" Let the heart of a man consider righteous things, that his
steps may be directed by the Lord." ^
18. And you have many things to consider. Think of
paradise, wdiither Cain does not enter, ^ who by jealousy
slew his brother. Think of the heavenly kingdom, to which
the Lord does not admit any but those who are of one heart
and mind. Consider that those alone can be called sons of
God who are peacemakers, wdio in heavenly'* birth and by
the divine law are made one, and respond to the likeness of
God the Father and of Christ. Consider that we are stand-
ing under the eyes of God, that we are pursuing the course
of our conversation and our life, with God Himself looking
on and judging, that we may then at length be able to attain
to the result of beliolding Him, if we now delight Him who
sees us, by our actions, if we show ourselves worthy of His
favour and indulgence ; if we, who are always to please Him
in His kingdom, previously please Him in the world.
^ " A fellow-heir," according to Baluzius and Routli.
2 Prov. XV. 1, LXX.
^ " Return " is a more common reading.
* Routh omits the word '* heavenly," on the authority of fourteen
codices.
52 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
TKEATISE XL
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, ADDRESSED TO
FORTUNATUS.
PREFACE.
1. You have desired, beloved Fortunatus, that, since the
"burden of persecutions and afflictions is lying heavy upon
us, and in the ending and completion of the world the hate-
ful time of Antichrist is already beginning to draw near, I
would collect from the sacred Scriptures some exhortations
for preparing and strengthening the minds of the brethren,
w^hereby I might animate the soldiers of Christ for the hea-
venly and spiritual contest. I have been constrained to obey
your so needful wish, so that as much as my limited powers,
instructed by the aid of divine inspiration, are sufficient, some
arms, as it were, and defences might be brought forth from
the Lord's precepts for the brethren who are about to fight.
For it is little to arouse God's people by the trumpet call of
our voice, unless we confirm the faith of believers, and their
valour dedicated and devoted to God, by the divine readings.
2. But what more fitly or more fully agrees with my own
care and solicitude, than to prepare the people divinely en-
trusted to me, and an army established in the heavenly
camp, by assiduous exhortations against the darts and weapons
of the devil ? For he cannot be a soldier fitted for the war
who has not first been exercised in the field ; nor will he
who seeks to gain the crown of contest be rewarded on the
racecourse, unless he first considers the use and skilfulness
of his powers. It is an ancient adversary and an old enemy
with whom we wage our battle : six thousand years are now
nearly completed since the devil first attacked man. All kinds
of temptation, and arts, and snares for his overthrow, he has
learned by the very practice of long years. If he finds Christ's
soldier unprepared, if unskilled, if not careful and watching
with his whole heart ; he circumvents him if ignorant, he
deceives him incautious, he cheats him inexperienced. But
if a man, keeping the Lord's precepts, and bravely adhering
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYBDOM. 53
to Christ/ stands against liim, he must needs be conquered,
because Christ, whom that man confesses, is unconquered.
3. And that I might not extend my discourse, beloved
brother, to too great a length, and fatigue my hearer or
reader by the abundance of a too diffuse style, I have made a
compendium ; so that the titles being placed first, which every
one ought both to know and to have in mind, I might subjoin
sections of the Lord's word, and establish what I had pro-
posed by the authority of the divine teaching, in such wise
as that I might not appear to have sent you my own treatise
so much, as to have suggested material for others to discourse
on, — a proceeding wliicli will be of advantage to individuals
with increased benefit. For if I were to give a man a
garment finished and ready, it would be my garment that
another was making use of, and probably the thing made for
another w^ould be found little fitting for his figure of stature
and body. But now I have sent you the very w'ool and the
purple from the Lamb, by whom we were redeemed and
quickened; which, when you have received, you will make into
a coat for yourself according to your own will, and the rather
that you will rejoice in it as your own private and special
garment. And you will exhibit to others also wdiat we have
sent, that they themselves may be able to finish it according
to their will ; so that that old nakedness being covered, they
may all bear the garments of Christ robed in the sanctifica-
tion of heavenly grace.
4. Moreover also, beloved brethren, I have considered it a
useful and wholesome plan in an exhortation so needful as
that which may make martyrs, to cut off all delays and tardi-
ness in our w^ords, and to put away the windings of human
discourse, and set down only those things which God speaks,
wherewith Christ exhorts His servants to martyrdom. Those
divine precepts themselves must be supplied, as it w^ere, for
arms for the combatants. Let them be the incitements of the
warlike trumpet ; let them be the clarion-blast for the war-
riors. Let the ears be roused by them ; let the minds be
prepared by them ; let the powers both of soul and body be
^ Some read, "bravely abiding in the footsteps of CLriist."
54 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
strengthened to all endurance of suffering. Let us only who,
by the Lord's permission, have given the first baptism to
believers, also prepare each one for the second ; urging and
teaching that this is a baptism greater in grace, more lofty
in power, more precious in honour — a baptism wherein angels
baptize — a baptism in which God and His Christ exult — a
baptism after which no one sins any more — a baptism which
completes the increase of our faith — a baptism which, as
we withdraw from the world, immediately associates us with
God. In the baptism of water is received the remission
of sins, in the baptism of blood the crown of virtues. This
thing is to be embraced and desired, and to be asked for in
all the entreaties of our petitions, that w^e who are God's
servants should be also His friends.
HEADS OF THE FOLLOWING BOOK.
1. Therefore, in exhorting and preparing our brethren,
and in arming them with firmness of virtue and faith for
the heralding forth of the confession of the Lord, and for
the battle of persecution and suffering, we must declare, in
the first place, that the idols which man makes for himself
are not gods. For things which are made are not greater
than their maker and fashioner ; nor can those things protect
and preserve anybody, which themselves perish out of their
temples, unless they are preserved by man. But neither are
those elements to be worshipped ^ which serve man according
to the disposition and ordinance of God.
2. The idols being destroyed, and the truth concerning
the elements being manifested, we must show that God only
is to be worshipped.
3. Then we must add, what is God's threatening against
those who sacrifice to idols.
4. Besides, we must teach that God does not easily pardon
idolaters.
5. And that God is so angry with idolatry, that He has
even commanded those to be slain who persuade others to
sacrifice and serve idols.
1 The Oxford edition here adds, " in the place of gods."
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 55
6. After this we must subjoin, that being redeemed and
quickened by the blood of Christ, we ought to prefer nothing
to Christ, because He preferred nothing to us, and on our
account preferred evil things to good, poverty to riches, ser-
vitude to rule, death to immortality; that we, on the contrary,
in our sufferings are preferring the riches and delights of
paradise to the poverty of the world, eternal dominion and
kingdom to the slavery of time, immortality to death, God
and Christ to the devil and antichrist.
7. We must urge also, that when snatched from the jaws
of the devil, and freed from the snares of this world, if they
begin to be in difficulty and trouble, they must not desire to
return again to the world, and so lose the advantage of their
withdrawal therefrom.
8. That we must rather urge on and persevere in faith and
virtue, and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace,
that we may attain to the palm and to the crown.
9. For that afflictions and persecutions are brought about
for this purpose, that we may be proA'ed.
10. Neither must we fear the injuries and penalties of
persecutions, because greater is the Lord to protect than the
devil to assault.
11. And lest any one should be frightened and troubled at
the afflictions and persecutions which we suffer in this world,
we must prove that it was before foretold that the world
would hold us in hatred, and that it would arouse persecu-
tions against us ; that from this very thing, that these things
come to pass, is manifest the truth of the divine promise, in
recompenses and rewards which shall afterwards follow ;
that it is no new thing which happens to Christians, since
from tlie beo-innino; of the world the sood have suffered, and
have been oppressed and slain by the unrighteous.
12. In the last place, it must be laid down what hope and
what reward await the righteous and martyrs after the
struggles and the sufferings of this time, and that we sliall
receive more in the reward of our suffering than what we
suffer here in the passion itself.
56 THE TREATISES OF CYPEIAN.
ON THE EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM.
1. That idols are not gods, and that the elements are not
to be worshipped in the place of gods.
In the 113th Psalm it is shown that "the idols of the
heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They
have a mouth, and speak not ; eyes have they, and see not.
They have ears, and hear not ; neither is there any breath in
their mouth. Let those that make them be made like unto
them."^ Also in the Wisdom of Solomon : " They counted
all the idols of the nations to be gods, which neither have
the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to
hear, nor fingers on their hands to handle ; and as for their
feet, they are slow to go. For man made them, and he that
borrowed his own spirit fashioned them ; but no man can
make a god like unto himself. For, since he is mortal, he
worketh a dead thing with wicked hands ; for he himself is
better than the things which he worshippeth, since he indeed
lived once, but they never." ^ In Exodus also: "Thou
shalt not make to thee an idol, nor the likeness of any-
thing." ^ Moreover, in Solomon, concerning the elements :
"Neither by considering the works did they acknowledge
who was the workmaster; but deemed either fire, or wind,
or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the violent
water, or the sun, or the moon, to be gods.'' On account
of whose beauty, if they thought this, let them know how
much more beautiful is the Lord than they. Or if they
admired their powers and operations, let them understand
by them, that He that made these mighty things is mightier
than they." ^
2. That God alone must be worshipped.
" As it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
1 Ps. cxxxv. 15-18, cxv. 4-8. 2 ^jg^j xv. 15-17. ^ gx. xx. 4.
* Pamelius and others read here, " the gods who rule over the world,"
apparently takmg the words from the thirteenth chapter of the book of
Wisdom, and from the Testimonies, iii. 59, below, where they are quoted.
^ Wisd. xiii. 1-4.
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 57
and Him only shalt thou serve." ^ Also in Exodus : " Thou
shalt have none other gods beside me." ^ Also in Deutero-
nomy : " See ye, see ye that I am He, and that there is no
God beside me. I will kill, and will make alive ; I will smite,
and I w^ill heal ; and there is none who can deliver out of
mine hands." ^ In the Apocalypse, moreover : " And I saw^
another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever-
lasting gospel to preach over the earth, and over all nations,
and tribes, and tongues, and peoples, saying with a loud voice.
Fear God rather, and give glory to Him : for the hour of His
judgment is come ; and worship Him that made heaven and
earth, and the sea, and all that therein is."'' So also the
Lord, in His Gospel, makes mention of the first and second
commandment, saying, " Hear, O Israel, The Lord thy God
is one God;"^ and, "Thou shalt love thy Lord with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.
This is the first ; and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two command-
ments hang all the law and the prophets."^ And once
more: "And this is life eternal, that they may know Thee,
the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent."^
3. What is God's threatening against those who sacrifice
to idols ?
In Exodus : " He that sacrificeth unto any gods but the
Lord only, shall be rooted out." ^ Also in Deuteronomy :
" They sacrificed unto demons, and not to God."*^ In Isaiah
also : " They worshipped those which their fingers have made ;
and the mean man was bowed down, and the great man was
humbled: and I will not forgive them."^^ And again : "To
them hast thou poured out drink-offerings, and to them tliou
hast offered sacrifices. For these, therefore, shall I not be
angry, saith the Lord ?"^^ In Jeremiah also : " Walk ye not
1 Deut. vi. 13, X. 20. - Ex. xx. 3. ^ Deut. xxxii. 39.
* Rev. xiv. 6, 7. ^ Mark xii. 29-31. ^ Matt. xxii. 37^0.
7 John xvii. 3. » Ex. xxii. 20. » Deut. xxxii. 17.
" Isa. ii. 8, 9. ^^ Isa. Ivii. 6.
58 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
after other gods, to serve tliem ; and worship them not, and
provoke me not m the works of your hands, to destroy you."^
In the Apocalypse too : " If any man worship the beast and
his imasfe, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his
hand, he shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is mixed in the cup of His wrath, and shall be punished
with fire and brimstone before the eyes of the holy angels, and
before the eyes of the Lamb : and the smoke of their torments
shall ascend for ever and ever : and they shall have no rest
day or night, whosoever worship the beast and his image." ^
4. That God does not easily pardon idolaters.
Moses in Exodus prays for the people, and does not obtain
his prayer, saying : " I pray, O Lord, this people hath sinned a
great sin. They have made them gods of gold. And now,
if Thou forgivest them their sin, forgive it ; but if not, blot
me out of the book which Thou hast written. And the Lord
said unto Moses, If any one hath sinned against me, him will I
blot out of my book."^ Moreover, when Jeremiah besought
for the people, the Lord speaks to him, saying : " And pray not
thou for this people, and entreat not for them in prayer and
supplication ; because I will not hear in the time wherein they
shall call upon me in the time of their affliction." * Ezekiel also
denounces this same anger of God upon those who sin against
God, and says ; " And the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying. Son of man, whatsoever land sinneth against me, by
committing an offence, I will stretch forth mine hand upon
it, and will crush the support of the bread thereof ; and I will
send into it famine, and I will take away from it man and
beast. And though these three men were in the midst of it,
Noah, Daniel, and Job, they shall not deliver sons nor
daughters; they themselves only shall be delivered."^ Like-
wise in the first book of Kings : " If a man sin by offending
against another, they shall beseech the Lord for him ; but if
a man sin against God, who shall entreat for him ?" ®
1 Jer. vii. 6. ^ Rev. xiv. 9-11.
3 Ex, xxxii. 31-33. "^ Jer. vii. 16.
« Ezek. xiv. 12-14. « 1 Sam. ii. 25.
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 59
5. That God is so angry against idolatry, that He has even
enjoined those to be slain who persuade others to
sacrifice and serve idols.
In Deuteronomy : " But if thy brother, or thy son, or thy
daughter, or thy wife which is in thy bosom, or thy friend
which is the fellow of thine own soul, should ask thee secretly,
saying. Let us go and serve other gods, the gods of the
nations, thou shalt not consent unto him, and thou shalt not
hearken unto him, neither shall thine eye spare him, neither
shalt thou conceal him, declaring thou shalt declare con-
cerning him. Thine hand shall be upon him first of all to
put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people ;
and they shall stone him, and he shall die, because he hath
sought to turn thee away from the Lord thy God."^ And
again the Lord speaks, and says, that neither must a city be
spared, even though the whole city should consent to idolatry :
" Or if thou shalt hear in one of the cities which the Lord
thy God shall give thee, to dwell there, saying. Let us go and
serve other gods, which thou hast not known,^ slaying thou
shalt kill all who are in the city with the slaughter of the
sword, and burn the city with fire, and it shall be without
habitation for ever. Moreover, it shall no more be rebuilt,
that the Lord may be turned from the indignation of His
anger. And He will show thee mercy, and He will pity thee,
and will multiply thee, if thou wilt hear the voice of the
Lord thy God, and wilt observe His precepts."^ Remember-
ing which precept and its force, Mattathias slew him who
had approached the altar to sacrifice. But if before the
coming of Christ these precepts concerning the worship of
God and the despising of idols were observed, how much
more should they be regarded since Christ's advent ; since He,
when He came, not only exhorted us with words, but with
deeds also, but after all wrongs and contumelies, suffered also,
and was crucified, that He might teach us to suffer and to
1 Deut. xiii. 6-10.
2 The Oxford edition inserts here, " Thou shalt inquire dihgently ;
and if thou shalt find that that is certain which is said."
3 Deut. xiii. 12-18.
60 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
die by His example, that there might be no excuse for a man
not to suffer for Him/ since He suffered for us ; and that
since He suffered for the sins of others, much rather ought
each to suffer for his own sins. And therefore in the Gospel
He threatens, and says : " Whosoever shall confess me before
men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in
heaven ; but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will
I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."^ The
Apostle Paul also says : " For if we die with Him, we shall
also live with Him ; if we suffer, we shall also reign with
Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us."^ John too :
" Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father ;
he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath both the Son and the
Father." ^ Whence the Lord exhorts and strengthens us to
contempt of death, saying : " Fear not them which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear Him
which is able to kill soul and body in Gehenna." ^ And again :
" He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he who hateth his
life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal."^
6. That, being redeemed and quickened by the blood of
Christ, we ought to prefer nothing to Christ.''
In the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says : " He that loveth
father or mother more than me, is not w^orthy of me ; and he
that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of
me ; and he that taketh not his cross and followeth me, is
not worthy of me." ^ So also it is written in Deuteronomy :
" They who say to their father and their mother, I have not
known thee, and have not acknowledged their own children,
these have kept Thy precepts, and have observed Thy cove-
nant."'^ Moreover, the Apostle Paul says: "Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
1 Or, " for a man who does not suffer." ^ Matt. x. 32, 33.
3 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12. "* 1 John ii. 23. « Matt. x. 28.
^ John xii. 25.
^" The Oxford edition adds, " because neither did He account of any-
thing before us."
8 Matt. X. 37, 38. ^ Deut. xxxiii. 9.
^iV^ EXB.OETATION TO MARTYRDOM. CI
distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword ? As it is written, Because for Thy sake we are killed
all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we overcome on account of Him who
hath loved us." ^ And again : " Ye are not your own, for ye
are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your
body." - And again : " Christ died for all, that both they
which live may not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
Him which died for them, and rose again." ^
7. That those who are snatched from the jaws of the devil,
and delivered from the snares of this world,* ought
not again to return to the world, lest they should lose
the advantage of their withdrawal therefrom.
In Exodus the Jewish people, prefigured as a shadow and
image of us, when, with God for their guardian and avenger,
they had escaped the most severe slavery of Pharaoh and of
Egypt — that is, of the devil and the world — faithless and un-
grateful in respect of God, murmur against Moses, looking
back to the discomforts of the desert and of their labour ;
and, not understanding the divine benefits of liberty and
salvation, they seek to return to the slavery of Egypt — that
is, of the w^orld whence they had been drawn forth — when
they ought rather to have trusted and believed on God, since
He who delivers His people from the devil and the world,
protects them also when delivered. " AVherefore hast thou
thus done with us," say they, '' in casting us forth out of
Eg}^t *? It is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to
die in this wilderness. And Moses said unto the people.
Trust, and stand fast, and see the salvation which is from the
Lord, which He shall do to you to-day. The Lord Himself
shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." ^ The
Lord, admonishing us of this in His Gospel, and teaching
that we should not return again to the devil and to the world,
1 Rom. viii. 35-37. 2 i Qq^.^ y^ 20. ^ o Cor. v. 15.
^ The Oxford edition here interpolates, ' ' if they find themselves in
straits and tribulations."
^ Ex. xiv. 11-14.
62 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
which we have renounced, and whence we have escaped, says :
" No man looking back, and putting his hand to the plough,
is fit for the kingdom of God." ^ And again : " And let him
that is in the field not return back. Remember Lot's wife."^
And lest any one should be retarded by any covetousness of
wealth or attraction of his own people from following Christ,
He adds, and says : " He that forsaketh not all that he hath,
cannot be my disciple." ^
8. That we must press on and persevere in faith and virtue,
and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace,
that we may attain to the palm and the crown.
In the book of Chronicles : " The Lord is with you so long
as ye also are with Him ; but if ye forsake Him, He will for-
sake you." * In Ezekiel also : " The righteousness of the
righteous shall not deliver him in what day soever he may
transgress." ^ Moreover, in the G ospel the Lord speaks, and
says : " He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be
saved." ^ And again : " If ye shall abide in my word, ye
shall be my disciples indeed ; and jo, shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free." '^ Moreover, forewarning
us that we ought always to be ready, and to stand firmly
equipped and armed. He adds, and says : " Let your loins
be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye yourselves
like unto men that wait for their lord when he shall return
from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh they
may open unto him. Blessed are those servants whom their
lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." ^ Also the
blessed Apostle Paul, that our faith may advance and grow,
and attain to the highest point, exhorts us, saying : " Know
ye not, that they which run in a race run all indeed, yet one
receiveth the prize ? So run, that ye may obtain.^ And they,
indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown ; but ye an
1 Luke ix. 62. 2 L^^te xvii. 31, 32. » L^jj-g xiv. 33.
4 2 Chron. xv. 2. ^ Ezek. xxxiii. 12. « Matt. x. 22.
'' John viii. 31, 32. » Luke xii. 35-37.
^ Oxford edition : " For every one that striveth for the mastery is
temperate in all things."
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 63
incorruptible." ^ And again : " No man that warretli for
God binds himself to anxieties of this world, that he may
be able to please Him to whom he hath approved himself.
Moreover, also, if a man should contend, he will not be
crowned unless he have fought lawfully." ^ And again :
^' Now I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that
ye constitute your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God ; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye
transformed in the renewing of yom' spirit, that ye may prove
what is the will of God, good, and acceptable, and perfect." ^
And again : " We are children of God : but if children, then
heirs ; heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ, if we
suffer together, that we may also be glorified together." * And
in the Apocalypse the same exhortation of divine preaching
speaks, saying, " Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another
take thy crown ; " ^ which example of perseverance and per-
sistence Is pointed out In Exodus, when Moses, for the over-
throw of Amalek, wdio bore the type of the devil, raised up
his open hands in the sign and sacrament of the cross, and
could not conquer his adversary unless when he had sted-
fastly persevered in the sign with hands continually lifted
up. " And it came to pass," says he, " when Moses raised up
his hands, Israel prevailed ; but when he let down his hands,
Amalek grew mighty. And they took a stone and placed It
under him, and he sate thereon. And Aaron and Hur held
up his hands on the one side and on the other side, and Moses'
hands were made steady even to the going down of the sun.
And Jesus routed Amalek and all his people. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Write this, and let it be a memorial In a book,
and tell it in the ears of Jesus ; because in destroying I will
destroy the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." ^
9. That afflictions and persecutions arise for the sake of
our being proved.
In Deuteronomy, *^ The Lord your God proveth you, that
He may know if ye love the Lord your God with all your
1 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25. » 2 Tim. ii. 4, 5. ^ Rom. xii. 1, 2.
* Rom. viii. 16, 17. « Rev. iii. 11. « Ex. xvii. 11-14.
64 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
lieartj and with all your soul, and witli all your strength." ^
And again, in Solomon : " The furnace proveth the potter's
vessel, and righteous men the trial of tribulation." ^ Paul
also testifies similar things, and speaks, saying : " We glory
in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we
glory in tribulations also ; knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope ; and
hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto
us." ® And Peter, in his epistle, lays it down, and says :
" Beloved, be not surprised at the fiery heat which f alleth
upon you, which happens for your trial ; and fail not, as if
some new thing were happening unto you. But as often as
ye communicate with the sufferings of Christ, rejoice in all
things, that also in the revelation made of His glory you
may rejoice with gladness. If ye be reproached in the name
of Christ, happy are ye ; because the name of the majesty
and power of the Lord resteth upon you ; which indeed
according to them is blasphemed, but according to us is
honoured." *
10. That injuries and penalties of persecutions are not to
be feared by us, because greater is the Lord to pro-
tect than the devil to assault.
John, in his epistle, proves this, saying : " Greater is He
who is in you than he that is in the world." ^ Also in the
117th Psalm: "I will not fear what man can do unto me;
the Lord is my helper." ^ And again : " These in chariots,
and those in horses ; but we wdll glory in the name of the
Lord our God. They themselves are bound,' and they have
fallen ; but we have risen up, and stand upright." ^ And
even more strongly the Holy Spirit, teaching and showing
that the army of the devil is not to be feared, and that,
if the foe should declare war against us, our hope con-
1 Deut. xiii. 3. ^ Ecclus. xxvii. 5. ^ Rom. v. 2-5.
* 1 Pet. iv. 12-14. ^ 1 John iv. 4. ^ Ps. cxviii. 6.
7 The Oxford editor reads, " Their feet are bound."
8 Ps. XX. 7, 8.
AJ^ EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. C5
sists rather in that war itself ; and that by that conflict the
righteous attain to the reward of the divine abode and eternal
salvation, — lays down in the twenty-sixth Psalm, and says :
^^ Though an host should be arrayed against me, my heart
shall not fear ; though war should rise up against me, in that
will I put my hope. One hope have I sought of the Lord,
this will I require ; that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life." ^ Also in Exodus, the holy
Scripture declares that we are rather multiplied and increased
by afflictions, saying: "And the more they afflicted them,
so much the more they became greater, and waxed stronger." "
And in the Apocalypse, divine protection is promised to our
sufferings. "Fear nothing of these things," it says, " which
thou shalt suffer." ^ Nor does any one else promise to us
security and protection, than He who also speaks by Isaiah
the prophet, saying : " Fear not ; for I have redeemed thee,
and called thee by thy name : thou art mine. And if thou
passest through the water, I am with thee, and the rivers shall
not overflow thee. And if thou passest through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned, and * the flame shall not burn thee ;
for I, the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, am He
wdio maketh thee safe." ^ Who also promises in the Gospel
that divine help shall not be wanting to God's servants in
persecutions, saying : " But when they shall deliver you up,
take no thought how or what ye shall speak. For it shall
be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For it is not
ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaketh in
you." * And again : " Settle it in your hearts not to medi-
tate before how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and
wisdom, which your adversaries shall not be able to resist." '
As in Exodus God speaks to Moses when he delayed and
trembled to go to the people, saying : " Who hath given a
mouth to man? and who hath made the stammerer? and
who the deaf man ? and who the seeing, and the blind man ?
Have not I, the Lord God ? And now go, and I will open
1 Ps. xxvii. 3, 4. 2 Ex. i. 12. ^ Rev. ii. 10.
* The common reading is, " through the fire, the flame," etc.
^ Isa. xliii. 1-3. ^ jyjatt. x. 19, 20. ' Luke xxi. 14, 15.
CYP. — VOL. II. E
66 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
thy mouth, and will instruct thee what thou shalt say." ^
Nor is it difficult for God to open the mouth of a man de-
voted to Himself, and to inspire constancy and confidence in
speech to His confessor ; since in the book of Numbers He
made even a she-ass to speak against the prophet Balaam.
Wherefore in persecutions let no one think what danger
the devil is bringing in, but let him indeed consider what
help God affords ; nor let human mischief overpower the
mind, but let divine protection strengthen the faith ; since
every one, according to the Lord's promises and the deservings
of his faith, receives so much from God's help as he thinks
that he receives. Nor is there anything which the Almighty
is not able to grant, unless the failing faith of the receiver be
deficient and give way.
11. That it was before predicted that the world would
hold us in abhorrence, and that it would stir up
persecutions against us, and that no new thing is
happening to the Christians, since from the beginning
of the world the good have suffered, and the righteous
have been oppressed and slain by the unrighteous.
The Lord in the Gospel forewarns and foretells, saying :
" If the world hates you, know that it first hated me. If ye
were of the w^orld, the world would love what is its own : but
because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Eemember the
word that I spoke unto you, The servant is not greater than
his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute
you also." ^ And again : " The hour will come, that every
one that killeth you will think that he doeth God service ;
but they will do this because they have not known the Father
nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the
hour shall come ye may remember them, because I told you."*
And again : " Verily, verily, I say unto you. That ye shall
weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; ye shall be
sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." * And
again : " These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye
1 Ex. iv. 11, 12. 2 joiin xv. 18-20. » joi^n xvi. 2-4. ^ John xvi. 20.
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 67
may have peace ; but in the world ye shall have tribulation :
but be of good confidence, for I have overcome the world." ^
And when He was interrogated by His disciples concerning
the sign of His coming, and of the consummation of the
world, He answered and said : " Take care lest any deceive
you : for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ ;
and shall deceive many. And ye shall begin to hear of wars,
and rumours of wars ; see that ye be not troubled : for these
things must needs come to pass, but the end is not yet. For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against king-
dom : and there shall be famines, and earthquakes, and pesti-
lences, in every place. But all these things are the beginnings
of travailings. Then they shall deliver you up into affliction,
and shall kill you : and ye shall be hateful to all nations for
my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and
shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And
many false prophets shall arise, and shall seduce many ; and
because wickedness shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold. But he who shall endure to the end, the same shall be
saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached
through all the world, for a testimony to all nations; and
then shall come the end. When, therefore, ye shall see the
abomination of desolation which is spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, standing in the holy place (let him who readeth
understand), then let them which are in Judea flee to the
mountains ; and let him which is on the house-roof not go
down to take anything from the house ; and let him who is
in the field not return back to carry away his clothes. But
woe to them that are pregnant, and to those that are giving
suck in those days ! But pray ye that your flight be not in
the winter, nor on the Sabbath-day : for there shall be great
tribulation, such as has not arisen from the beginning of the
world until now, neither shall arise. And unless those days
should be shortened, no flesh should be saved ; but for the
elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any one
shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, there ; believe
him not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false pro-
1 John xri. 33.
68 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
pliets, and shall show great signs and wonders, to cause error,
if it be possible, even to the elect. But take ye heed : behold,
I have foretold you all things. If, therefore, they shall say
to you, Lo, he is in the desert ; go not forth : lo, he is in
the sleeping chambers ; believe it not. For as the flashing
of lightning goeth forth from the east, and appeareth even
to the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.
Wheresoever the carcase shall be, there shall the eagles be
gathered together. But immediately after the affliction of
those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the
powers of heaven shall be moved : and then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven : and all the tribes of the
earth shall lament, and shall see the Son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. And He
shall send His angels with a great trumpet, and they shall
gather together His elect from the four winds, from the
heights of heaven, even into the farthest bounds thereof." ^
And these are not new or sudden things which are now hap-
pening to Christians ; since the good and righteous, and those
who are devoted to God in the law of innocence and the
fear of true religion, advance always through afflictions, and
wTongs, and the severe and manifold penalties of troubles,
in the hardship of a narrow path. Thus, at the very begin-
ning of the world, the righteous Abel was the first to be
slain by his brother ; and Jacob was driven into exile, and
Joseph was sold, and king Saul persecuted the merciful
David ; and king Ahab endeavoured to oppress Elias, who
firmly and bravely asserted the majesty of God. Zacharias
the priest was slain between the temple and the altar, that
himself might there become a sacrifice where he was accus-
tomed to offer sacrifices to God. So many martyrdoms of
the righteous have, in fact, often been celebrated ; so many
examples of faith and virtue have been set forth to future
generations. The three youths, Ananias, Azarias, and
Misael, equal in age, agreeing in love, stedfast in faith, con-
stant in virtue, stronger than the flames and penalties that
1 Matt. xxiv. 4-31.
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 69
urged them, proclaim that they only obey God, that they
know Him alone, that they worship Him alone, saying : " O
kinix Nebuchodonosor, there is no need for ns to answer thee
in this matter. For the God whom we serve is able to deliver
us out of the furnace of burning fire ; and Pie will deliver us
from thy hands, O king. And if not, be it known unto thee,
that we do not serve thy gods, and we do not adore the golden
image which thou hast set up." ^ And Daniel, devoted to
God, and filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims and says : " I
worship nothing but the Lord my God, who founded the
heaven and the earth." ^ Tobias also, although under a royal
and tyrannical slavery, yet in feeling and spirit free, main-
tains his confession to God, and sublimely announces both the
divine power and majesty, saying : " In the land of my cap-
tivity I confess to Him, and I show forth His power in a
sinful nation." ^ What, indeed, do we find in the Maccabees
of seven brethren, equals alike in their lot of birth and vir-
tues, filling up the number seven in the sacrament of a per-
fected completion ? Seven brethren were thus associating in
martyrdom — as the first seven days in the divine arrangement
containing seven thousand of years, as the seven spirits and
seven angels which stand and go in and out before the face
of God, and the seven-branched lamp in the tabernacle of
witness, and the seven golden candlesticks in the Apocalypse,
and the seven columns in Solomon upon which Wisdom built
her house ; so here also the number seven of the brethren,
embracing, in the quantity of their number, the seven
churches, as likewise in the first book of Kings we read that
the barren hath borne seven. And in Isaiah seven w^omen
lay hold on one man, whose name they ask to be called upon
them. And the Apostle Paul, who refers to this lawful and
certain number, writes to the seven churches. And in the
Apocalypse the Lord directs His divine and heavenly pre-
cepts to the seven churches and their angels, which number
is now found in this case, in the seven brethren, that a lawful
consummation may be completed. With the seven children
is manifestly associated also the mother, their origin and root,
^ Dan. iii. lG-18. * Bel and Dragon, vcr. 5. ^ Tob. xiii. G.
70 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
who subsequently begat seven cliurclies, slie herself having
been first, and alone founded upon Peter ^ by the voice of the
Lord. Nor is it of no account that in their sufferings the
mother alone is with her children. For martyrs who witness
themselves as the sons of God in suffering are now no more
counted as of any father but God, as in the Gospel the Lord
teaches, saying, " Call no man your father upon earth ; for one
is your Father, which is in heaven." ^ But what utterances of
confessions did they herald forth ! how illustrious, how great
proofs of faith did they afford ! The king Antiochus, their
enemy — yea, in Antiochus Antichrist was set forth — sought
to pollute the mouths of martyrs, glorious and unconquered in
the spirit of confession, with the contagion of swine's flesh ;
and when he had severely beaten them with whips, and could
prevail nothing, commanded iron plates to be heated, which
being heated and made to glow, he commanded him who had
first spoken, and had more provoked the king with the con-
stancy of his virtue and faith, to be brought up and roasted,
his tongue having first been pulled out and cut off, which had
confessed God ; and this happened the more gloriously to the
martyr. For the tongue which had confessed the name of God,
ought itself first to go to God. Then in the second, sharper
pains having been devised, before he tortured the other limbs,
he tore off the skin of his head with the hair, doubtless with a
purpose in his hatred. For since Christ is the head of the
man, and God is the head of Christ, he who tore the head in
the martyr was persecuting God and Christ in that head. But
he, trusting in his martyrdom, and promising to himself from
the retribution of God the reward of resm^rection, exclaimed
and said, " Thou indeed impotently destroyest us out of this
present life ; but the King of the world will raise us up,
who die for His laws, unto the eternal resurrection of life."^
The third being challenged, quickly put forth his tongue ; for
he had learned from his brother to despise the punishment
of cutting off the tongue. Moreover, he firmly held forth his
1 " Petrum" is the reading of Migiie ; but by far the more authorita-
tive reading is " Petram," " a rock.'
2 Matt, xxiii. 9. * 2 Mace. vii. 9.
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 71
Iiancls to be cut off, greatly happy in sucli a mode of pimisli-
ment, since it was his lot to imitate, by stretching forth his
hands, the form of his Lord's passion. And also the fourth,
with like virtue, despising the tortures, and answering, to
restrain the king, with a heavenly voice exclaimed, and said,
" It is better that those who are given to death by men should
wait for hope from God, to be raised up by Him again to
eternal life.^ For to thee there shall be no resurrection to
life."* The fifth, besides treading under foot the torments
of the king, and his severe and various tortures, by the
strength of faith, animated to prescience also and knowledge
of future events by the Spirit of divinity, foretold to the king
the wrath of God, and the vengeance that should swiftly
follow. " Having power," said he, " among men, though
thou art corruptible, thou doest what thou wilt. But think
not that our race is forsaken of God. Abide, and see His
great power, how He will torment thee and thy seed." ^ What
alleviation was that to the martyr ! how great,* how sub-
stantial a comfort in his sufferings, not to consider his own
torments, but to predict the penalties of his tormentor ! But
in the sixth, not his bravery only, but also his humility, is to
be set forth ; that the martyr claimed nothing to himself, nor
even made an account of the honour of his own confession
with proud words, but rather ascribed it to his sins that he
was suffering persecution from the king, while he attributed
to God that afterwards he should be avenged. He taught
that martyrs are modest, that they were confident of ven-
geance, and boasted nothing in their suffering. " Do not,"
said he, " needlessly err ; for we on our own account suffer
these things, as sinning against our God. But think not thou
that thou shalt be unpunished, who darest to fight against
God."^ Also the admirable mother, who, neither broken
down by the weakness of her sex, nor moved by her manifold
bereavement, looked upon her dying children with cheerful-
ness, and did not reckon those things punishments of her dar-
^ " To eternal life" is omitted in the Oxford edition.
^ 2 Mace. vii. 14. •'* 2 Mace. vii. 16.
* " How great" is omitted in some editions. ^ 2 Mace. vii. 18.
72 THE TREATISES OF CYPPdAN,
lings, but glories, giving as great a witness to God by the virtue
of her eyes, as her children had given by the tortures and suf-
fering of their limbs ; when, after the punishment and slaying
of six, there remained one of the brethren, to whom the king
promised riches, and power, and many things, that his cruelty
and ferocity might be soothed by the satisfaction of even one
being subdued, and asked that the mother would entreat that
her son might be cast down with herself ; she entreated, but
it was as became a mother of martyrs — as became one who
was mindful of the law and of God — as became one who loved
her sons not delicately, but bravely. For she entreated, but
it was that he would confess God. She entreated that the
brother would not be separated from his brothers in the
alliance of praise and glory ; then only considering herself
the mother of seven sons, if it should happen to her to have
brought forth seven sons, not to the world, but to God.
Therefore arming him, and strengthening him, and so
bearing her son by a more blessed birth, she said, " O son,
pity me that bare thee ten^ months in the w^omb, and gave
thee milk for three years, and nourished thee and brought
thee up to this age ; I pray thee, O son, look upon the heaven
and the earth ; and having considered all the things which
are in them, understand that out of nothing God made these
things and the human race. Therefore, O son,^ do not fear
that executioner ; but being made worthy of thy brethren,
receive death, that in the same mercy I may receive thee
with thy brethren."^ The mothers praise was great in her
exhortation to virtue, but greater in the fear of God and in
the truth of faith, that she promised nothing to herself or
her son from the honour of the six martyrs, nor believed that
the prayer of the brothers w^ould avail for the salvation of
one who should deny, but rather persuaded him to become a
sharer in their suffering, that in the day of judgment he might
be found with his brethren. After this the mother also dies
with her children ; for neither was anything else becoming,
^ Otherwise " nine."
2 " Thus it shall turn out that you," etc., is the Oxford reading.
3 2 Mace. vii. 27.
^.V EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 73
than that she who had borne and made martyrs, should be
joined in the fellowship of glory with them, and that she
herself should follow those whom she had sent before to God.
And lest any, when the opportunity either of a certificate or
of any such matter is offered to him whereby he may deceive,
should embrace the wicked part of deceivers, let us not be
silent, moreover, about Eleazar, who, when an opportunity
was offered him by the ministers of the king, that having re-
ceived the flesh which it was allowable for him to partake of,
he might pretend, for the misguiding of the king, that he ate
those things which were forced upon him from the sacrifices
and unlawful meats, would not consent to this deception, say-
ing that it was fitting neither for his age nor nobility to feign
that, whereby others would be scandalized and led into error;
if they should think that Eleazar, being ninety years old, had
left and betrayed the law of God, and had gone over to the
manner of aliens ; and that it was not of so much conse-
quence to gain the short moments of life, and so incur eternal
punishment from an offended God. And he having been
long tortured, and now at length reduced to extremity, while
he was dying in the midst of stripes and tortures, groaned and
said, " O Lord, that hast the holy knowledge, it is manifest
that although I might be delivered from death, I suffer the
severest pains of body, being beaten with scourges ; but with
my mind, on account of Thy fear, I willingly suffer these
things."^ Assuredly his faith was sincere and his virtue
sound, and abundantly pure, not to have regarded king
Antiochus, but God the Judge, and to have known that it
could not avail him for salvation if he should mock and
deceive man, when God, who is the judge of our conscience,
and who only is to be feared, cannot at all be mocked nor
deceived. If, therefore, we also live as dedicated and devoted
to God — if we make our way over the ancient and sacred
footsteps of the righteous, let us go through the same proofs
of sufferings, the same testimonies of passions, considering
the glory of our time the greater on this account, that while
ancient examples may be numbered, yet that subsequently,
1 2 Mace. vi. 30.
74 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
when the abundance of virtue and faith was in excess, the
Christian martyrs cannot be numbered, as the Apocalypse
testifies and says : " After these things I beheld a great multi-
tude, which no man could number, of every nation, and of
every tribe, and people, and language, standing in the sight
of the throne and of the Lamb ; and they were clothed in
white robes, and palms were in their hands ; and they said
with a loud voice. Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb ! And one of the elders an-
swered and said unto me. Who are those which are arrayed
in white robes, and whence come they ? And I said unto
him. My lord, thou knowest. And he said unto me. These
are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve Him day and night in His temple."^ But if the
assembly of the Christian martyrs is shown and proved to
be so great, let no one think it a hard or a difficult thing to
become a martyr, when he sees that the crowd of martyrs
cannot be numbered.
12. What hope and reward remains for the righteous and
for martyrs after the conflicts and sufferings of this
present time.
The Holy Spirit shows and predicts by Solomon, saying :
"And although in the sight of men they suffered torments, yet
their hope is full of immortality. And having been troubled
in a few things, they shall be in many happily ordered, be-
because God has tried them, and has found them worthy of
Himself. As gold in the furnace, He hath tried them ; and
as whole burnt-offerings of sacrifice. He hath received them,
and in its season there will be respect of them. They will
shine and run about as sparks in a place set with reeds.^
They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the
peoples ; and their Lord sliall reign for ever." ^ In the same
also our vengeance is described, and the repentance of those
^ Rev. vii. 9-15. ^ In many editions this clause is wanting.
3 AVisd. iii. 4-8.
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM. 75
who persecute and molest us is announced. " Then," saith
he, "shall the righteous stand in great constancy before
such as have afflicted them, and who have taken away their
labours ; when they see it, they shall be troubled with a
horrible fear : and they shall marvel at the suddenness of
their unexpected salvation, saying among themselves, re-
penting and groaning for anguish of spirit. These are they
whom we had sometime in derision and as a proverb of re-
proach. We fools counted their life madness, and their end
to be without honour. How are they numbered among the
children of God, and their lot is among the saints ! There-
fore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of
righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun hath not
risen upon us. We have been wearied in the way of un-
righteousness and perdition, and have walked through hard
deserts, but have not known the way of the Lord. What
hath pride profited us, or what hath the boasting of riches
brought to us? All these things have passed away like a
shadow." Likewise in the 115th Psalm is shown the price
and the reward of suffering : " Precious," it says, " in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." ^ In the 125th
Psalm also is expressed the sadness of the struggle, and the
joy of the retribution : " They who sow," it says, " in tears,
shall reap in joy. As they walked, they walked and wept,
casting their seeds; but as they come again, they shall come in
exultation, bearing their sheaves."^ And again, in the 118th
Psalm : " Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way,
who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who
search His testimonies, and seek Him out with their whole
heart." ^ Moreover, the Lord in the Gospel, Himself the
avenger of our persecution and the rewarder of our suffering,
says : " Blessed are they who suffer persecution for righteous-
ness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." * And
again : " Blessed shall ye be when men shall hate you, and
shall separate you, and shall expel you, and shall revile your
name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that
day, and leap for joy ; for, behold, your reward is great in
1 Ps. cxvi. 15. 2 ps cxxvi. 5, 6. 3 Pg. cxix. 1, 2. ^ Matt. v. 10.
76 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
heaven." ^ And once more : " Whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it." ^ Nor do the rewards
of the divine promise attend those alone who are reproached
and slain ; hut if the passion itself be wanting to the faith-
ful, while their faith has remained sound and unconquered,
and having forsaken and contemned all his possessions, the
Christian has shown that he is following Christ, even he also
is honoured by Christ among the martyrs, as He Himself
promises and says : " There is no man that leaveth house, or
land, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the
kingdom of God's sake, but shall receive seven times as
much in this present time, and in the w^orld to come eternal
life." ^ In the Apocalypse also He says the same thing :
" And I saw," saith he, " the souls of them that were slain
for the name of Jesus and the word of God." And when
he had placed those who were slain in the first place, he
added, saying; "And whosoever had not worshipped the
image of the beast, neither had received his mark upon their
forehead or in their hand ;" all these he joins together, as
seen by him at one time in the same place, and says, " And
they lived and reigned with Christ." ^ He says that all
live and reign with Christ, not only who have been slain ;
but even whosoever, standing in firmness of the faith and in
the fear of God, have not worshipped the image of the beast,
and have not consented to his deadly and sacrilegious edicts.
13. That w^e receive more as the reward of our suffering
than what we endure here in the suffering itself.
The blessed Apostle Paul proves ; who by the divine con-
descension, being caught up into the third heaven and into
paradise, testifies that he heard unspeakable w^ords, who boasts
that he saw Jesus Christ by the faith of sight, who professes
that which he both learnt and saw with the greater truth of
consciousness, and says : " The sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory which
shall be revealed in us." ^ Who, then, does not with all his
1 Luke vi. 22, 23. ^ Luke ix. 24. " Luke xviii. 29, 30.
* Rev. XX. 4, 5. ^ Rom. viii. 18.
AN EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM, 77
powers labour to attain to such a glory that he may become
the friend of God, that he may at once rejoice with Christ,
that after earthly tortures and punishments he may receive
divine rewards ? If to soldiers of this world it is glorious
to return in triumph to their country when the foe is van-
quished, how much more excellent and greater is the glory,
when the devil is overcome, to return in triumph to paradise,
and to bring back victorious trophies to that place whence
Adam was ejected as a sinner, after casting down him who
formerly had cast him down ; to offer to God the most ac-
ceptable gift — an uncorrupted faith, and an unyielding virtue
of mind, an illustrious praise of devotion ; to accompany Him
when He shall come to receive vengeance from His enemies,
to stand at His side when He shall sit to judge, to become
co-heir of Christ, to be made equal to the angels ; with the
patriarchs, with the apostles, with the prophets, to rejoice in
the possession of the heavenly kingdom ! Such thoughts as
these, wdiat persecution can conquer, what tortures can over-
come ? The brave and stedfast mind, founded in religious
meditations, endures ; and the spirit abides unmoved against
all the terrors of the devil and the threats of the world,
wdien it is strengthened by the sure and solid faith of things
to come. In persecutions, earth is shut up,^ but heaven is
opened ; Antichrist is threatening, but Christ is protecting ;
death is brought in, but immortality follows; the w^orld is
taken away from him that is slain, but paradise is set forth
to him restored ; the life of time is extinguished, but the life
of eternity is realized. What a dignity it is, and what a
security, to go gladly from hence, to depart gloriously in the
midst of afflictions and tribulations ; in a moment to close
the eyes with which men and the world are looked upon, and
at once to open them to look upon God and Christ! Of
such a blessed departure how great is the swiftness ! You
shall be suddenly taken away from earth, to be placed in the
heavenly kingdoms. It behoves us to embrace these things
in our mind and consideration, to meditate on these things
day and night. If persecution should fall upon such a
^ " The eyes of the earth are closed " is the reading of other editions.
78 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
soldier of God, liis virtue, prompt for battle, will not be able
to be overcome. Or if his call should come to him before,
his faith shall not be without reward, seeing it was prepared
for martyrdom ; without loss of time, the reward is rendered
by the judgment of God. In persecution, the warfare, — in
peace, the purity of conscience, is crowned.
TREATISE XII.
THREE BOOKS OF TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS.
Cypeian to his son Quirinus, greeting. It was necessary,
my beloved son, that I should obey 3^our spiritual desire, which
asked with most urgent petition for those divine teachings
wherewith the Lord has condescended to teach and instruct
us by the holy Scriptures, that, being led away from the
darkness of error, and enlightened by His pure and shining
light, we may keep the way of life through the saving sacra-
ments. And indeed, as you have asked, so has this discourse
been arranged by me ; and this treatise has been ordered in
an abridged compendium, so that I should not scatter what
was written in too diffuse an abundance, but, as far as my
poor memory suggested, might collect all that was necessary
in selected and connected heads, under which I may seem,
not so much to have treated the subject, as to have afforded
material for others to treat it. Moreover, to readers also,
brevity of the same kind is of very great advantage, in that
a treatise of too great length dissipates the understanding
and perception of the reader, while a tenacious memory keeps
that which is read in a more exact compendium. But I
have comprised in my undertaking two books of equally
moderate length : one wherein I have endeavoui'ed to show
that the Jews, according to what had before been foretold,
had departed from God, and had lost God's favour, which
had been given them in past time, and had been promised
them for the future ; while the Christians had succeeded to
their place, deserving well of the Lord by faith, and coming
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 79
out of all nations and from the whole world. The second
book likewise contains the sacrament of Christ, that He has
come who was announced according to the Scriptures, and
has done and perfected all those things whereby He was fore-
told as being able to be perceived and known.^ And these
things may be of advantage to you meanwhile, as you read,
for forming the first lineaments of your faith. More strength
will be given you, and the intelligence of the heart will be
effected more and more, as you examine more fully the Scrip-
tures, old and new, and read through the complete volumes
of the spiritual books. For now we have filled a small
measure from the divine fountains, which in the meantime
we would send to you. You will be able to drink more plen-
tifully, and to be more abundantly satisfied, if you also will
approach to drink together with us at the same springs of
the divine fulness. I bid you, beloved son, always heartily
farewell.
FIRST BOOK.
HEADS.
1. That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of
God, because they have departed from the Lord, and have
followed idols.
2. Also because they did not believe the prophets, and
put them to death.
3. That it was previously foretold that they would neither
know the Lord, nor understand nor receive Him.
4. That the Jews would not understand the holy Scrip-
tures, but that they would be intelligible in the last times,
after Christ had come.
5. That the Jews could understand nothing of the Scrip-
tures unless they first believed on Christ.
6. That they would lose Jerusalem, and leave the land
which they had received.
7. That they would also lose the Light of the Lord.
^ This sentence is otlierwise read, " whereby it may he perceived and
known that it is He Himself who was foretold."
80 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
8. That the first circumcision of the flesh was made void,
and a second circumcision of the spirit was promised instead.
9. That the former law, which was given by Moses, was
about to cease.
10. That a new law was to be given.
11. That another dispensation and a new covenant was to
be given.
12. That the old baptism was to cease, and a new one was
to begin.
13. That the old yoke was to be made void, and a new
yoke was to be given.
14. That the old pastors were to cease, and new ones to
begin.
15. That Christ should be God's house and temple, and that
the old temple should pass away, and a new one should begin.
16. That the old sacrifice should be made void, and a new
one should be celebrated.
17. That the old priesthood should cease, and a new priest
should come who should be for ever.
18. That another prophet, such as Moses, was promised,
to wit, who should give a new testament, and who was rather
to be listened to.
19. That two peoples were foretold, the elder and the
younger; that is, the ancient people of the Jews, and the
new one which should be of us.
20. That the church, which had previously been barren,
should have more sons from among the Gentiles than the
synagogue had had before.
21. That the Gentiles should rather believe in Christ.
22. That the Jews should lose the bread and the cup of
Christ, and all His grace ; while we should receive them, and
that the new name of Christians should be blessed in the earth.
23. That rather the Gentiles than the Jews should attain
to the kingdom of heaven.
24. That by this alone the Jews could obtain pardon of
their sins, if they wash away the blood of Christ slain in His
baptism, and, pasing over into the church, should obey His
precepts.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 81
TESTIMONIES.
1. That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of
God because they have forsaken the Lord, and have
followed idols.
In Exodus the people said to Aaron : " Arise, and make us
gods which shall go before us ; because as for this man Moses,
who brought us out of Egypt, we know not what has become
of him." ^ In the same place also Moses says to the Lord :
" O Lord, I pray thee, this people have smned a great sin.
They have made to themselves gods of gold and silver. And
now, if Thou wilt forgive them their sin, forgive ; but if not,
blot me out of the book which Thou hast written. And the
Lord said unto Moses, If any one hath sinned against me, him
will I blot out of my book." ^ Likewise in Deuteronomy :
" They sacrificed unto demons, and not unto God." ^ In the
book of Judges too : " And the children of Israel did evil in
the sight of the Lord God of their fathers, who brought
them out of the land of Egypt, and followed the gods of the
peoples that were round about them, and offended the Lord,
and forsook God, and served Baal."^ Also in the same place :
" And the children of Israel added again to do evil ^ in the
sight of the Lord, and served Baal and the gods of the
strangers, and forsook the Lord, and served Him not." ^ In
Malachi : " Judah is forsaken, and has become an abomination
in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judah has profaned the
holiness of the Lord in those things wherein He hath loved,
and courted strange gods. The Lord will cut off the man
who doeth this, and he shall be made base in the tabernacles
of Jacob." '
2. Also because they did not believe the prophets, and put
them to death.
In Jeremiah the Lord says : " I have sent unto you my
servants the prophets. Before the daylight I sent them (and
1 Ex. xxxii. 1. 2 Ex. xxxii. 31-33. ^ Dent, xxxii. 17.
^ Judg. ii. 11-13. fi " And again they did evil."
c Jiidg. iv. 1. 7 Mai. ii. 11.
CYr. — VOL. II. P
82 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
ye heard me not, and did not listen with your ears), saying,
Let every one of you be converted from his evil way, and
from your most wicked desires ; and ye shall dwell in that
land which I have given you and your fathers for ever and
ever." ^ And again :^ "Go not after other gods, to serve
them, and do not worship them ; and provoke me not to anger
in the works of your hands to scatter you abroad ; and ye
have not hearkened unto me." ^ Also in the third book of
the Kings, Elias saith unto the Lord : " In being jealous I
have been jealous for the Lord God Almighty ; because the
children of Israel have forsaken Thee, have demolished Thine
altars, and have slain Thy prophets with the sword ; and I
have remained solitary, and they seek my life, to take it away
from me." ^ In Ezra also : " They have fallen away from
Thee, and have cast Thy law behind their backs, and have
killed Thy prophets which testified against them that they
should return to Thee." ^
3. That it was previously foretold that they would neither
know the Lord, nor understand, nor receive Him.
In Isaiah : " Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth : for
the Lord hath spoken ; I have begotten and brought up chil-
dren, but they have rejected me. The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib : but Israel hath not known me,
and my people hath not perceived me. Ah sinful nation, a
people filled with sins, a wicked seed, corrupting children : ye
have forsaken the Lord, and have sent that Holy One of
Israel into anger." ^ In the same also the Lord says : " Go
and tell this people, Ye shall hear with the ear, and shall not
understand ; and seeing, ye shall see, and shall not perceive.
For the heart of this people hath waxed gross, and they
hardly hear with their ears, and they have shut up their eyes,
lest haply they should see with their eyes, and hear with their
1 Jer. vii. 25, xxv, 4.
2 The words " and again " are sometimes omitted; and sometimes read
'• Moreover, in the same place."
3 Jer. XXV. 6, 7. * 1 Kings xix. 10.
5 Neh. ix. 26. « Isa. i. 2-4.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 83
ears, and understand with their heart, and should return, and
I should heal them." ^ Also in Jeremiah the Lord says :
" Tliey have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and
have dug for themselves worn-out cisterns, which could not
hold water." ^ Moreover, in the same : " Behold, the word
of the Lord has become unto them a reproach, and they do
not wish for it." ^ Again in the same the Lord says : " The
kite knoweth his time, the turtle, and the swallow ; * the spar-
rows of the field keep the time of their coming in ; but my
people doth not know the judgment of the Lord. How say
ye. We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us ? The
false measurement^ has been made vain; the scribes are con-
founded ; the wise men have trembled, and been taken,
because they have rejected the word of the Lord."^ In Solo-
mon also : " Evil men seek me, and shall not find me ; for
they held wisdom in hatred, and did not receive the word of
the Lord." '' Also in the twenty-seventh Psalm : " Eender
to them their deserving, because they have not perceived in
the works of the Lord." ^ Also in the eighty-first Psalm :
" They have not known, neither have they understood ;
they shall walk on in darkness." ^ In the Gospel, too, accord-
ing to John : " He came unto His own, and His own received
Him not. As many as received Him, to them gave He power
to become the sons of God who believe on His name." ^*^
4. That the Jews would not understand the Holy Scrip-
tures, but that they would be intelligible in the last
times, after that Christ had come.
In Isaiah : " And all these words shall be unto you as the
words of a book that is sealed, which, if you shall give to a
man that knoweth letters to read, he shall say, I cannot read,
for it is sealed. But in that day the deaf shall hear the
1 Isa. vi. 9, 10. 2 jer. ii. 13. 3 j^^. vi. 10.
* According to the Oxford edition: "The turtle and the sAvallow
knoweth its time," etc.
^ Six ancient authorities have " your measurement."
c Jcr. viii. 7-9. '' Prov. i. 28, 29. » Ps. xxviu. 4, 5.
» Ps. Ixxxii. 5. 10 John i. 11, 12.
84 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
Avords of the book, and tliey who are in darkness and in a
cloud ; the eyes of the bhnd shall see." ^ Also in Jeremiah :
^' In the last of the days ye shall know those things." ^ In
Daniel, moreover : " Secure the words, and seal the book
until the time of consummation, until many learn, and know-
ledge is fulfilled, because when there shall be a dispersion
they shall know all these things." ^ Likewise in the first
Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant, that all our fathers were under
the cloud." ^ Also in the second Epistle to the Corinthians :
" Their minds are blinded even unto this day, by this same
veil which is taken away in Christ, while this same veil
remains in the reading of the Old Testament, which is not
unveiled, because it is made void in Christ ; and even to this
day, if at any time Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
But by and by, when they shall be turned unto the Lord,
the veil shall be taken away." ^ In the Gospel, the Lord
after His resiuTection says : " These are the words which I
spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in
the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened
He their understanding, that they might understand the Scrip-
tures ; and said unto them, That thus it is written, and thus
it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead
the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in His name even among all nations." ^
5. That the Jews could understand nothing of the Scrip-
tures unless they first believed in Christ.
In Isaiah : " And if ye will not believe, neither will ye
understand." '^ Also the Lord in the Gospel : " For if ye
believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." ^ More-
over, that righteousness should subsist by faith, and that in it
1 Isa. xxix. 11-18. ^ Jcr. xxiii. 20. " Dan. xii. 4-7.
4 1 Cor. X. 1.
^ 2 Cor. iii. 14-16. There is a singular coiifuson in the reading of
this quotation. The translator has followed Migne's text.
^ Luke xxiv. 44-47. ^ Isa. vii. 9. ^ John viii. 24.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 85
was life, was predicted in TIabakkuk : " Now tlie just shall
live by faith of me." ^ Hence Abraham, the father of the
nations, believed ; in Genesis : " Abraham believed in God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness." ^ In like
manner, Paul to the Galatians : " Abraham believed in God,
and it was counted unto him for riMiteousness. Ye know,
therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are children
of Abraham. But the Scripture, foreseeing that God justi-
fieth the heathens by faith, foretold to Abraham that all
nations should be blessed in him. Therefore they who are
of faith are blessed ^ with faithful Abraham." ^
6. That the Jews should lose Jerusalem, and should leave
the land which they had received.
In Isaiah : " Your country is desolate, your cities are
burned with fire : your land, strangers shall devour it in
your sight ; and the daughter of Zion shall be left deserted,
and overthrown by foreign peoples, as a cottage in a vine-
yard, and as a keeper's lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as
a city which is besieged. And unless the Lord of Sabaoth
had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodoma, and we
should have been like unto Gomorrah." ^ Also in the Gospel
the Lord says : " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the pro-
phets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not ! Behold,
your house shall be left unto you desolate." ^
7. Also that they should lose the light of the Lord.
In Isaiah : " Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the
Lord. For He hath sent away His people, the house of
Israel." ^ In His Gospel also, according to John : " That
was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into
this world. He was in this world, and the world was made
by Him, and the world knew Him not." ^ Moreover, in the
1 Hab. ii. 4. 2 Qen. xv. 6.
^ The Burgundian codex reads, " are justified." ** Gal. iii. 6-9.
« Isa. i. 7-9. 6 Matt, xxiii. 37, 38. ^" Isa. ii. 5, 6. » j^hn i. 9, 10.
86 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
same place : " He that believetli not is judged already, be-
cause he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. And this is the judgment, that light is come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." ^
8. That the first circumcision of the flesh is made void,
and the second circumcision of the spirit is promised
instead.
In Jeremiah : " Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah,
and to them who inhabit Jerusalem, Renew newness among
you, and do not sow among thorns : circumcise yourselves to
your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart ; lest my
anger go forth like fire, and burn you up, and there be none
to extinguish it."^ Also Moses says : " In the last days God
will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love
the Lord thy God."^ Also in Jesus the son of Nave : " And
the Lord said unto Jesus, Make thee small knives of stone,
very sharp, and set about to circumcise the children of Israel
for the second time."* Paul also, to the Oolossians : "Ye
are circumcised with the circumcision not made with hands
in the putting off of the flesh, but with the circumcision of
Christ."^ Also, because Adam was first made by God un-
circumcised, and righteous Abel, and Enoch, who pleased
God and was translated ; and Noah, who, when the world and
men were perishing on account of transgressions, w^as chosen
alone, that in him the human race might be preserved ; and
Melchizedek, the priest according to whose order Christ was
promised. Then, because that sign did not avail women,^
but all are sealed by the sign of the Lord.
9. That the former law which was given by Moses was to
cease.
In Isaiah : " Then shall they be manifest who seal the law,
that they may not learn ; and he shall say, I wait upon the
1 Jolin iii. 18, 19. " Jer. iv. 3, 4. ^ D^ut. xxx. 6,
* Josh. V. 2. ^ Col. ii. 11.
6 This appears to be the natural reading, but it rests on slight autho-
rity ; the better accredited reading being " seminis " for " feminis."
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 87
Lord, who turnetli away His face from the house of Jacob,
and I shall trust in Him." ^ In the Gospel also : " All the
prophets and the law prophesied until John."^
10. That a new law was to be given.
In Micah : " For the law shall go forth out of Sion, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge
among many peoples, and He shall subdue and uncover strong
nations.'" ^ Also in Isaiah : " For from Sion shall 20 forth
the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem ; and He
shall judge among the nations."* Likewise in the Gospel
according to Matthew : " And behold a voice out of the cloud,
saying. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am w^ell pleased ;
hear ye Him." ^
11. That another dispensation and a new covenant was to
be given.
In Jeremiah : " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and
I will complete for the house of Israel, and for the house of
Judah, a new testament, not according to the testament which
I ordered with their fathers in that day in which I took hold
of their hands to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because
they remained not in my testament, and I disregarded them,
saith the Lord : Because this is the testament which I will
establish with the house of Israel after those days, saith the
Lord : I will give them my laws, and into their minds I will
write them ; and I will be to them for a God, and they shall
be to me for a people ; and they shall not teach every man his
brother, saying. Know the Lord : for all shall know me, from
the least even to the greatest of them : for I will be merciful
to their iniquities, and will no more be mindful of their sins."^
12. That the old baptism should cease, and a new one
should bemn.
In Isaiah : " Therefore remember ye not the former things,
neither reconsider the ancient things. Behold, I make new
1 Isa. viii. 16, 17. 2 ^att. xi. 13. ^ ^ic. iv. 2, 3.
* Isa. ii. 3, 4. ^ ^att. xvii. 5. « Jer. xxxi. 31-34.
88 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
the tilings wliich shall now arise, and ye shall know it ; and
I will make in the desert a way, and rivers in a dry place,
to give drink to my chosen race, my people whom I ac-
quired, that they should show forth my praises."^ In the
same also : " If they thirst. He wdll lead them through the
deserts ; He will bring forth water from the rock ; the rock
shall be cloven, and the water shall flow : and my people shall
drink." ^ Moreover, in the Gospel according to Matthew,
John says : " I indeed baptize you with water unto repent-
ance : but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose
shoes I am not w^orthy to bear ; He shall baptize you with
the Holy Ghost, and with fire." ^ Also according to John :
" Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. For that which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that wliich is born of the Spirit is spirit." "^
13. That the old yoke should be made void, and a new yoke
should be given.
In the second Psalm : '^ For what purpose have the heathen
raged, and the people imagined vain things ? The kings of the
earth stood up, and the rulers have gathered together against
the Lord, and against His Christ. Let us break their bonds
asunder, and cast away their yoke from us."^ Likewise in
the Gospel according to Matthew, the Lord says : " Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are burdened, and I will cause
you to rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I
am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. For my yoke is excellent, and my burden is light." ^
In Jeremiah : " In that day I will shatter the yoke from
their neck, and will burst their fetters ; and they shall not
labour for others, but they shall labour for the Lord God ;
and I will raise up David a king unto them."^
14. That the old pastors should cease and new ones begin.
In Ezekiel : " Wherefore thus saitli the Lord, Behold, I
1 Isa. xliii. 18-21. 2 jg^^. xlviii. 21. - Matt. iii. 11.
4 John iii. 5, 6. « Ps. ii. 1-3. 6 Matt. xi. 28-30.
"^ Jer. XXX. 8, 9.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 89
am above the sheplierds ; and I will require my sheep from
their hands, and I will turn them away from feeding my
sheep ; and they shall feed them no more, and I will deliver
my sheep from their mouth, and I will feed them with judg-
ment." ^ In Jeremiah the Lord says : " And I will give you
sheplierds according to my own heart, and. they shall feed
you with the food of discipline."^ In Jeremiah, moreover:
" Hear the word of the Lord, ye nations, and. tell it to the
islands which are afar off. Say, He that scattereth Israel
will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd his flock :
for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and taken him out from
the hand of him that was stronger than he." ^
15. That Christ should be the house and temple of God,
and that the old temple should cease, and the new
one should begin.
In the second book of Kings : " And the word of the Lord
came to Nathan, saying. Go and tell my servant David,
Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to
dwell in ; but it shall be, when thy days shall be fulfilled, and
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed
after thee, which shall come from thy bowels, and I will make
ready his kingdom. He shall build me an house in my name,
and I will raise up his throne for ever ; and I will be to him
for a father, and he shall be to me for a son : and his house
shall obtain confidence, and his kingdom for evermore in my
sight."* Also in the Gospel the Lord says: "There shall
not be left in the temple one stone upon another that shall
not be thrown down."^ And, "After three days another
shall be raised up without hands."®
16. That the ancient sacrifice should be made void, and
a new one should be celebrated.
In Isaiah : " For what purpose to me is the multitude of
your sacrifices ? saith the Lord : I am full ; I will not have
1 Ezek. xxxiv. 10-10. 2 j^r. iii. 15.
» Jer. xxxi. 10, 11. ■* 2 Sam. vii. 4, 5, 12-16.
fi Matt. xxiv. 2. « John ii. 19 : Mark xiv. 58.
90 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
the burnt sacrifices of rams, and fat of lambs, and blood of
bulls and goats. For who hath required these things from
your hands ? " ^ Also in the forty-ninth Psalm : " I will not
eat the flesh of bulls, nor drink the blood of goats. Offer to
God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most
High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver
thee: and thou shalt glorify me." ^ In the same Psalm,
moreover : " The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me : therein
is the way in which I will show him the salvation of God." *
In the fourth Psalm too : " Sacrifice the sacrifice of right-
eousness, and hope in the Lord." ^ Likewise in Malachi : " I
have no pleasure concerning you, saith the Lord, and I will
not have an accepted offering from your hands. Because
from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the
same, my name is glorified among the Gentiles ; and in every
place odours of incense are offered to my name, and a pure
sacrifice, because great is my name among the nations, saith
the Lord." ^
17. That the old priesthood should cease, and a new priest
should come, who should be for ever.
In the 109th Psalm : " Before the morning star I begat
thee. The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent, Thou
art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek." ^ Also
in the first book of Kings, God says to the priest Eli : " And
I will raise up to me a faithful priest, who shall do all
things which are in my heart : and I will build him a sure
house; and he shall pass in the presence of my anointed
ones for all days. And it shall be, whosoever shall remain
in thine house, shall come to worship for an obolus of money,
and for one loaf of bread." '
18. That another Prophet such as Moses was promised, to
wit, one who should give a new testament, and who
rather ought to be heard.
In Deuteronomy God says to Moses : " And the Lord said
1 Isa. i. 11, 12. 2 ps^ 1, i3_i5. 3 Ps. i. 23. * Ps. iv. 5.
fi Mai. i. 10, 11. "^ Ps. ex. 3. ^ 1 Sam. ii. 35, 36.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 91
to me, A Prophet will I raise up to them from among their
brethren, such as thee, and I will give my word in His mouth ;
and He shall speak unto them that which I shall command
Him. And whosoever shall not hear whatsoever things that
Prophet shall speak in my name, I will avenge it." ^ Con-
cerning whom also Christ says in the Gospel according to
John : " Search the Scriptures, in which ye think ye have
eternal life. These are they wdiich set forth testimony con-
cerning me ; and ye will not come to me, that ye might have
life. Do not think that I accuse you to the Father : there
is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye hope.
For if ye had believed Moses, ye would also believe me :
for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how
shall ye believe my words ? " ^
19. That two peoples were foretold, the elder and the
younger; that is, the old people of the Jews, and the
new one which should consist of us.
In Genesis : " And the Lord said unto Rebekah, Two
nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated
from thy belly ; and the one people shall overcome the other
people ; and the elder shall serve the younger." ^ Also in
Hosea : " I will call them my people that are not my people,
and her beloved that was not beloved. For it shall be, in
that place in which it shall be called not my people, they
shall be called the sons of the living God." *
20. That the church which before had been barren should
have more children from amono; the Gentiles than
CD
what the synagogue had had before.
In Isaiah : " Rejoice, thou barren, that barest not ; and
break forth and cry, thou that travailest not : because many
more are the children of the desolate one than of her who
hath an husband. For the Lord hath said. Enlarge the
place of thy tabernacle, and of thy curtains, and fasten them:
spare not, make long thy measures, and strengthen thy
1 Deut. xviii. 18, 19. 2 j^i^n v. 39, 40, 45-47.
3 Gen. XXV. 23. * Hos. ii. 23, i. 10.
92 THE TREATISES OF CYPPdAK.
stakes : stretcli forth yet to thy right hand and to thy left
hand; and thy seed shall possess the nations, and shall
inhabit the deserted cities. Fear not; because thou shalt
overcome : nor be afraid because thou art cursed ; for thou
shalt forget thy eternal confusion." ^ Thus also to Abra-
ham, when his former son was born of a bond-woman, Sarah
remained long barren ; and late in old age bare her son
Isaac, of promise, who was the type of Christ. Thus also
Jacob received two wives : the elder Leah, with weak
eyes, a type of the synagogue; the younger the beauti-
ful Kachel, a type of the church, who also remained long
barren, and afterwards brought forth Joseph, who also was
himself a type of Christ. And in the first of Kings it is
said that Elkanah had two wives : Peninnah, with her sons ;
and Hannah, barren, from whom is born Samuel, not ac-
cording to the order of generation, but according to the
mercy and promise of God, when she had prayed in the
temple ; and Samuel being born, was a type of Christ. Also
in the first book of Kings : " The barren hath borne seven ;
and she that had many children has grown weak." ^ But
the seven children are the seven churches. Whence also
Paul wrote to seven churches ; and the Apocalypse sets
forth seven churches, that the number seven may be pre-
served ; as the seven days in which God made the world ; as
the seven angels who stand and go in and out before the
face of God, as Raphael the angel says in Tobit; and the
sevenfold lamp in the tabernacle of witness ; and the seven
eyes of God, which keep watch over the world ; and the stone
with seven eyes, as Zechariah says ; and the seven spirits ;
and the seven candlesticks in the Apocalypse ; and the seven
pillars upon which Wisdom hath builded her house in Solomon.
21. That the Gentiles should rather believe in Christ.
In Genesis : " And the Lord God said unto Abraham, Go
out from thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy
father's house, and go into that land which I shall show
thee : and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will
1 Isa. liv. 1-4. 2 1 Sam. ii. 5.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 93
bless thee, and I will magnify thy name ; and thou shalt be
blessed : and I will bless him that blessetli thee, and I ^Yill
curse him that curseth thee : and in thee shall all the tribes
of the earth be blessed." ^ On this same point in Genesis :
" And Isaac blessed Jacob.^ Behold, the smell of my son is
as the smell of a plentiful field which the Lord hath blessed :
and God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fertility
of the earth, abundance of corn, and wine, and oil : and
peoples shall obey thee, and princes shall worship thee : and
thou shalt be lord over thy brother, and the sons of thy father
shall worship thee : and he that curseth thee shall be cursed,
and he that blessetli thee shall be blessed." ^ On this matter
too in Genesis: "But when Joseph saw that his father
placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it seemed dis-
pleasing to him : and Joseph laid hold of his father's hand, to
lift it from the head of Ephraim on to the head of Manasseh.
Moreover, Joseph said unto his father. Not so, my father : this
is my first-born ; place thy right hand upon his head. But he
would not, and said, I know it, my son, I know it : and he also
shall be a people, and he shall be exalted ; but his younger
brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become
a multitude of nations."* Moreover in Genesis: "Judah,
thy brethren shall praise thee : thine hand shall be upon the
back of thine enemies ; the sons of thy father shall worship
thee. Judah is a lion's whelp : from the slender twig,^ my
son, thou hast ascended : thou layedst down and sleepedst as
a lion, and as a lion's whelp ; who shall stir him up ? There
shalt not fail a prince from Judah, and a leader from his
loins, until those things entrusted to him shall come ; and he
1 Gen. xii. 1-3.
^ The quotation in the Oxford edition begins from this point.
3 Gen. xxvii. 27-29.
^ Gen. xlviii. 17-19. The whole of this quotation is wanting in more
than one codex.
^ "Frutice." The Oxford translator has here, witliout any autlio-
rity as it appears, from the text, adopted the reading of the Vulgate,
" ad prsedam." Cyprian has used the LXX., reading apparently, ix,
fiTidarov. The Hebrew P]lt2?3 gives a colour to either reading. See
Gesen. Lex. in voce P)1D.
94 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
is the hope of the nations : binding his foal unto the vine,
and his ass's colt unto the branch of the vine;^ he shall
wash his garments in wine, and his clothing in the blood of
the grape : terrible are his eyes with wine, and his teeth are
whiter than milk." ^ Hence in Numbers it is written con-
cerning our people : " Behold, the people shall rise up as a
lion-like people." ^ In Deuteronomy : " Ye Gentiles shall be
for the head; but this unbelieving people shall be for the
tail." * Also in Jeremiah : " Hear the sound of the trumpet.
And they said, We will not hear : for this ckuse the nations
shall hear, and they who shall feed their cattle among them."^
In the seventeenth Psalm: "Thou shalt establish me the
head of the nations : a people whom I have not known
have served me : at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed
me." ® Concerning this very thing the Lord says in Jere-
miah : " Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee ;
and before thou wentest forth from the womb, I sanctified
thee, and established thee as a prophet among the nations." '^
Also in Isaiah : " Behold, I have manifested him for a wit-
ness to the nations, a prince and a commander to the
peoples." ^ Also in the same : " Nations which have not
known Thee shall call upon Thee ; and peoples which were
ignorant of Thee shall flee to Thee." ^ In the same, moreover :
" And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
rise to rule in all the nations; in Him shall the Gentiles
hope : and His rest shall be honour." ^° In the same again :
" The land of Zebulon, and the land of Nephtalim, by the
way of the sea, and ye others who inhabit the maritime
places, and beyond Jordan ^^ of the nations. People that
walk in darkness, behold ye a great light ; ye who dwell in
the region of the shadow of death, the light shall shine upon
you." ^^ Also in the same : " Thus saith the Lord God to
^ Original, " ad cilicium ;" LXX. rn sKiki, " the tendril of the vine ;"
Oxford transl. " the choice vine."
2 Gen. xlix. 8-12. ^ Num. xxiii. 14. ^ Deut. xxviii. 44.
5 Jer. vi. 18. ^ Ps. xviii. 43, 41. "^ Jer. i. 5.
8 Isa. Iv. 4. ^ Isa. Iv. 5. ^^ Isa. xi. 10.
^^ Oxford edition adds " GalQee." ^^ ig^. ix. 1, 2.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 95
Christ my Lord, whose right hand I hold, that the nations
may hear Him; and I will break asunder the strength of
kings, I will open before Him gates ; and cities shall not
be shut." ^ Also in the same : " I come to gather together
all nations and tongues ; and they shall come, and see my
glory. And I will send out over them a standard, and I
will send those that are preserved among them to the
nations which are afar off, which have not heard my name
nor seen my glory ; and they shall declare my glory to the
nations."^ Also in the same: "And in all these things
they are not converted ; therefore He shall lift up a standard
to the nations which are afar, and He will draw them from
the end of the earth." ^ Also in the same : " Those who
had not been told of Him shall see, and tliey who have not
heard shall understand." * Also in the same : " I have been
made manifest to those who seek me not : I have been found
of those who asked not after me. I said, Lo, here am I, to a
nation that has not called upon my name." ^ Of this same
thing, in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul says : " It was neces-
sary that the word of God should first be shown to you ; but
since ye put it from you, and judged yourselves unworthy of
eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles : for thus said the
Lord by the Scriptures, Behold, I have set Thee a light
among the nations, that Thou shouldest be for salvation even
to the ends of the earth." ^
22. That the Jews would lose while we should receive the
bread and the cup of Christ and all His grace, and
that the new name of Christians should be blessed in
the earth.
In Isaiah : " Thus saith the Lord, Behold, they who serve
me shall eat, but ye shall be hungry : behold, they who serve
me shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty -J behold, they who
1 Isa. xlv. 1. 2 iga. ]xvi. 18, 19.
3 Isa. V. 25, 26. * Isa. lii. 15.
^ Isa. Ixv. 1. 6 ^cts xiii. 46, 47.
^ This second clause, " Behold, they who serve me shall drink," etc.,
is wanting in some editions.
96 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
serve me shall rejoice, but ye shall be confounded ; the Lord
shall slay you. But to those who serve me a new name shall
be named, which shall be blessed in the earth." ^ Also in
the same place : " Therefore shall He lift up an ensign to
the nations which are afar off, and He will draw them from
the end of the earth ; and, behold, they shall come swiftly with
lightness ; they shall not hunger nor thirst." ^ Also in the
same place : " Behold, therefore, the Ruler, the Lord of
Sabaoth, shall take away from Judah and from Jerusalem the
healthy man and the strong man, the strength of bread and
the strength of water." ^ Likewise in the thirty-third Psalm :
" O taste and see how sweet is the Lord. Blessed is the man
that hopeth in Him. Fear the Lord God, all ye His saints :
for there is no want to them that fear Him. Rich men have
wanted and have hungered ; but they who seek the Lord
shall never want any good thing."* Moreover, in the Gospel
according to John, the Lord says : " I am the bread of life :
he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that trusteth
in me shall never thirst." ^ Likewise He saith in that place :
" If any one thirst, let him come and drink. He that
believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water."® Moreover, He says in the
same place : " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you." ^
23. That the Gentiles rather than the Jews attain to the
kingdom of heaven.
In the Gospel the Lord says : " Many shall come from the
cast and from the west, and shall lie down with Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven ; but the
children of the kingdom shall go out into outer darkness :
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." ^
24. That by this alone the Jews can receive pardon of
their sins, if they wash away the blood of Christ slain,
1 Isa. Ixv. 13-15. 2 isa. y. 26, 27. ^ iga. iii. i, 2.
* Ps. xxxiv. 8-10. ^ John vi. 35. « joij^ vii. 37, 38.
^ John vi, 53. « Matt. viii. 11, 12.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 97
in His baptism, and passing over into His cliurcli,
obey His precepts.
In Isaiah the Lord says : " Now I will not release your sins.
When ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my face
from you ; and if ye multiply prayers, I will not hear you :
for your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you
clean ; take away the wickedness from your souls from the
sight of mine eyes ; cease from your wickedness ; learn to
do good ; seek judgment ; keep him w^ho suffers wrong ; judge
for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, let us
reason together, saith the Lord : and although your sins be as
scarlet, I will whiten ^ them as snow ; and although they were
as crimson, I will whiten^ them as wool. And if ye be willing
and listen to me, ye shall eat the good of the land ; but if
ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall con-
sume you ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these
things."^
SECOND BOOK.
HEADS.
1. That Christ is the Fii'st-born, and that He is the Wisdom
of God, by whom all things were made.
2. That Christ is the Wisdom of God ; and about the sacra-
ment of His incarnation, and passion, and cup, and altar, and
the apostles who were sent and preached.
3. That Christ also is Himself the Word of God.
4. That the same Christ is God's hand and arm.
5. That the same is Angel and God.
6. That Christ is God.
7. That Christ our God should come as the Illuminator
and Saviour of the human race.
8. That although from the beginning He had been Son of
God, He had yet to be begotten again according to the flesh.
9. That this should be the sign of His nativity, that He
should be born of a virgin — man and God — Son of man and
of God.
1 " Exalb.ibo." 2 u Inalbabo." ^ j.^^, j. i5_20.
CYr. — VOL. ir. G
98 THE TREATISES OF CYPEIAK
10. That Christ is man and God, compounded of either
nature, that He might be a mediator between ns and the
Father.
11. That He was to be born of the seed of David after the
flesh.
12. That He should be born in Bethlehem,
13. That He should come in lowly condition on His first
advent.
14. That He was the righteous One whom the Jews should
put to death.
15. That He was called a Sheep and a Lamb who would
have to be slain, and concerning the sacrament of the
passion.
16. That He is also called a Stone.
17. That subsequently that stone should become a moun-
tain, and should fill the whole earth.
18. That in the last times the same mountain should be
manifested, upon which the Gentiles should come, and on
which the righteous should go up.
19. That He is the Bridegroom, having the church as
His bride, from whom children should be spiritually born.
20. That the Jews should fasten Him to the cross.
21. That in the passion and the sign of the cross is all
virtue and power.
22. That in this sign of the cross is salvation for all who
are marked on their forelieads.
23. That at mid-day, during His passion, there should be
darkness.
24. That He should not be overcome of death, nor should
remain in hell.
25. That He should rise again from hell on the third day.
26. That when He had risen. He should receive from His
Father all power, and His power should be eternal.
27. That it is impossible to attain to God the Father,
except through the Son Jesus Christ.
28. That He is to come as a Judge.
29. That He is to reign as a King for ever.
30. That He is both Judge and King.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 99
TESTIMONIES.
1. That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom
of God, by whom all things were made.
In Solomon in the Proverbs : " The Lord established me
in the beginning of His ways, into His works : before the
world He founded me. In the beginning, before He made
the earth, and before He appointed the abysses, before the
fountains of waters gushed forth, before the mountains were
settled, before all the hills, the Lord begot me. He made
the countries, and the uninhabitable places, and the unin-
habitable bounds under heaven. When He prepared the
heaven, I was present with Him; and when He set apart His
seat. When He made the strong clouds above the winds, and
when He placed the strengthened fountains under heaven,
when He made the mighty foundations of the earth, I was by
His side, ordering them : I was He in whom He delighted :
moreover, I daily rejoiced before His face in all time, when
He rejoiced in the perfected earth." ^ Also in the same in
Ecclesiasticus : " I went forth out of the mouth of the Most
High, first-born before every creature : I made the unweary-
ing light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the whole earth
with a cloud : I dwelt in the high places, and my throne in
the pillar of the cloud : I compassed the circle of heaven, and
I penetrated into the depth of the abj^ss, and I walked on the
waves of the sea, and I stood in all the earth ; and in every
people and in every nation I had the pre-eminence, and by
my own strength I have trodden the hearts of all the excel-
lent and the humble : in me is all hope of life and virtue :
pass over to me, all ye who desire me."^ Also in the eighty-
eighth Psalm : " And I will establish Him as my first-
born, the highest among the kings of the earth. I will keep
my mercy for Him for ever, and my faithful covenant for
Him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever. If
his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judg-
ments ; if they profane my judgments, and do not observe
my precepts, I will visit their wickednesses with a rod, and
1 Prov. viii. 22-31. 2 Ecclus. xxiv. 3-7.
100 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAK.
tlieir sins with scourges; but my mercy will I not scatter
away from them." ^ Also in the Gospel according to
John, the Lord says : " And this is life eternal, that they
should know Thee, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth : I
have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And
now, do Thou glorify me with Thyself, with the glory which
I had with Thee before the world was made."- Also Paul to
the Colossians : " Who is the image of the invisible God, and
the first-born of every creature."^ Also in the same place:
" The first-born from the dead, that He might in all things
become the holder of the pre-eminence." * In the Apocalypse
too : " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I
will ffive unto Him that is thirsting from the fountain of the
water of life freely."^ That He also is both the wisdom and
the power of God, Paul proves in his first Epistle to the
Corinthians. " Because the Jews require a sign, and the
Greeks seek after wisdom : but we preach Christ crucified,
to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles
foolishness ; but to them that are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."^
2. That Christ is the Wisdom of God ; and concerning the
sacrament of His incarnation and of His passion, and
cup and altar ; and of the apostles who were sent, and
preached.
In Solomon in the Proverbs : " Wisdom hath builded her-
self an house, and she has placed under it seven pillars ; she
has slain her victims ; she hath mingled her wine in the
goblet, and hath made ready her table, and hath sent her
servants, calling with a loud announcement to the cup, say-
in o-. Let him who is foolish turn to me : and to them that
want understanding she has said. Come, eat of my loaves,
and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. Forsake
foolishness, and seek wisdom, and correct knowledge by un-
derstanding." ''
1 Ps. Ixxxix. 27-33. ^ jo^n xvii. 3-5. » Col. i. 15. * Col. i. 18.
5 Rev. xxi. 6. ^ 1 Cor. i. 22-24. ^ Prov. ix. 1-6.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 101
3. That the same Christ is the Word of God.
In the forty-fourtli Psalm : " My heart hath breathed
out a good word. I tell my works to the King." ^ Also in
the thirty-second Psalm : " By the word of God were the
heavens made fast ; and all their strength by the breath of
His mouth." ^ Also in Isaiah: "A word completing and
shortening in righteousness, because a shortened word will
God make in the whole earth." ^ Also in the 106th Psalm :
" He sent His Word, and healed them." * Moreover, in the
Gospel according to John : " In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The
same was in the beo-innino; with God. All thino;s were made
by Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made.
In Him was life ; and the life was the light of men. And
the light shineth in darkness ; and the darkness compre-
hended it not." ^ Also in the Apocalypse : " And I saw the
heaven opened, and lo, a white horse ; and he who sate
upon him was called Faithful and True, judging rightly and
justly ; and He made war. And He was covered with a
i^arment sprinkled with blood ; and His name is called the
Word of God." «
4. That Christ is the hand and arm of God.
In Isaiah ; "■ Is God's hand not strong to save? or has He
made His ear heavy, that He cannot hear ? But your sins
separate between you and God ; and on account of your sins
He turns His face away from you, that He may not pity.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with
sins. Moreover, your lips have spoken wickedness, and your
tongue meditates unrighteousness. No one speaketh truth,
nor is there true judgment : they trust in vanity, and speak
emptiness, who conceive sorrov/, and bring forth wicked-
ness."' Also in the same place : *' Lord, who hath believed
our report? and to whom is the arm of God revealed?"^
Also in the same: "Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my
1 Ps. xlv. 1. 2 Ps xxxiii. 6. » Isa. x. 23.
4 Ps. cvii. 20. « John i. 1-5. ^ Kev. xix. 11-13.
' Isa. lix. 1-4. 8 jsa. Hij. i.
102 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
throne, and the earth is the support of my feet. What house
will ye build unto me ? or what is the place for my rest ?
For all these things hath mine hand made." ^ Also in the
same : " O Lord God, Thine arm is high, and they knew it
not ; but when they know it, they shall be confounded." ^
Also in the same : " The Lord hath revealed His arm, that
holy arm, in the sight of all nations ; all nations, even the
ends of the earth, shall see salvation from God." ^ Also in
the same place : " Behold, I have made thee as the wheels of
a thrashing chariot, new and turned back upon themselves ; ^
and thou shalt thrash the mountains, and shalt beat the hills
small, and shalt make them as chaff, and shalt winnow them ;
and the wind shall seize them, and the whirlwind shall scatter
them : but thou shalt rejoice in the saints of Israel ; and the
poor and needy shall exult. For they shall seek water, and
there shall be none. For their tongue shall be dry for thirst.
I the Lord God, I the God of Israel, will hear them, and
will not forsake them ; but I will open rivers in the moun-
tains, and fountains in the midst of the fields. I will make
the wildernesses watery groves, and a thirsty land into water-
courses. I will establish in the land of drought the cedar-
tree and the box-tree, and the myrtle and the cypress, and
the elm ^ and the poplar, that they may see and acknowledge,
and know and believe together, that the hand of the Lord
hath done these things, and the Holy One of Israel hath
shown them." ^
5. That Christ is at once Angel and God.
In Genesis, to Abraham : " And the Angel of the Lord
called him from heaven, and said unto him, Abraham,
Abraham ! And he said, Here am I. And He said, Lay
not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto
him. For now I know that thou fearest thy God, and hast
1 Isa. Ixvi. 1, 2. 2 isa. xxvi. 11. » Isa. Hi. 10.
* Original: "Eotas vchiculi triturantis novas in se retornatas." The
Oxford edition reads the three last words, " in serras formatas ;" and the
translator gives, "the wheels of a thrashing iustrimient made with new
teeth."
^ Some editions omit " and the elm." ^ Isa. xli. 15-20.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS, 103
not spared thy son, thy beloved son, for my sake." ^ Also in
the same place, to Jacob : " And the Angel of the Lord spake
unto me in dreams, I am God, whom thou sawest in the
place of God ^ wliere thou anointedst me a pillar of stone,
and vowedst to me a vow." ^ Also in Exodus : " But God
went before them by day indeed in a pillar of cloud, to show
them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fire." * And
afterwards, in the same place: "And the Angel of God
moved forward, which went before the army of the children
of Israel." ^ Also in the same place : " Lo, I send my Angel
before thy face, to keep thee in the way, that He may lead
thee into the land which I have prepared for thee. Observe
Him, and obey Him, and be not disobedient to Him, and
He will not be wanting to thee. For my name is in Him." ^'
Whence He Himself says in the Gospel : " I came in the
name of my Father, and ye received me not. When another
shall come in his own name, hiiii ye will receive." ^ And
again in the llTtli Psalm: "Blessed is He who cometh in
the name of the Lord." ^ Also in Malachi : " My covenant
of life and peace was with Levi ; ^ and I gave him fear,
that he should fear me, that he should go from the face of
my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and un-
righteousness was not found in his lips. In the peace of
the tongue correcting, he walked with us, and turned many
away from unrighteousness. Because the lips of the priests
shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at His
mouth ; for He is the Angel of the Almighty." ^^
6. That Christ is God.
In Genesis : " And God said unto Jacob, Arise, and go
up to the place of Bethel, and dwell there ; and make there
an altar to that God who appeared unto thee when thou
fleddest from the face of thy brother Esau." ^^ Also in Isaiali :
1 Gen. xxii. 11, 12. ^ sdl. " Beth-el," " the liousc of God."
3 Gen. xxxi. 13. * Ex. xiii. 21. ^ e^. xiv. 19.
« Ex. xxiii. 20, 21. ' Jq^^ y, 43^ 8 Pg. cxviii. 26.
® Otherwise, " My covenant was with life and peace."
10 Mai. ii. 5-7. " Gen. xxxv. 1.
104 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
" Thus saitli the Lord, the Gocl of Sabaoth, Egypt is wearied ;
and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the tall men of
the Sabeans, shall pass over unto Thee, and shall be Thy
servants ; and shall walk after Thee bound with chains ; and
shall worship Thee, and shall pray to Thee, because God is
in Thee, and there is no other God beside Thee. For Thou
art God, and we knew it not, O God of Israel, our Saviour.
They shall all be confounded and fear who oppose Thee,
and shall fall into confusion."^ Likewise in the same : " The
voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every
channel shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall
be made low, and all crooked places shall be made straight,
and rough places plain ; and the glory of the Lord shall be
seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, because the
Lord hath spoken it." ^ Moreover, in Jeremiah : " This is
our God, and no other shall be esteemed beside Him, who
hath found all the w^ay of knowledge, and hath given it to
Jacob liis son, and to Israel His beloved. After this He
was seen upon earth, and He conversed Avith men." ® Also
in Zechariah God says : " And they shall cross over through
the narrow sea, and they shall smite the waves in the sea,
and they shall dry up all the depths of the rivers ; and all
the haughtiness of the Assyrians shall be confounded, and
the sceptre of Egypt shall be taken away. And I will
strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in His name
shall they glory, saith the Lord." "* ^loreover, in Hosea the
Lord saith : " I will not do accordino; to the answer of mine
indignation, I will not allow Ephraim to be destroyed : for
I am God, and there is not a holy man in thee : and I will
not enter into the city ; I will go after God." ^ Also in the
forty-fourth Psalm : '' Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever : the sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy king-
dom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity:
wherefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil
of gladness above Thy fellows." ° So, too, in the forty-fifth
1 Isa. xlv. 14-16. 2 isa^ ^L 3-5. ^ Baruch iii. 35-37.
* Zecli. X. 11, 12. 5 IIos. xi. 9, 10. » Ps. xlv. 6, 7.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 105
Psalm : " Be still, and know that I am God. I -svlll Le
exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth." ^
Also in the eighty-first Psalm : " They have not known,
neither have they understood : they will walk on in dark-
ness." ^ Also in the sixty-seventh Psalm : " Sing unto God,
sing praises unto His name : make a way for Him who goeth
up into the west : God is His name." ^ Also in the Gospel
accordincv to John : " In the bemnnino; was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and God was the Word." ^ Also
in the same : " The Lord said to Thomas, Reach hither thy
finger, and behold my hands : and be not faithless, but be-
lieving. Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord
and my God. Jesus saith unto him. Because thou hast seen
me, thou hast believed : blessed are they who have not seen,
and yet have believed." ^ Also Paul to the Romans : " I
could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my
brethren and my kindred according to the flesh ; who are
Israelites ; whose are the adoption, and the glory, and the
covenant, and the appointment of the law, and the service
[of God], and the promises ; whose are the fathers, of whom,
according to the flesh, Christ came, who is God over all,
blessed for evermore." ^ Also in the Apocalypse : " I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end : I will give
to him that is athirst, of the fountain of living water freely.
He that overcometh shall possess these things, and their in-
heritance ; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." "^
Also in the eighty-first Psalm : " God stood in the congrega-
tion of gods, and judging gods in the midst." ^ And again
in the same place : " I have said. Ye are gods ; and ye are
all the children of the Highest : but ye shall die like men." ^
But if they who have been righteous, and have obeyed the
divine precepts, may be called gods, how much more is Christ,
the Son of God, God ! Thus He Himself says in the Gospel
according to John : " Is it not written in the law, that I said,
Ye are gods ? If He called them gods to whom the word
1 Ps. xlv. 10. - Ps. Ixxxii. 5. ^ Ps. Ixviii. 4.
4 John i. 1. c John xx. 27-29. « Rom. \x. S-5.
7 Rev. xxi. G, 7. « Ps. Ixxxii. 1. » Ps. Ixxxit. G, 7.
106 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
of God was given, and the Scripture cannot be relaxed, do
ye say to Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent
into the world, that thou blasphemest, because I said, I am
the Son of God ? But if I do not the works of my Father,
believe me not ; but if I do, and ye will not believe me, be-
lieve the works, and know that the Father is in me, and I in
Him." ^ Also in the Gospel according to Matthew : " And
ye shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, being inter-
preted, God with us." ^
7. That Christ our God should come, the Enlightener and
Savioui' of the human race.
In Isaiah : " Be comforted, ye weakened hands ; and ye
weak knees, be strengthened. Ye who are of a timorous
heart, fear not. Our God will recompense judgment, He
Himself will come, and will save us. Then shall be opened
the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf shall hear.
Then the lame man shall leap as a stag, and the tongue of
the dumb shall be intelligible ; because in the wilderness the
water is broken forth, and the stream in the thirsty land." "
Also in that place : " Not an elder nor an angel, but the Lord
Himself shall deliver them ; because He shall love them,
and shall spare them, and He Himself shall redeem them." *
Also in the same place : ^' I the Lord God have called Thee
in righteousness, that I may hold Thine hand, and I will
comfort Thee ; and I have given Thee for a covenant of my
people, for a light of the nations ; to open the eyes of the
blind, to bring forth them that are bound from chains, and
those who sit in darkness from the prison-house. I am the
Lord God, that is my name. I will not give my glory to
another, nor my powers to graven images." ^ Also in the
twenty-fourth Psalm : " Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and
teach me Thy paths, and lead me unto Thy truth, and teach
me ; for Thou art the God of my salvation." ^ Whence, in
the Gospel according to John, the Lord says : " I am the
light of the world. He tliat will follow me shall not walk in
1 John X. 34-38. ^ Matt. i. 23. 3 jga. xxxv. 3-6.
4 Isa. Ixiii. 9. ^ Isa. xlii. Q^. ^ Ps. xxv. 4, 5.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 107
darkness, but shall have the light of life." ^ Moreover, in
that according to Matthew, the angel Gabriel says to Joseph :
" Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mar}-
thy wife. For that which shall be born of her is of the
Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people
from their sins." ^ Also in that according to Luke : " And
Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied,
saying. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, wdio hath fore-
seen redemption for His people, and hath raised up an horn
of salvation for us in the house of His servant David." ^ Also
in the same place, the angel said to the shepherds : " Fear
not ; for, behold, I bring you tidings that unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ
Jesus." '
8. That although from the beginning He had been the
Son of God, yet He had to be begotten again accord-
ing to the flesh.
In the second Psalm : " The Lord said unto me, Thou art
my Son ; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of me, and I
will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the
bounds of the earth for Thy possession." ^ Also in the
Gospel according to Luke : " And it came to pass, when
Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in
her womb ; and she was filled with the Holy Ghost, and she
cried out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And wdience
does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should
come to me ?"^ Also Paul to the Galatians : " But when the
fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son, born of a
woman." ^" Also in the Epistle of John : " Every spirit
which confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flcsli is of
God. But whosoever denies that He is come in the flesh is
not of God, but is of the spirit of antichrist." ^
1 John viii. 12. 2 ^att. i. 20, 21. ^ Luke i. 67-69.
4 Luke ii. 10, 11. « Ps. ii. 7, 8. « Luke i. 41-43.
7 Gal. iv. 4. 8 1 John iv. 2, 3.
108 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
9. That this should be the sign of His nativity, that He
should be born of a virgin — man and God — a son of
man and a Son of God.
In Isaiah : " And the Lord went on to speak to Ahaz,
saying, Ask thee a sign from the Lord thy God, in the
height above and in the depth below. And Ahaz said, I will
not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord my God. And He
said. Hear ye, therefore, O house of David : it is no trifling
contest unto you with men, since God supplies the struggle.
On this account God Himself will give you a sign. Behold,
a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and ye shall
call His name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat ;
before that He knows to prefer the evil. He shall exchange
the good." ^ This seed God had foretold would proceed from
the woman that should trample on the head of the devil. In
Genesis : " Then God said unto the serpent. Because thou
hast done this, cursed art thou from every kind of the beasts
of the earth. Upon thy breast and thy belly shalt thou
crawl, and earth shall be thy food all the days of thy life.
And I will place enmity between thee and the woman and
her seed. He shall regard thy head, and thou shalt watch
his heel." 2
10. That Christ is both man and God, compounded of
both natures, that He might be a Mediator between
us and the Father.
In Jeremiah : " And He is man, and who shall know
Him?"^ Also in Numbers: "A star shall arise out of
Jacob, and a man shall rise up from Israel." * Also in the
same place : " A man shall go forth out of his seed, and
shall rule over many nations ; and His kingdom shall be
exalted as Gog,^ and His kingdom shall be increased ; and
^ Isa. vii. 10-15. The ordinary reading here is, " before He knows,
to refuse the evil and to choose the good." The reading in the text,
however, is more authentic.
2 Gen. iii. 14, 15. ^ Jer. xvii. 9. ■* Num. xxiv. 17.
^ The Oxford translator follows the English version, and reads,
" over Agag."
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 109
God bronglit Him forth out of Egypt. His glory is as of
the iinicorii, and He shall cat the nations of His enemies, and
shall take out the marrow of their fatnesses, and will pierce
His enemy with His arrows. He couched and lay down as a
lion, and as a lion's whelp. Who shall raise Him up? Blessed
are they who bless Thee, and cursed are they who curse
Thee." ^ Also in Isaiah : "The Spirit of the Lord is upon mo ;
on account whereof He hath anointed me : He hath sent me
to tell good tidings to the poor ; to heal the bruised in heart,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
retribution." ^ Whence, in the Gospel according to Luke,
Gabriel says to Mary : " And the angel, answering, said to
her. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee. Wherefore that holy
thing which is born of thee shall be called the Son of God."^
Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " The
first man is of the mud ^ of the earth ; the second man is
from heaven. As was he from the soil, such are they also
that are of the earth ; and as is the heavenly, such also are
the heavenly. As we have borne the image of him who is
of the earth, let us also bear the image of Him who is from
heaven." ^
11. That Christ was to be born of the seed of David,
according to the flesh.
In the second of Kings : " And the word of the Lord came
to Nathan, saying. Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith
the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in ; but
it shall come to pass, when thy days shall be fulfilled, and
thou shalt sleep with thy fatliers, I will raise up thy seed
after tliee who shall come from thy loins, and I will establisli
His kingdom. He shall build me a house in my name, and
I will set up His throne for ever ; and I will be to Him a
Father, and He shall be to me a son ; and His house shall
obtain confidence, and His kingdom for ever in my sight." ^
1 Num. xxiv. 7-9. 2 jg^. ixi. 1, 2. - Luke i. 35.
* "Limo." « 1 Cor. xv. 47-49. c 2 Sam. vii. 5, 12-1 G.
110 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
Also in Isaiah : " And a rod shall go forth of the root of
Jesse, and a flower shall go up from his root ; and the Spirit
of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and
of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit
of knowledge and piety; and the spirit of the fear of the
Lord shall fill Him." ^ Also in the 131st Psalm: "God
hath sworn the truth unto David himself, and He has not
repudiated it ; of the fruit of thy belly will I set upon my
throne." ^ Also in the Gospel according to Luke : " And
the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary. For thou hast
found favour before God. Behold, thou shalt conceive, and
shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. The
same shall be great, and He shall be called the Son of the
Highest ; and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His
father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for
ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." ^ Also in
the Apocalypse : " And I saw in the right hand of God, who
sate on the throne, a book written within, and on the back
sealed with seven seals ; and I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice. Who is worthy to receive the book, and to
open its seals ? Nor was there any one either in heaven or
upon the earth, or under the earth, who was able to open the
book, nor even to look into it. And I wept much because
nobody was found worthy to open the book, nor to look into
it. And one of the elders said unto me. Weep not ; behold,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath pre-
vailed to open the book, and to loose its seven seals." *
12. That Christ should be born in Bethlehem.
In Micah : " And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ej^hrata, art
not little, that thou shouldst be appointed among the thou-
sands of Judah. Out of thee shall He come forth to me,
that He may be a prince in Israel, and His goings forth from
the beginning from the days of old." ^ Also in the Gospel :
" And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the
days of Herod the king, behold, magi came from the east to
1 Isa. xi. 1-3. 2 Ps. cxxxii. 11. ^ l^^^^ i. 30-33.
* Rev. V. 1-5. ^ Mic. v. 2.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. Ill
Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the
Jews ? For we have seen His star in the east, and we have
come with gifts to worship Him." ^
13. That Christ was to come in low estate in His first
advent.
In Isaiah : " Lord, who hath believed our report, and to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? We have declared
in His presence as children, as a root in a thirsty ground.
There is no form nor glory in Him ; and we saw Him, and
He had no form nor beauty ; but His form was without
honour, and lacking beyond other men. He was a man set
in a plague, and knowing how to bear weakness ; because His
face was turned away, He was dishonoured, and was not
accounted of. He bears our sins, and grieves for us ; and we
thought that He was in grief, and in wounding, and in afflic-
tion ; but He was wounded for our transgressions, and He
was weakened^ for our sins. The discipline of our peace
was upon Him, and with His bruise we are healed. We all
like sheep have gone astray ; man has gone out of his way.
And God has delivered Him for our sins ; and He, because
He was afflicted, opened not His mouth." ® Also in the same :
'^ I am not rebellious, nor do I contradict. I gave my back
to the stripes, and my cheeks to the palms of the hands.
Moreover, I did not tui'n away my face from the foulness of
spitting, and God was my helper." * Also in the same : " He
shall not cry, nor will any one hear His voice in the streets.
He shall not break a bruised reed, and a smokino; flax He
shall not extinguish ; but He shall bring forth judgment in
truth. He shall shine forth, and shall not be shaken, until
He set judgment in the earth, and in His name shall the
nations trust." ^ Also in the twenty-first Psalm : " But I am
a worm, and no man ; the accursed of man, and the casting
away of the people. All they who saw me despised me, and
spoke within their lips, and moved their head. He hoped in
the Lord, let Him deliver him ; let Him save him, since he
1 Matt. ii. 1, 2. 2 u infirmatiis ; " Oxford transl. " bruised."
3 Isa. liii. 1-7. •* Isa. 1. 5-7. ^ Isa. xlii. 2-4.
112 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
will have Him." ^ Also in that place : " My strength is
dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue is glued to my
jaws." ^ Also in Zechariah : " And the Lord showed me
Jesus, that great priest, standing before the face of the Angel
of the Lord, and the devil was standing at his right hand to
oppose him. And Jesus was clothed in filthy garments, and
he stood before the face of the Angel Himself ; and He an-
swered and said to them who were standing before His face,
saving, Take away his filthy garments from him. And he
said to him. Behold, I have taken away thine iniquities. And
put upon him a priestly garment," and set a fair mitre * upon
his head." ^ Also Paul to the Philippians : " Who, being
established in the form of God, thought it not robbery that
He was equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and
being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, be-
coming obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore also God exalted Him, and gave Him a name
which is above every name, that in tlie name ^ of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, of things in earth, and
of infernal things, and every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord in the glory of God the Father." ^"
14. That He is tlie righteous One whom the Jews should
put to death.
In the Wisdom of Solomon : " Let us lay hold of the
righteous, because He is disagreeable to us, and is contrary
to our works, and reproacheth us with our transgressions of
the law.^ He professeth that He has the knowledge of God,
1 Ps. xxii. 6-S. 2 ps_ xxii. 15.
3 " Poderem," " a long priestly robe reacliing to the heels " (Migne's
Lexicon). The Oxford translation gives the meaning " an alb," which
also is given in Migne.
^ Cidarim, the head-dress for the Jewish high priest.
-^ Zech. iii. 1, 3, 5.
6 " In nomine ;" Oxford translator, " at the name," following the Eng.
ver. But see the Greek, h to» ovo^uccn.
7 Phil. ii. 6-11.
8 The Oxford translation here inserts from the Apocrypha, without
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 113
and calls Himself the Son of God ; He has become to us an
exposure of our thoughts ; He is grievous unto us even to
look upon, because His life is unlike to others, and His ways
are changed. We are esteemed by Him as frivolous, and He
restraineth Himself from our ways, as if from uncleanness ;
and He extols the last end of the righteous, and boasts that
He has God for His Father. Let us see, then, if His words
are true, and let us try what will come to Him. Let us in-
terrogate Him with reproach and torture, that we may know
His reverence and prove His patience. Let us condemn
Him with a most shameful death. These things they con-
sidered, and erred. For their maliciousness hath blinded
them, and they knew not the sacraments of God." ^ Also in
Isaiah : " See ye how the righteous perisheth, and no man
understandeth ; and righteous men are taken away, and no
man regardeth. For the righteous man is taken away from
the face of unrighteousness, and his burial shall be in peace."^
Concerning this very thing it was before foretold in Exodus ;
"Thou shalt not slay the innocent and the righteous."^ Also
in the Gospel : " Judas, led by penitence, said to the priests
and elders, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the inno-
cent blood." ^
15. That Christ Is called a sheep and a lamb who was to be
slain, and concerning the sacrament of the passion.
In Isaiah : " He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as
a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so He opened not His
mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away :
who shall relate His nativity ? Because His life shall be taken
away from the earth. By the transgi'essions of my people
He was led to death; and I Avill give the wicked for His
burial, and the rich themselves for His death ; because He did
no wickedness, nor deceits with His mouth. Wherefore He
shall gain many, and shall divide the spoils of the strong ; be-
autliority even for the Oxford text, "and objcctcth to us the trausgres-
sions of the law."
1 Wisd. ii. 12-22. 2 jsa. ivii. 1, 2.
3 Ex. xxiii. 7. ■* Matt, xxvii. 3, 4.
CYP. — VOL. II. H
114 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
cause His soul was delivered up to death, and He was counted
among transgressors. And He bare the sins of many, and
was delivered for their offences." ^ Also in Jeremiah : " Lord,
give me knowledge, and I shall know it : then I saw their
meditations. I was led like a lamb without malice to the
slaughter; against me they devised a device, saying, Come,
let us cast the tree into His bread, and let us erase His life
from the earth, and His name shall no more be a remem-
brance."^ Also in Exodus God said to Moses : " Let them
take to themselves each man a sheep, through the houses of
the tribes, a sheep without blemish, perfect, male, of a year
old it shall be to you. Ye shall take it from the lambs and
from the goats, and all the congregation of the synagogue of
the children of Israel shall kill it in the evening ; and they
shall take of its blood, and shall place it upon the two posts,^
and upon the threshold in the houses, in the very houses in
which they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh on the
same night, roasted with fire ; and they shall eat unleavened
bread with bitter herbs.* Ye shall not eat of them raw
nor dressed in water, but roasted with fire ; the head with the
feet and the inward parts. Ye shall leave nothing of them
to the morning ; and ye shall not break a bone of it. But
what of it shall be left to the morning shall be burnt with
fire. But thus ye shall eat it ; your loins girt, and your
sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hands ; and ye
shall eat it in haste : for it is the Lord's passover."^ Also
m the Apocalypse : " And I saw in the midst of the throne,
and of the four living creatui'es, and in the midst of the elders,
a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth through-
out all the earth. And He came and took the book from
the right hand of God, who sate on the throne. And when
1 Isa. liii. 7-9, 12. 2 jer^ xi. 18, 19.
^ Migne's reading differs considerably from this, and is as follows :
" They shall take from the lambs and the goats of its blood, and shall
place it upon the two posts," etc.
^ Erasmus reads for "picridibus," "lactucis agrestibus," wild lettuces.
5 Ex. xii. 3-12.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 115
He had taken the book, the four hving creatures and the four
and twenty elders cast themselves before the Lamb, having
every one of them harps and golden cups^ full of odours of
supplications, which are the prayers of the saints ; and they
sang a new song, saying, Worthy art Thou, O Lord, to take
the book, and to open its seals : for Thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us with Thy blood from every tribe, and tongue,
and people, and nation ; and Thou hast made us a kingdom
unto our God, and hast made us priests, and they shall reign
upon the earth." ^ Also in the Gospel : " On the next day
John saw Jesus coming to him, and saith. Behold the Lamb
of God, and behold Him that taketh away the sins of the
world! "3
16. That Christ also is called a stone.
In Isaiah : " Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I place on
the foundations of Sion a precious stone, elect, chief, a
corner stone, honourable ; and he who trusteth in Him shall
not be confounded."* Also in the 117th Psalm: "The
stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the
head of the corner. This is done by the Lord, and it is
wonderful in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord
hath made ; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, save
therefore; O Lord, direct therefore. Blessed is He who
Cometh in the name of the Lord." ^ Also in Zechariah :
" Behold, I bring forth my servant. The East is his name,
because the stone which I have placed before the face of
Jesus ; upon that one stone are seven eyes." ^ Also in
Deuteronomy : " And thou shalt write upon the stone all
this law, very plainly."^ Also in Jesus the son of Nave:
"And he took a great stone, and placed it there before
the Lord; and Jesus said unto the people. Behold, this
stone shall be to you for a testimony, because it hath heard
all the things which were spoken by the Lord, which He
hath spoken to you to-day ; and it shall be for a testimony
1 " Patcras." - Rev. v. 6-10. » John i. 29.
4 Isa. xxviii. IG. ^ Ps. cxviii. 21-26. « Zecli. iii. 8, 9.
^ Deut. xxvii. 8.
116 THE TREATISES OF CYPFJAN.
to you in the last of the days, when ye shall have departed
from your God." ^ Also in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter :
"Ye princes of the people, and elders of Israel, hearken:
Behold, we are this day interrogated by you about the good
deed done to the impotent man, by means of which he is
made whole. Be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Naza-
reth, whom ye have crucified, whom God hath raised up
from the dead, by Him he stands whole in your presence,
but by none other. This is the stone which was despised by
you builders, which has become the head of the corner. For
there is no other name given to men under heaven in which
we must be saved."' ^ This is the stone in Genesis, which
Jacob places at his head, because the head of the man is
Christ ; and as he slept he saw a ladder reaching to heaven,
on which the Lord was placed, and angels were ascending
and descending.^ And this stone he designating Christ con-
secrated and anointed with the sacrament of unction. This
is the stone in Exodus upon which Moses sate on the top of
a hill when Jesus the son of Nave fought against Amalek ;
and by the sacrament of the stone, and the stedfastness of his
sitting, Amalek was overcome by Jesus, that is, the devil was
overcome by Christ. This is the great stone in the first book
of Kings, upon which was placed the ark of the covenant
when the oxen brought it back in the cart, sent back and
returned by the strangers. Also, this is the stone in the first
book of Kings, with which David smote the forehead of
Goliath and slew him ; signifying that the devil and his
servants are thereby thrown down — that part of the head,
namely, being conquered^ which they have not had sealed.
And by this seal we also are always safe nnd live. This
is the stone which, when Israel had conquered the aliens,
Samuel set up and called its name Ebenezer; that is, the
stone that helpeth.
1 Josh. xxiv. 26, 27. 2 Acts iv. 8-12.
^ The Oxford edition omits " and descending."
* The Oxford edition reads, " conqnered, that is, in that part of the
head."
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 117
17. That afterwards tliis stone should become a mountain,
and should fill the whole earth.
In Daniel : " And behold a very great image ; and the
aspect of this image was fearful, and it stood erect before
thee ; whose head was of fine gold, its breast and arms were
silver, its belly and thighs were of brass, and its feet were partly
indeed of iron, and partly of clay, until that a stone was cut
out of the mountain, without the hands of those that should
cut it, and struck the image upon the feet of iron and clay,
and brake them into small fragments. And the iron, and the
clay, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold, was made
altogether ; and they became small as chaff, or dust in the
threshing-floor in summer ; and the wind blew them away,
so that nothing remained of them. And the stone which
struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the
wdiole earth." -"^
18. That in the last times the same mountain should be
manifested, and upon it the Gentiles should come,
and on it all the righteous should go up.
In Isaiah : " In the last times the mountain of the Lord
shall be revealed, and the house of God upon the tops
of the mountains ; and it shall be exalted above the hills,
and all nations shall come upon it, and many shall walk
and say. Come, and let us go up into the mountain of the
Lord, and into the house of the God of Jacob ; and He will
tell us His way, and we will walk in it. For from Sion shall
proceed the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem ;
and He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke much
people ; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks, and they shall no more
learn to fight." ^ Also in the twenty-third Psalm: "Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in
His holy place ? He that is innocent in his hands, and of a
clean heart ; who hath not received his life in vanity, and
hath not sworn craftily to his neighbour. He shall receive
the blessing from the Lord, and mercy ^ from the God that
^ Dan. ii. 31-35. 2 js^. ii. 2-4. ® " Miscricordiam."
118 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
savetli him. This is the generation of those who seek Him,
that seek the face of the God of Jacob." ^
19. That Christ is the Bridegroom, having the church as
His bride, from which spiritual children were to be
born.
In Joel : " Blow with the trumpet in Sion ; sanctify a fast,
and call a healing ; assemble the people, sanctify the church,
gather the elders, collect the little ones that suck the breast ;
let the Bridegroom go forth of His chamber, and the bride
out of her closet." ^ Also in Jeremiah : " And I will take
away from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jeru-
salem, the voice of the joyous, and the voice of the glad ; the
voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride." ^ Also
in the eighteenth Psalm: " And he is as a bridegroom going
forth from his chamber ; he exulted as a giant to run his
course. From the height of heaven is his going forth, and
his circuit even to the end of it ; and there is nothing which
is hid from his heat." * Also in the Apocalypse : " Come,
I will show thee the new bride, the Lamb's wife. And he
took me in the Spirit to a great mountain, and he showed me
the holy city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God." ^ Also in tlie Gospel according
to John : " Ye are my witnesses, that I said to them who
were sent from Jerusalem to me, that I am not the Christ,
but that I am sent before Him. For he who has the bride
is the bridegroom ; but the friend of the bridegroom is he
who standeth and heareth him with joy, and rejoiceth be-
cause of the voice of the bridegroom." ^ The mystery of
this matter was shown in Jesus the son of Nave, when he was
bidden to put his shoes from off him, doubtless because he
himself was not the bridegroom. For it was in the law, that
whoever should refuse marriage should put off his shoe, but
that he should be shod who was to be the bridegToom : " And
it happened, when Jesus was in Jericho, he looked around
1 Ps. xxiv. 3-6. 2 Joel ii. 15, I6.
3 Jer. xvi. 9. * Ps. xix. 5, 6.
fi Rev. xxi. 9-11. ^ John iii. 28, 29.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 119
witli his eyes, and saw a man standing before his face, and
holding a javelin ^ in his hand, and said. Art thou for us or
for our enemies ? And he said, I am the leader of the host
of tlie Lord ; now draw near. And Jesus fell on his face
to the earth, and said to him. Lord, what dost Thou command
unto Thy servant. And the leader of the Lord's host said,
Loose thy shoe from thy feet, for the place whereon tliou
standest is holy ground." ^ Also, in Exodus, Closes is bidden
to put off his shoe, because he, too, was not the bridegroom :
"And there appeared unto him the angel of the Lord in a
flame of fire out of a bush ; and he saw that the bush burned
with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said,
I will pass over and see this great sight, why the bush is not
consumed. But when He saw that he drew near to see, the
Lord God called him from the bush, saying, Moses, Moses.
And he said, What is it? And He said, Draw not nigh
hither, unless thou hast loosed thy shoe from off thy feet ;
for the place on which thou standest is holy ground. And
He said unto him, I am the God of thy father, the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of .Jacob." ^ This
was also made plain in the Gospel according to John : " And
John answered them, I indeed baptize with water, but there
standeth One in the midst of you whom ye know not : He it
is of whom I said. The man that cometh after me is made
before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to un-
loose." * Also according to Luke : " Let your loins be girt,
and your lamps burning, and ye like to men that wait for
their master when he shall come from the wedding, that
when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him.
Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when He
cometh, shall find watching." ^ Also in the Apocalypse :
" The Lord God omnipotent reigneth : let us be glad and
rejoice, and let us give to Him the honour of glory ; for
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife liatli made
herself ready." ^
^ Frameam. 2 Josh. v. 13-15.
8 Ex. iii. 2-6. * John i. 26, 27.
« Luke xii. 35-37. « Rev. xix. 6, 7.
120 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
20. That the Jews would fasten Christ to the cross.
In Isaiah : " I have spread out my hands all day to a
people disobedient and contradicting me, who walk in ways
that are not good, but after their own sins." ^ Also in
Jeremiah : " Come, let us cast the tree into His bread,
and let us blot out His life from tlie earth." ^ Also in
Deuteronomy : " And Thy life shall be hanging (in doubt)
before Thine eyes ; and Thou shalt fear day and night,
and shalt not trust to Thy life." ^ Also in the twenty-
first Psalm : " They tore my hands and my feet ; they
numbered all my bones. And they gazed upon me, and
saw me, and divided my garments among them, and upon
my vesture they cast a lot. But Thou, O Lord, remove
not Thy help far from me ; attend unto my help. Deliver
my soul from the sword, and my only one from the paw*
of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion, and my
lowliness from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare
Thy name unto my brethren ; in the midst of the church I
will praise Thee." ^ Also in the 118th Psalm : " Pierce my
flesh with nails throuo;h fear of thee." ^ Also in the 140th
Psalm : " The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacri-
fice." ^ Of which sacrifice Sophonias said : " Fear from the
presence of the Lord God, since His day is near, because the
Lord hath prepared His sacrifice. He hath sanctified His
elect." ^ Also in Zechariah : " And they shall look upon me,
whom they have pierced." ^ Also in the eighty -seventh
Psalm : " I have called unto thee, O Lord, the whole day ; I
have stretched out my hands unto Thee." ^^ Also in Num-
bers : " Not as a man is God suspended, nor as the son of
man does He suffer threats." ^^ Whence in the Gospel the
Lord says : " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder-
ness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoso-
ever believeth in the Son may have life eternal." ^^
1 Isa. Ixv. 2. 2 Jer. xi. 19. ^ Deut. xxviii. (SQ.
4 " Manu." ^ Ps. xxii. 16-22. ^ pg, cxix. 120.
7 Ps. cxTi. 2. « Zeph. i. 7. ^ Zech. xii. 10.
10 Ps. Ixxxviii. 9. ^^ Num. xxiii. 19. ^^ John iii. U, 15.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS, 121
21. That in the passion and the sign of the cross is all
virtue and power.
In Habakkuk : " His virtue covered the heavens, and the
earth is full of His praise, and His splendour shall be as the
light ; there shall be horns in His hands. And there the
virtue of His glory was established, and He founded Plis
strong love. Before His face shall go the Word, and shall
go forth unto the plains according to His steps." ^ In Isaiah
also : " Behold, unto us a child is born, and to us a son is
given, upon whose shoulders shall be government ; and His
name shall be called the Messenger of a mighty thought." ^
By this sign of the cross also Amalek was conquered by
Jesus through Moses. In Exodus Moses said to Jesus :
" Choose thee out men, and go forth, and order yourselves
with Amalek until the morrow. Behold, I will stand on the
top of the hill, and the rod of God in mine hand. And it
came to pass, when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel prevailed ;
but wdien Moses had let down his hands, Amalek waxed
strong. But the hands of Moses were heavy ; and they took
a stone, and placed it under him, and he sate upon it ; and
Aaron and Hur held up his hands, on the one side and on
the other side ; and the hands of Moses were made steady
even to the setting of the sun. And Jesus routed Amalek
and all his people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write
this, that it may be a memorial in a book, and tell it unto
the ears of Jesus, that I may utterly destroy the memory
of Amalek from under heaven."^
22. That in this sign of the cross is salvation for all people
who are marked on their foreheads.
In Ezekiel the Lord says : " Pass through the midst of
Jerusalem, and thou shalt mark the sign upon the men's
foreheads, who groan and grieve for the iniquities which are
done in the midst of them."'* Also in the same place : " Go
and smite, and do not spare your eyes. Have no pity on
the old man, and the youth, and the virgin, and slay little
children and women, that they may be utterly destroyed.
1 Hab. iii. 3-5. ^ iga. ix. 6. ^ Ex. xvii. 9-14. * Ezek. ix. 4.
122 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
But ye shall not touch any one upon whom the sign is written,
and begin wdth my holy places themselves." ^ Also in Exodus
God says to Moses : " And there shall be blood for a sign to
you upon the houses wherein ye shall be ; and I will look on
the blood, and will protect you. And there shall not be in
you the plague of wasting when I shall smite the land of
Egypt." ^ Also in the Apocalypse : "And I saw^ a Lamb
standing on Mount Sion, and with Him a hundred and forty
and four thousand ; and they had His name and the name
of Plis Father written on their foreheads."* Also in the
same place : " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end. Blessed are they that do His
commandments, that thev may have power over the tree of
life."^
23. That at mid-day in His passion there should be
darkness.
In Amos : " And it shall come to pass in that day, saith
the Lord, the sun shall set at noonday, and the day of light
shall be darkened ; and I will turn your feast-days into grief,
and all your songs into lamentation." ^ Also in Jeremiah :
" She is frightened that hath borne children, and her soul
hath grown weary. Her sun hath gone down while as yet it
was mid-day ; she hath been confounded and accursed : I will
give the rest of them to the sword in the sight of their
enemies." ^ Also in the Gospel : " Now from the sixth hour
there was darkness over all the earth even to the ninth
hour."«
24. That He was not to be overcome of death, nor should
remain in hell.
In the twenty-ninth Psalm : " O Lord, Thou hast brought
back my soul from hell." ^ Also in the fifteenth Psalm :
" Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou
1 Ezek. ix. 4-6. ^ Ex. xii. 13.
3 " And behold," Oxford text. * Rev. xiv. 1.
5 Rev. xxii. 13, 14. ® Amos viii. 9, 10.
^ Jer. XV. 9. » Matt, xxvii. 45. ^ Ps. xxx. 3.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 123
suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption."^ Also in the third
Psalm : " I laid me down and slept, and rose up again, be-
cause the Lord helped me." ^ Also according to John : " No
man taketh away my life from me ; but I lay it down of
myself. I have the power of laying it down, and I have the
power of taking it again. For this commandment I have
received from my Father." ^
25. That He would rise again from the dead on the third
day.
In Hosea : " After two days He will revive us ; we shall
rise again on the third day." * Also in Exodus : " And the
Lord said unto Closes, Go down and testify to the people,
and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow ; and let them ^vash
then' garments, and let them be prepared against the day after
to-morrow. For on the third day the Lord will come down
on Mount Sinai." ^ Also in the Gospel : " A wicked and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall
no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas :
for as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three
nights, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth." ^
26. That after He had risen again He should receive from
His Father all power, and His power should be ever-
lasting.
In Daniel : " I saw in a vision by night, and behold as it
were the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven, came
even to the Ancient of days, and stood in His sight. And
they who stood beside Him brought Him before Him : and
to Him was given a royal power, and all the kings of the
earth by their generation, and all glory obeying Him : and
His power is eternal, which shall not be taken away, and His
kingdom shall not be destroyed." ^ Also in Isaiah : '^ Now
will I arise, saith the Lord ; now will I be glorified, now will
1 Ps. xvi. 10. 2 pg iij_ 5 3 John x. 18.
* Hos. vi. 2. 5 Ex. xix. 10, 11. « Matt. xii. 39, 40.
7 Dan. vii. 13, 14.
124 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
I be exalted, now ye shall see, now ye shall understand, now
ye shall be confounded. Vain will be the strength of your
spirit : the fire shall consume you." ^ Also in the 109th
Psalm : " The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my
right hand, until I make Thine enemies the footstool of Thy
feet. God will send the rod of Thy power out of Sion, and
Thou shalt rule in the midst of Thine enemies." ^ Also in
the Apocalypse : " And I turned and looked to see the voice
which spake with me. And I saw seven golden candlesticks,
and in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of
man, clothed with a long garment,^ and He was girt about
the paps with a golden girdle. And His head and His hairs
were white as wool or snow, and His eyes as a flame of fire,
and His feet like to fine brass from a furnace of fire, and
His voice like the sound of many waters. And He had in
His right hand seven stars ; and out of His mouth went a
sharp two-edged sword ; and His face shone as the sun in
his might. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.
And He laid His right hand upon me, and said. Fear not ; I
am the first and the last, and He that liveth and was dead ;
and, lo, I am living for evermore,'^ and I have the keys of
death and of hell."^ Likewise in the Gospel, the Lord after
His resurrection says to His disciples : " All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you." ^
27. That it is impossible to attain to God the Father,
except by His Son Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel : " I am the way, and the truth, and the
life : no one cometh to the Father but by me." ^ Also in the
same place : " I am the door : by me if any man shall enter
in, he shall be saved." ^ Also in the same place : " Many
1 Isa. xxxiii. 10, 11. 2 ps. ex. 1, 2. 3 u Podere."
■* One codex reads liere, " living in the assembly of the saints."
« Rev. i. 12-18. <^ Matt, xxviii. 18-20. ^ John xiv. 6.
^ John X. 9.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 125
prophets and rigliteous men have desired to see the thino-s
which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those
things which ye hear, and have not heard them." ^ Also in
the same place : " He that believeth on the Son hath eternal
life : he that is not obedient in word to the Son hath not life ;
but the wrath of God shall abide upon him."^ Also Paul to
the Ephesians : " And when He had come, He preached
peace to you, to those which are afar off, and peace to those
which are near, because through Him we both have access in
one Spirit unto the Father." ^ Also to the Romans : " For
all have sinned, and fail of the glory of God ; but they are
justified by His gift and grace, through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus."* Also in the Epistle of Peter the
apostle : " Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the
unjust, that He might present us to God." ^ Also in the
same place : " For in this also was it preached to them that
are dead, that they might be raised again." ^ Also in the
Epistle of John : " Whosoever denieth the Son, the same also
hath not the Father. He that confesseth the Son, hath both
the Son and the Father." ^
28. That Jesus Christ shall come as a Jud^re.
In Malachi : '' Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, burning
as an oven ; and all the aliens and all the wicked shall be as
stubble ; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith
the Lord." ^ Also in the forty-ninth Psalm : " God the Lord
of gods hath spoken, and called the earth. From the rising
of the sun even to the going down thereof, out of Sion is the
beauty of His glory. God shall come manifestly, our God,
and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before Him,
and round about Him shall be a m-eat storm. He hath called
the heaven above, and the earth, that He may separate His
people. Gather together His saints unto Him, those who
arrange His covenant with sacrifices. And the heavens shall
announce His righteousness, for God is the judge." ^ Also
1 Matt. xiii. 17. 2 joiiji iii, 2>C,. - Eph. ii. 17, 18.
4 Rom. iii. 23, 24. 5 i j>Qi, iii. 18. « 1 Pet. iv. 6.
7 1 John ii. 23. 8 Mai. iv. 1. » Fs. 1. 1-6.
126 THE TREATISES OF CYPBIAN.
in Isaiali : " The Lord God of strength shall go forth, and
shall break war in pieces : He shall stir up contest, and shall
cry over His enemies with strength. I have been silent ; shall
I always be silent ? " ^ Also in the sixty-seventh Psalm : " Let
God arise, and let His enemies be scattered : and let those
who hate Him flee from His face. As smoke vanisheth, let
them vanish : as wax melteth from the face of fire, thus let
the sinners perish from the face of God. And let the right-
eous be glad and rejoice in the sight of God : and let them
be glad with joj^fulness. Sing unto God, sing praises unto
His name : make a way to Him who goeth up into the west.
God is His name. They shall be put to confusion from the
face of Him who is the Father of the orphans, and the Judge
of the widows. God is in His holy place : God, who maketh
men to dwell with one mind in an house, bringing forth them
that are bound with might, and equally those who provoke
unto anger, who dwell in the sepulchres : God, when Thou
wentest forth in the sight of Thy people, in passing into the
desert."^ Also in the eighty-first Psalm: ''Arise, O God;
judge the earth : for Thou wilt exterminate among all na-
tions." ^ Also in the Gospel according to Matthew : " What
have we to do with Thee, Thou Son of David ? why art Thou
come hither to punish us before the time ? " ^ Likewise
according to John : " The Father judgeth nothing, but hath
given all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son
as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son,
honoureth not the Father who hath sent Him."^ So too in
the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " We must
all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one
may bear the things proper to his body, according to those
things which he hath done, whether they be good or evil." ''
29. That He will reign as a King for ever.
In Zechariah : " Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy
King Cometh unto thee : just, and having salvation ; meek,
1 Isa. xlii. 13, 14. 2 pg. ixviii. 1-7.
3 Ps. Ixxxii. 8. 4 Matt. viii. 29.
fi John V. 22, 23. c 2 Cor. v. 10.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 127
sitting upon an ass that hath not been tamed." ^ Also in
Isaiah : " Who will declare to you that eternal place ? He
that walketh in righteousness, and holdeth back his hands
from gifts ; stopping his ears, that he may not hear the judg-
ment of blood ; and closing his eyes, that he may not see
unrighteousness : this man shall dwell in the lofty cavern of
the strong rock ; bread shall be given him, and his water
shall be sure. Ye shall see the King with glory." ^ Likewise
in Malachi : " I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my
name is illustrious among the nations." ^ Also in the second
Psalm : " But I am established as a King by Him upon His
holy hill of Zion, announcing His empire." ^ Also in the
twenty-first Psalm : " All the ends of the world shall be
reminded, and shall turn to the Lord : and all the countries
of the nations shall worship in Thy sight. For the kingdom
is the Lord's : and He shall rule over all nations." ^ Also in
the twenty-third Psalm : " Lift up your gates, ye princes ;
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ; and the King of
glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory ? The Lord
strong and mighty, the Lord strong in battle. Lift up your
gates, O ye princes ; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ;
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of
glory ? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory." ^ Also
in the forty-fourth Psalm ; " ^ly heart hath breathed forth
a good discourse ; I tell my works to the king ; my tongue
is the pen of a writer intelligently writing. Thou art lovely
in beauty above the children of men : grace is shed forth on
Thy lips, because God hath blessed Thee for ever. Be girt
with Thy sword on Thy thigh, O most mighty. To Thy
honour and to Thy beauty both attend, and dh'ect Thyself,
and reign, because of truth, and meekness, and righteous-
ness." ^ Also in the fifth Psalm : " My King, and my God,
because unto Thee will I pray. O Lord, in the morning
Thou shalt hear my voice ; in the morning I will stand be-
fore Thee, and will contemplate Thee." ^ Also in the ninety-
1 Zech. ix. 9. 2 jg^, xxxiii. 14-17. ^ Mai. i. 14.
^ Ps. ii. 6. 5 Ps. xxii. 27, 28. « Ps. xxiv. 7-10.
7 Ps. xlv. 1-1. 8 Ps. y. 2, 3.
128 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN. '
sixth Psalm : "The Lord hath reigned; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad." ^ Moreover, in the forty-fourth
Psalm : " The queen stood at thy right hand in a golden
garment ; she is clothed in many colours. Hear, O daughter,
and see, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people and thy
father's house ; for the King hath desired thy beauty, for
He is thy Lord God." ^ Also in the seventy-third Psalm :
" But God is our King before the world ; He hath wrought
salvation in the midst of the earth." ^ Also in the Gospel
according to Matthew : " And when Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judah in the days of Herod the king, behold,
Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, saying. Where is
He who is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen His
star in the east, and have come to w^orship Him." * Also,
according to John, Jesus said : " My kingdom is not of this
world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants
would be in trouble, that I should not be delivered to the
Jews ; but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate
said, Art thou a king, then ? Jesus answered. Thou sayest
that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this
cause I am come into the world, that I might bear testimony
to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my
30. That He Himself is both Judge and King.
In the seventy-first Psalm : " O God, give Thy judgment
to the king, and Thy righteousness to the king's son, to judge
Thy people in righteousness." ^ Also in the Apocalypse :
" And I saw the heaven opened, and behold a white horse ;
and He who sate upon him was called Faithful and True ;
and He judgeth justice and righteousness, and maketh war.
And His eyes were, as it were, a flame of fire, and upon Plis
head were many crowns ; and He bare a name written that
was known to none other than Himself : and He was clothed
with a garment sprinkled with blood, and His name is called
the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven fol-
1 Ps. xcvii. 1. ■' Ps. xlv. 9-11. ^ pg j^xiv. 12.
^ Matt. ii. 1,2. ^ John i. 36, 37. ^ Ps. Ixxii. 1, 2.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 129
lowed Him on white liorses, clothed in linen, white and clean.
And out of His mouth went forth a sword with two edo-es,
that with it He should smite the nations, which He shall
shepherd ^ with a rod of iron ; and He shall tread the wine-
press of the wrath of God Almighty. Also He has on His
£>:arment and on His thio;h the name written, KIncp of klno-s,
and Lord of lords." ^ Likewise In the Gospel : " When the
Son of man shall come In His glory, and all the angels with
Him, then He shall sit In the throne of His glory ; and all
nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall
separate them one from another, even as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats ; and He shall place the sheep at
His rlo^ht hand, but the floats at His left hand. Then shall
the King say unto them who shall be at His riglit hand.
Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which
Is prepared for you from the beginning of the world : for I
was hungry, and ye gave me to eat ; I was thirsty, and ye
gave me to drink : I was a stranger, and ye received me :
naked, and ye clothed me : sick, and ye visited me : I was in
prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer, and say unto Him, Lord, when saw we Thee hungry,
and fed Thee ? thirsty, and gave Thee to drink ? And when
saw we Thee a stranger, and received Thee ? naked, and
clothed Thee ? And when saw we Thee sick, and in prison,
and came unto Thee ? And the King, answering, shall say
unto them. Verily I say unto you. In as far as ye have done
It to the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall He say unto them who shall be on His left hand.
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which my
Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels : for I
have been liungry, and ye gave me not to eat : I liave been
thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink : I was a stranger, and
ye received me not : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick,
and In prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall tliey also
answer and say. Lord, when saw we Thee hungry, or tliirsty,
^ The words " which He shall feed," or " shepherd," are wantiug in the
Ajiocalypse ; and they are not found in many authorities.
2 Rev. xix. 11-lG.
CYP. — VOL. II. I
130 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and have not
ministered unto Thee? And He shall answer unto them,
Yerily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have not done it to
one of the least of these, ye have not done it unto me. And
these shall go away into everlasting burning, but the right-
eous into life eternal." ^
THIED BOOK.
Cyprian to his son Quirinus, greeting. Of your faith and
devotion which you manifest to the Lord God, beloved son,
you asked me to gather out for your instruction from the
Holy Scriptures some heads bearing upon the religious teach-
ing of our school; seeking for a succinct course of sacred
reading, so that your mind, smTendered to God, might not
be wearied with long or numerous volumes of books, but in-
structed with a summary of heavenly precepts, might have a
wholesome and large compendium for nourishing its memory.
And because I owe you a plentiful and loving obedience, I
have done what you wished. I have laboured for once, that
you might not always labour. Therefore, as much as my
small ability could embrace, I have collected certain pre-
cepts of the Lord, and divine teachings, which may be easy
and useful to the readers, in that a few things digested into
a short space are both quickly read through, and are fre-
quently repeated. I bid you, beloved son, ever heartily
farewell.
HEADS.
1. On the benefit of good works and mercy.
2. In works and alms, even if by smallness of power less
be done, that the will itself is enough.
3. That charity and brotherly love must be religiously and
stedfastly practised.
4. That we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our
own.
5. That humility and quietness is to be maintained in all
things.
1 Matt. XXV. 31-46.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 131
6. That all good and righteous men suffer more, but
ought to endure because they are proved.
7. That we must not grieve the Holy Spirit whom we
have received.
8. That anger must be overcome, lest it constrain us to
sin.
9. That brethren ought to sustain one another.
10. That we must trust in God only, and in Him we must
glory.
11. That he who has attained to faith, having put off the
former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual
things, and to give no heed to the world which he has al-
ready renounced.
12. That we must not swear.
13. That we are not to curse.
14. That we must never murmur, but bless God concern-
ing all things that happen.
15. That men are tried by God for this purpose, that they
may be proved.
16. Of the benefit of martyrdom.
17. That what we suffer in this world is of less account
than is the reward which is promised.
18. That nothing must be preferred to the love of God
and of Christ.
19. That we must not obey our own will, but that of God.
20. That the foundation and strength of hope and faith is
fear.
21. That we must not rashly judge of another.
22. That when we have received a wrong, we must remit
and forgive it.
23. That evil is not to be returned for evil.
24. That it is impossible to attain to the Father but by
Christ.
25. That unless a man have been baptized and born again,
he cannot attain to the kingdom of God.
26. That it is of small account to be baptized and to re-
ceive the Eucharist, unless one profits by it both in deeds and
works.
132 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
27. That even a baptized person loses tlie grace wliicli lie
lias attained, unless lie keep innocency.
28. That remission cannot in the church be granted unto
him who has sinned against God.
29. That it was before predicted concerning the hatred of
the Name.
30. That what any one has vowed to God, he must quickly
pay.
31. That he who does not believe is judged already.
32. Of the benefit of virginity and of continency.
33. That the Father judgeth nothing, but the Son ; and
the Father is not honoured by him by whom the Son is not
honoured.
34. That the believer ought not to live like the Gentiles.
35. That God is patient for this end, that we may repent
of our sin and be reformed.
36. That a woman ought not to be adorned in a worldly
manner.
37. That the believer ought not to be punished for other
offences but for the name he bears only.
38. That the servant of God ought to be innocent, lest he
fall into secular punishment.
39. That the example of living is given to us in Ghiist.
40. That we must not labour boastfully or noisily.
41. That we must not speak foolishly and offensively.
42. That faith is of advantage altoo;ether, and that we can
do as much as we believe.
43. That he wdio truly believes can immediately obtain.
44. That the believers who differ among themselves ought
not to refer to a Gentile judge.
45. That hope is of future things, and therefore that faith
concerning those things which are promised ought to be
patient.
4G. That a w^oman ought to be silent in the church.
47. That it arises from our fault and our desert that we
suffer, and do not perceive God's help in everything.
48. That we must not take usury.
49. That even our enemies are to be loved.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 133
50. That the sacrament of the faith must not be pro-
faned.
51. That no one should be uplifted in his doing.
d2. That the liberty of believing or of not believing is
placed in free choice.
53. That the secrets of God cannot be seen through, and
therefore that our faith ought to be simple.
54. That none is without filth and without sin.
55. That we must not please men, but God.
56. That nothing that is done is hidden from God.
57. That the believer is amended and reserved.
58. That no one should be made sad by death, since in
living is labour and peril, in dying peace and the certainty of
resurrection.
59. Of the idols which the Gentiles think ffods.
60. That too great lust of food is not to be desired.
61. That the lust of possessing, and money, are not to be
desired.
62. That marriage is not to be contracted with Gentiles.
63. That the sin of fornication is grievous.
64. What are those carnal things which beget death, and
what are the spiritual things which lead to life.
65. That all sins are put away in baptism.
66. That the discipline of God is to be observed in churcli
precepts.
67. That it was foretold that men would despise sound
discipline.
(d^. That we must depart from him who lives irregularly
and contrary to discipline.
69. That the kingdom of God is not in the wisdom of tlie
world, nor in eloquence, but in the faitli of the cross and in
virtue of conversation.
70. That we must obey parents.
71. xind that fathers ought not to be bitter against tlieir
children.
72. That servants, when they believe, ought the more to
be obedient to their fleshly masters.
73. Likewise that masters ouirlit to be more <][entle.
134 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
74. That every widow that is approved ought to be
honoured.
75. That every person ought to have care rather of his
own people, and especially of believers.
76. That one who is older must not rashly be accused.
77. That the sinner is to be publicly reproved.
78. That we must not speak with heretics.
79. That innocency asks with confidence, and obtains.
80. That the devil has no power against man unless God
have allowed it.
81. That wages be quickly paid to the hireling.
82. That divination must not be used.
83. That a tuft of hair ^ is not to be worn on the head.
84. That the beard must not be plucked.
85. That we must rise when a bishop or a presbyter comes.
86. That a schism must not be made, even although he
who withdraws should remain in one faith and in the same
tradition.
87. That believers ought to be simple w^ith prudence.
88. That a brother must not be deceived.
89. That the end of the world comes suddenly.
90. That a wife must not depart from her husband ; or if
she departs, she must remain unmarried.
91. That every one is tempted so much as he is able to bear.
92. That not everything is to be done which is lawful.
93. That it was foretold that heresies would arise.
94. That the Eucharist is to be received with fear and
honour.
95. That we are to live with the good, but to avoid the
evil.
96. That we must labour with deeds, not with words.
97. That we must hasten to faith and to attainment.^
98. That the catechumen ought to sin no more.
99. That judgment will be in accordance with the terms,
before the law, of equity ; after Moses, of the law.
1 " Cirrum in capite non habendum." " Cirrus " means " a tuft of haii*,"
or a curl or lovelock.
2 Soil "of baptism," Oxford transl.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 135
100. That the grace of God ought to be gratuitous.
101. That the Holy Spirit has often appeared in fire.
102. That all good men ought willingly to hear rebuke.
103. That we must abstain from much speaking.
104. That we must not lie.
105. That they are frequently to be corrected who do
wrong in domestic service.
106. That when a wrong is received, patience is to be main-
tained, and that vengeance is to be left to God.
107. That we must not use detraction.
108. That we must not lay snares against our neigh-
bour.
109. That the sick are to be visited.
110. That tale-bearers are accursed.
111. That the sacrifices of evil men are not acceptable.
112. That those are more severely judged who in this world
have more power.
113. That widows and orphans ought to be protected.
114. That while one is in the flesh, he ought to make con-
fession.
115. That flattery is pernicious.
116. That God is more loved by him who has had many
sins forgiven in baptism.
117. That there is a strong conflict to be waged against
the devil, and that therefore we ought to stand bravely, that
we may be able to conquer.
118. Of Antichrist, that he will come as a man.
119. That the yoke of the law was heavy, which is cast off
by us ; and that the Lord's yoke is light, which is taken up
by us.
120. That we are to be urgent in prayers.
TESTIMONIES.
1. Of the benefit of good works and mercy.
In Isaiah : ^' Cry aloud," saith He, " and spare not ; lift up
thy voice like a trumpet ; tell my people their sins, and the
house of Jacob their wickednesses. They seek me from day
136 THE TREATISES OF CYFFJAN.
to day, and desire to know my ways, as a people wliicli did
righteousness, and did not forsake tlie judgment of God.
They ask of me now a righteous judgment, and desire to
approach to God, saying,' What! because we have fasted,
and Thou hast not seen : we have humihated our souls, and
Thou hast not known. For in the days of fasting are
found your own wills ; for either ye torment those who are
subjected to you, or ye fast for strifes and judgments, or ye
strike your neighbours with fists. For what do you fast
unto me, that to-day your voice should be heard in clamour ?
This fast I have not chosen, save that a man should humble
his soul. And if thou shalt bend thy neck like a ring, and
spread under thee sackcloth and ashes, neither thus shall it
be called an acceptable fast. Not such a fast have I chosen,
saith the Lord ; but loose every knot of unrighteousness, let
o-o the chokings of impotent engagements.^ Send away the
harassed into rest, and scatter every unrighteous contract.
Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless
poor into thy dwelling. If thou seest the naked, clothe him ;
and despise not them of thy own seed in thy house. Then
shall thy seasonable light break forth, and thy garments shall
quickly arise ; and righteousness shall go before thee : and
the glory of God shall surround thee. Then thou shalt cry
out, and God shall hear thee ; while thou art yet speaking,
He shall say. Here I am." ^ Concerning this same thing in
Job : "I have preserved the needy from the hand of the
mighty ; and I have helped the orphan, to whom there was no
helper. The mouth of the widow blessed me, since I was
the eye of the blind ; I was also the foot of the lame, and the
father of the weak." ^ Of this same matter in Tobit : " And
I said to Tobias, My son, go and bring whatever poor man
thou shalt find out of our brethren, who still has God in
mind with his whole heart. Bring him hither, and he shall
eat my dinner together with me. Behold, I attend thee, my
son, until thou come." * Also in the same place : ^' All the
days of thy hfe, my son, keep God in mind, and transgress
^ " Impotentium commerciorum." - Isa. hnii. 1-9.
3 Job xxix. 12, 13, 15, 16. * Tob. ii. 2.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 137
not His precepts. Do justice all the days of thy life, and
do not walk in the way of unrighteousness ; because if thou
act truly, there will be respect of thy works. Give alms of
thy substance, and turn not thy face from any poor man.
So shall it come to pass that the face of God shall not be
turned away from thee. Even as thou hast, my son, so do :
if thou hast abundant substance, give the more alms there-
from ; if thou hast little, communicate even of that little.
And do not fear when thou givest alms : thou layest up
for thyself a good reward against the day of need ; because
alms delivereth from death, and does not suffer to go into
darkness. Alms is a good office for all who do it in the sight
of the most high God." ^ On this same subject in Solomon
in Proverbs : " He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto
the Lord." ^ Also in the same place : " He that giveth to
the poor shall never want ; but he who turns away his eye
shall be in much penmy." ^ Also in the same place : " Sins
are purged away by alms-giving and faith." ^ Again, in the
same place : " If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; and if he
thirst, give him to drink : for by doing this thou slialt scatter
live coals upon his head." * Again, in the same place : " As
water extinguishes fire, so alms-giving extinguishes sin." ^
In the same in Proverbs : " Say not, Go away, and return,
to-morrow I will give ; when you can do good immediately.
For thou knowest not what may happen on the coming day." ^
Also in the same place : " He who stoppeth his ears that he
may not hear the weak, shall himself call upon God, and
there shall be none to hear him." ^ Also in the same place :
" He who has his conversation without reproach in righteous-
ness, leaves blessed children." ^ In the same in Ecclesias-
ticus : " My son, if thou hast, do good by thyself, and present
worthy offerings to God ; remember that death delayeth
not." ^^ Also in the same place : " Shut up alms in the heart
of the poor, and this will entreat for thee from all eviL" ^^
1 Tob. iv. 5-11. 2 prov. xix. 17. ^ Prov. xxviii. 27.
* Prov. xvi. 6. ^ Prov. xxv. 21. ^ Ecclus. iii. 30.
7 Prov. iii. 28. s Proy_ ^xi. 13. » I'rov. xx. 7.
^° Ecclus. xiv. 11. 1^ Ecclus. xxix. 12.
138 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
Concerning this thing in the thirty-sixth Psalm, that mercy
is beneficial also to one's posterity : " I have been young,
and I have also grown old ; and I have not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. The whole day
he is merciful, and lendeth ; and his seed is in blessing." ^
Of this same thing in the fortieth Psalm : " Blessed is he
"who considereth over the poor and needy : in the evil day
God will deliver him." ^ Also in the 111th Psalm : " He
hath distributed, he hath given to the poor ; his righteousness
shall remain from generation to generation." ^ Of this same
thing in Hosea : "I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and
the knowledge of God more than whole burnt-offerings." *
Of this same thing also in the Gospel according to Matthew :
" Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness :
for they shall be satisfied." ^ Also in the same place :
" Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy." ^
Also in the same place ; '' Lay uj) for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not dig through and steal : for where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also." '' Also in the same place :
" The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-man seek-
ing goodly pearls : and wdien he hath found a precious pearl,
he went away and sold all that he had, and bought it." ^
That even a small work is of advantage, also in the same
place : " And whoever shall give to drink to one of the least
of these a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, verily
I say unto you. His reward shall not perish." ^ That alms
are to be denied to none, also in the same place : " Give to
every one that asketh thee ; and from him who would wish
to borrow, be not turned away." ^^ Also in the same place :
" If thou wdlt enter into life, keep the commandments. He
saith. Which? Jesus saith unto him. Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not bear false
witness, Honour thy father and mother : and. Thou shalt
1 Ps. xxxvii. 25, 2G. - Ps. xli. 1. ^ Ps. cxii. 9.
4 Hos. vi. 6. ^ -"^tatt. v. (3. ^ jy^att. v. 7.
'' ilatt. vi. 20, 21. ^ ilatt. xiii. 45, 4G. '^ Matt. x. 42.
10 Matt. V. 42.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. ICD
love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto
Him, All these things have I observed : what lack I yet ?
Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all
that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven ; and come, follow me." ^ Also in the
same place : " When the Son of man shall come in His
majesty, and all the angels with Him, then He shall sit on
the throne of His glory : and all nations shall be gathered
together before Him ; and He shall separate tliem one from
another, even as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats : and He shall place the sheep on the right hand, but
the goats on the left hand. Then shall the King say unto
them that are on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my
Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the be-
ginning of the world. For I was hungry, and ye gave me
to eat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me to drink : I was a
stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I
was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, and say,
Lord, when saw we Thee ^ a stranger, and took Thee in :
naked, and clothed Thee ? And when saw we Thee sick,
and in prison, and came to Thee ? And the King, answering,
shall say unto them. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye
did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto
me. Then shall He say unto them who are on His left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which
my Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels : for
I was hungry, and ye gave me not to eat : I was thirsty, and
ye gave me not to drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me
not in : I was naked, and ye clothed me not : sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer,
and say, Lord, when saw we Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister
unto Thee ? And He shall answer them, Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these,
1 Matt. xix. 17-21.
2 The Oxford edition inserts here, "an hungered, and fed Thee : thirsty,
and gave Thee drink ? when saw we Thee — "
140 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
ye did it not imto me. And these shall go away into ever-
lasting burning : but the righteous into life eternal." ^ Con-
cerning this same matter in the Gospel according to Luke :
" Sell your possessions, and give alms." ^ Also in the same
place : " He who made that which is within, made that which
is without also. But give alms, and, behold, all things are
pm-e unto you." ^ Also in the same place : " Behold, the
half of my substance I give to the poor ; and if I have de-
frauded any one of anything, I restore him fourfold. And
Jesus said unto him, that salvation has this day been wrought
for this house, since he also is a son of Abraham." "^ Of this
same thing also in the second Epistle to the Corinthians :
'^ Let your abundance supply their want, that their abun-
dance also may be the supplement of your want, that there
may be equality : as it is written, He who had much had
not excess ; and he who had little had no lack." ^ Also in
the same place : "He who soweth sparingly shall reap also
sparingly ; and he who soweth in blessing shall reap also of
blessing. But let every one do as he has proposed in his
heart : not as if sorrowfully, or of necessity : for God loveth
a cheerful giver." ^ Also in the same place : "As it is
written. He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the
poor : his righteousness remaineth for ever." ^" Likewise in
the same place : " Now he who ministereth seed to the sower,
shall both supply bread to be eaten, and shall multiply your
seed, and shall increase the growth of the fruits of your
righteousness : that in all things ye may be made rich." ^
Also in the same place : " The administration of this service
has not only supplied that which is lacking to the saints, but
has abounded by much giving of thanks unto God." ^ Of
this same matter in the Epistle of John : " Whoso hath this
world's substance, and sceth his brother desiring, and shutteth
UT) his bowels from him, how dwelleth the love of God in
him ? " ^^ Of this same thing in the Gospel according to
1 Matt. XXV. ol-4G. - Luke xii. 33. " Luke xi. 40, 41.
4 Luke xix. 8, 9. '^ 2 Cor. viii. 14, 15. ^ 2 Cor. ix. 6, 7.
7 2 Cor. ix. 9. 8 2 Cor. ix. 10, 11. » 2 Cor. ix. 12.
10 1 Jolin iii. 17.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 141
Luke : " "When tliou makest a dinner or a supper, call not
thy friends, nor brethren, nor neighbours, nor the rich ; lest
haply they also invite thee again, and a recompense be made
thee. But when thou makest a banquet, call the poor, the
"weak, the blind, and lame : and thou shalt be blessed ; be-
cause they have not the means of rewarding thee : but thou
shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." ^
2. In works and alms, even if by smallness of power less
be done, that the will itself is sufficient.
In the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " If there
be a ready will, it is acceptable according to what a man hath,
not according to that which he hath not ; nor let there be to
others a mitigation, but to you a burdening."^
3. That charity and brotherly affection are to be religiously
and stedfastly practised.
In Malachi : " Hath not one God created us ? Is there
not one Father of us all ? Why have ye certainly deserted
every one his brother?"^ Of this same thing according to
John : " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."*
Also in the same place : " This is my commandment. That ye
love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love
than this has no man, than that one should lay down his life
for his friends."^ Also in the same place : " Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God."^
Also in the same place : " Yerily I say unto you. That if two
of you shall agree on earth concerning everything, whatever
you shall ask it shall be given you from my Father which is
in heaven. For wherever two or three are o^athered tofrethcr
in my name, I am with them." ' Of this same thing in the
first Epistle to the Corinthians : " And I indeed, brethren,
could not speak unto you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as
to babes in Christ. I have given you milk for drink, not
meat : for while ye were yet little ye were not able to bear it,
> Luke xiv. 12-14. 2 2 Cor. viii. 12, 13. ^ Mai. ii. 10.
4 John xiv. 27. « joj^ij ^v. 12, 13. « ^fatt. v. 9.
7 Matt, xviii. 10, 20.
142 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
neither now are ye able. For ye are still carnal : for wliere
there are in you emulation, and strife, and dissensions, are ye
not carnal, and walk after man?"^ Likewise in the same
place : *' And if I should have all faith, so that I can remove
mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I
should distribute all my goods for food, and if I should
deliver up my body to be burned, but have not charity, I
avail nothing. Charity is great-souled ; charity is kind;
charity envieth not; chanty dealeth not falsely; is not
puffed up ; is not irritated ; thinketh not evil ; rejoiceth not
in injustice, but rejoiceth in the truth. It loveth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, beareth all things.
Charity shall never fail."^ Of this same thing to the Gala-
tians : " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if
ye bite and accuse one another, see that ye be not consumed
one of another." ^ Of this same thing in the Epistle of John :
" In this appear the children of God and the children of the
devil. Whosoever is not righteous is not of God, and he who
loveth not his brother. For he who hateth his brother is a
murderer ; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him."^ Also in the same place: "If any one
shall say that he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a
liar : for he who loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how
can he love God whom he seeth not?"^ Of this same thing
in the Acts of the Apostles : " But the multitude of them
that had believed acted with one soul and mind : nor was there
among them any distinction, neither did they esteem as their
own anything of the possessions that they had ; but all things
were common to them." ^ Of this same thing in the Gospel
according to Matthew : ''If thou wouldest offer thy gift at the
altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against
thee ; leave thou thy gift before the altar, and go ; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift at
the altar." ^" Also in the Epistle of John : " God is love ; and
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."®
1 1 Cor. iii. 1-3. ^ i Cor. xiii. 2-8. » ^^1. y. 14, 15.
4 1 John iii. 10, 15. ^ 1 John iv. 20. c Acts iv. 32.
7 Matt. V. 23, 24. « 1 John iv. 16.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 143
Also in the same place : " He who saith he is in the light,
and hateth his brother, is a liar, and walketh in darkness
even until now."^
4. That we must boast in nothing, since nothing is our own.
In the Gospel according to John : " No one can receive
anything, except it were given him from heaven."^ Also in
the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " For what hast
thou that thou hast not received ? But if thou hast received
it, why boastest thou, as if thou hadst not received it ? " ^ Also
in the first of Kings : " Boast not, neither speak lofty things,
and let not great speeches proceed out of your mouth, for the
Lord is a God of knowledge."^ Also in the same place:
" The bow of the mighty men has been made weak, and the
weak are girt about with strength."* Of this same thing in
the Maccabees : " It is just to be subjected to God, and that
a mortal should not think things equal to God." ^ Also in
the same place : " And fear not the words of a man that is a
sinner, because his glory shall be filth and worms. To-day
he shall be lifted up, and to-morrow he shall not be found ;
because he is turned into his earth, and his thought has
perished."®
5. That humility and quietness are to be maintained in all
things.
In Isaiah : " Thus saith the Lord God, The heaven is my
throne, and the earth is the stool of my feet. What seat
Avill ye build for me, or what is the place for my rest ? For
all those things hath my hand made, and all those things
are mine. And upon whom else will I look, except upon the
lowly and quiet man, and him that trembleth at my words? "^
On this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew:
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."*
Of this same thing, too, according to Luke : " He that shall
be least among you all, the same shall be great." ^ Also in
1 1 John ii. 9. 2 joj^^ iii. 27. » 1 Cor. iv. 7.
^ 1 Sam. ii. 3, 4. ^2 Mace. ix. 12. ^1 ^facc. ii. G2, 63.
7 Isa. Ixvi. 1, 2. 8 Matt. v. 5. » Luke ix. 48.
144 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
the same place : " "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be made
low, and whosoever abaseth himself shall be exalted."^ Of
this same thing to the Komans : '^ Be not high-minded, but
fear : for if God spared not the natural branches, [take
heed] lest He also spare not thee."^ Of this same thing in
the thirty-third Psalm : " And He shall save the lowly in
spirit."^ Also to the Romans : " Render to all what is due :
tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear
tu whom fear, honour to whom honour ; owe no man any-
thing, except to love another." ^ Also in the Gospel according
to Matthew : " They love the first place of reclining at feasts,
and the chief seat in the synagogues, and salutations in the
market, and to be called of men Rabbi. But call not ye
Rabbi, for One is your IMaster."^ Also in the Gospel accord-
ing to John : " The servant is not greater than his lord, nor
the apostle greater than He that sent himself. If ye know
these things, blessed shall ye be if ye shall do them."^ Also
in the eighty-first Psalm : '^ Do justice to the poor and lowly." ^
6. That all good and righteous men suffer more, but ought
to endure because they are proved.
In Solomon : " The furnace proveth the vessels of the
potter, and the trial of tribulation righteous men."^ Also in
the fiftieth Psalm : " The sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit ;
a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise."^ Also
in the thirty-third Psalm : " God is nearest to them that are
contrite in heart, and He will save the lowly in spirit." ^^
Also in the same place : '^ Many are the afflictions of the
riixhteous, but out of them all the Lord will deliver them."^^
Of this same matter in Job : "• Naked came I out of my
mother's womb, naked also shall I go under the earth : the
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : as it hath pleased
the Lord, so it is done ; blessed be the name of the Lord. In
all these things which happened to him Job sinned in nothing
1 Luke xiv. 11. ^ Rom. xi. 20, 21. ^ Ps. xxxiv. 18.
4 Rom. xiii. 7, 8. ^ Matt, xxiii. 6-8. ^ Jobn xiii. 16, 17.
5" Ps. Ixxxii. 3. ^ Eccliis. xxvii. 5. ^ Ps. li. 17.
10 Ps. xxxiv. 18. 11 Ps. xxxiv. 19.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 145
with his lips in the sight of the Lord."^ Concerning this
same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew : " Blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."^ Also
according to John : *' These things have I spoken unto you,
that in me ye may have peace. But in the world ye shall
have affliction ; but have confidence, for I have overcome the
world." ^ Concerning this same thing in the second Epistle
to the Corinthians : " There was given to me a thorn in the
fleshj a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not
be exalted. For which thing I thrice besought the Lord,
that it should depart from me. And He said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee ; for strength is perfected in weak-
ness.""* Concerning this same thing to the Romans : "We
glory in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we
also glory in afflictions : knowing that affliction worketh pa-
tience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope : and
hope does not confound ; because the love of God is infused
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us."^
On this same subject, according to Matthew : " How broad
and spacious is the w^ay which leadeth unto death, and many
there are who go in thereby : how^ strait and narrow is the
way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!"®
Of this same thing in Tobias : " Where are thy righteous-
nesses ? behold what thou sufferest." '^ Also in the Wisdom
of Solomon : " In the places of the wicked the righteous
groan ; but at their ruin the righteous will abound." ®
7. That w^e must not grieve the Holy Spirit, whom we
have received.
Paul the apostle to the Ephesians : " Grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, in which ye were scaled in the day of redemp-
tion. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and indignation, and
clamour, and blasphemy, be taken away from you."^
1 Job i. 21, 22. 2 ;^fatt. v. 4. = John xvi. 33.
* 2 Cor. xii. 7-9. « Rom. v. 2-5. e >[att. vii. 13, 14.
7 Tob. ii. 14. 8 Prov. xxviii. 28. » Eph. iv. 30, 31.
CYr. — VOL. II.
146 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
8. That anger must be overcome, lest it constrain us to sin.
In Solomon in the Proverbs: "Better is a patient man
than a strong man ; for he who restrains his anger is better
than he who taketh a city." ^ Also in the same place : " The
imprudent man declareth his anger on the same day, but the
crafty man hideth away his dishonour."^ Of this same thing
to the Ephesians : " Be ye angry, and sin not. Let not the
sun set upon your wrath." ^ Also in the Gospel according
to Matthew : " Ye have heard that it was said by the ancients,
Thou shalt not kill ; and whoever shall kill shall be guilty of
the judgment. But I say unto you, That every one who is
angry with his brother without cause shall be guilty of the
judgment." *
9. That brethren ought to support one another.
To the Galatians : " Each one having others in considera-
tion, lest ye also should be tempted. Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so ye shall fulfil the law of Christ." ^
10. That we must trust in God only, and in Him we must
glory.
In Jeremiah : " Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the strong man glory in his strength, nor let the
rich man glory in his riches ; but let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understands and knows that I am the Lord,
who do mercy, and judgment, and righteousness upon the earth,
because in them is my pleasure, saith the Lord."^ Of the same
thing in the fifty-fourth Psalm : " In the Lord have I hoped ;
I will not fear what man can do unto me." '' Also in the same
place : " To none but God alone is my soul subjected."^ Also
in the 117th Psalm : " I will not fear what man can do unto
me ; the Lord is my helper." ^ Also in the same place : " It
is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man ; it
is good to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in princes." ^^
1 Prov. xvi. 32. - Pro v. xii. 16. ^ Epb. iv. 26.
4 Matt. V. 21, 22. ^ Gal. vi. 1, 2. ^ jgr. ix. 23, 24.
7 Ps. Ivi. 11. 8 Ps, ixii. 1. 9 Ps. cxviii. 6.
10 Ps. cxviii. 8.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 147
Of this same thing in Daniel : " But Shadi'ach, Meshach, and
Abednego answered and said to king Nebuchadnezzar, O
king, there is no need to answer thee concerning this word.
For God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the fur-
nace of burning fire; and He will deliver us from thine hand,
O king. And if not, be it known unto thee that we serve
not thy gods, and we adore not the golden image which thou
hast set up." ^ Likewise in Jeremiah : " Cursed is the man
who hath hope in man ; and blessed is the man who trusts in
the Lord, and his hope shall be in God." ^ Concerning this
same thing in Deuteronomy : " Thou shalt worship the Lord
thy God, and Him onl}- shalt thou serve." ^ Of this same
thing to the Romans : " And they worshipped and served
the creature, forsaking the Creator. Wherefore also God
gave them up to ignominious passions." * Of this thing also
in John : " Greater is He who is in you than he who is in
this world." ^
11. That he who has attained to trust, having put off the
former man, ought to regard only celestial and spi-
ritual things, and to give no heed to the world which
he has already renounced.
In Isaiah : " Seek ye the Lord ; and when ye have found
Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto
you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man
his thoughts : and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he
shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your
sins." ^ Of this same thing in Solomon : " I have seen all
the vrorks which are done under the sun ; and, lo, all are
vanity." ^ Of this same thing in Exodus : " But thus shall
ye eat it ; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and
your staves in your hands : and ye shall eat it in haste, for it
is the Lord's passover."^ Of this same thing in the Gospel
according to Matthew : " Take no tliought, saying, What
shall we eat ? or, What shall we drink ? or, Wherewith shall we
1 Dan. iii. 16-18. - Jer. xvii. 5-7. ^ Deut. vi. 13.
* Rom. i. 25, 26. ^ 1 John iv. 4. c Isa. Iv. 6, 7.
y Eccles. i. 14. s Ex. xii. 11.
H8 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
be clothed ? for these things the nations seek after. But your
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek
first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness ; and all these
things shall be added unto you."-^ Likewise in the same
place : " Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall
take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own
evil."^ Likewise in the same place : " No one looking back,
and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom
of God."^ Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of
the heaven : for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns ;
and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of
more value than they V^ ^ Concerning this same thing, ac-
cording to Luke : " Let your loins be girded, and your lamps
burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when
he Cometh from the wedding ; that, when he cometh and
knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants,
Avhom their lord, when he cometh, shall find w\atching." ^
Of this same thing in Matthew : " The foxes have holes, and
the birds of the heaven have nests ; but the Son of man hath
not where He may lay His head." ^ Also in the same
place : " Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be
my disciple." ' Of this same thing in the first to the
Corinthians : " Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with
a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." ^ Also
in the same place : " The time is limited. It remaineth,
therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they
have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not,
and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who
buy as they that buy not, and they wdio possess as they who
230ssess not, and they who use this world as they that use it
not ; for the fashion of this world passeth away." ^ Also in
the same place : " The first man is of the clay of the earth,
the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also
are they who are of the clay ; and as is the heavenly, such
also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of
1 Matt. vi. 31-33. " Matt. vi. 34. ^ L^ke ix. 62.
^ Matt. vi. 26. ^ Luke xii. 35-37. ^ Matt. viii. 20.
7 Luke xiv. 33. « 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. ^ 1 Cor. vii. 29-31.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 149
liim who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is
from heaven." ^ Of this same matter to the Philippians :
"All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ's;
whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their
glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For
our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the
Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, w^ho shall transform the
body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory." ^
Of this very matter to Galatians : " But be it far from me
to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
wdiom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." ^
Concerning this same thing to Timothy : " No man that
warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances,
that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself.
But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless
he fight lawfully."^ Of this same thing to the Colossians :
" If ye be dead with Christ from the elements of the w^orld,
why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things ? "''
Also concerning this same thing : " If ye have risen together
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things
that are above, not to those things which are on the earth ;
for ye are dead, and your life is hidden wath Christ in God.
But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with Him in glory." ^ Of this same thing to the
Ephesians : " Put off the old man of the former conversation,
who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye
renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man,
him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and
holiness, and truth." '' Of this same thing in the Epistle of
Peter : " As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts,
which war against the soul ; but having a good conversation
among the Gentiles, that while they detract from 3'ou as if
from evil-doers, yet, beholding your good works, they may
magnify God." ^ Of this same thing in the Epistle of John :
1 1 Cor. XV. 47-49. 2 pj^ji^ jj 2I, iii. 19-21.
3 Gal. vi. 14. 4 2 Tim. ii. 4, 5. ^ Col. ii. 20.
« Col. iii. 1-4. ' Eph. iv. 22-24. » 2 Pot. ii. 11, 12.
150 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
"He who saitli he abldeth in Christ, ought himself also to
walk even as He walked." ^ Also in the same place : " Love
not the v/orkl, neither the things that are in the world. If
any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the
flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world,
which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world.
And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that
doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth
for ever." "" Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corin-
thians : " Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new
dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ oui* passover
is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the
old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but
in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." ^
12. That we must not swear.
In Solomon : " A man that sweareth much shall be filled
with iniquity, and the plague shall not depart from his house ;
and if he swear vainly, he shall not be justified." ^ Of this
same matter, according to Matthew : " [Again, ye have heard
that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not swear falsely,
but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.] I say unto you,
Swear not at all : [neither by heaven, because it is God's
throne ; nor by the earth, because it is His footstool ; nor by
Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King ; neither
shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make
one hair white or black.] But let your discourse be. Yea,
yea ; Nay, nay : [for whatever is fuller than these is of evil."] ^
Of this same thing in Exodus : " Thou shalt not take the
name of the Lord thy God in vain." ^
1 1 John ii. 6. ^ i j^^^ jj^ l^-Yl. 3 i Cor. v. 7, 8.
^ Ecclus. xxiii. 11. From some ancient text the Oxford edition adds
here, " Et si frustra juraverit dupliciter punietur " — "and if he swear
with no purpose, he shall be punished doubly."
^ Matt. V. 34-37. All these passages are wanting in the Oxford text.
« Ex. XX. 7.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 151
13. That we must not curse.
In Exodus : " Thou shalt not curse nor speak ill of the
ruler of thy people." ^ Also in the thirty-third Psalm : " Who
is the man who desires life, and loveth to see good days ?
Eestrain thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak
no guile." ^ Of this same thing in Leviticus : " And the
Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Bring forth him who hath
cursed abroad outside the camp ; and all who heard him
shall place their hands upon his head, and all the assembly
of the children of Israel shall stone him." ^ Of this same
thing in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians : " Let no evil
discourse proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good
for the edification of faith, that it may give grace to the
hearers." * Of this same thing to the Romans : " Blessing,
and not cursing."^ Of this same thing in the Gospel accord-
ing to ^latthew : " He who shall say to his brother. Thou
fool ! shall be liable to the Gehenna of fire." ® Of this same
matter, according to the same Matthew : " But I say unto
you, That every idle word which men shall speak, they shall
give account for it in the day of judgment. For by thy
words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned." ^"
14. That w^e must never murmur, but bless God concern-
ing all things that happen.
In Job : " Say some word against the Lord, and die. But
he, looking upon her, said. Thou speakest as one of the
foolish w^omen. If we have received good things from the
Lord's hand, wdiy shall we not endure evil things ? In all
these things which happened unto him. Job sinned not with
his lips in the sight of the Lord." ^ Also in the same place :
" Hast thou regarded my servant Job ? for there is none
like unto him in the earth : a man without complaint : a true
worshipper of God, restraining himself from all evil." ^ Of
this samic thing in the thirty-third Psalm : " I will bless the
1 Ex. xxii. 28. 2 pg xxxiv. 12, 13. ^ Lev. xxiv. 13, 14.
4 Eph. iv. 29. ^ Rom. xii. 14. « .Afatt. v. 22.
^ Matt. xii. 3G, 37. » Job ii. 9, 10. » Job i. 8.
152 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
Lord at all times : His praise shall ever be in my mouth." ^
Of this same thing in Numbers : " Let their murmuring
cease from me, and they shall not die."^ Of this same thing
in the Acts of the Apostles : " But about the middle of the
night Paul and Silas prayed and gave thanks to God, and
the prisoners heard them." ^ Also in the Epistle of Paul to
the Philippians : " But doing all things for love, without
murmurings and revilings,* that ye may be without com-
plaint, and spotless sons of God." ^
15. That men are tried by God for this purpose, that they
may be proved.
Li Genesis : " And God tempted Abraham, and said to
him, Take thy only son whom thou lovest, Isaac, and go
into the high land, and offer him there as a burnt-offering
on one of the mountains of which I will tell thee." ° Of this
same thing in Deuteronomy : '' The Lord your God proveth
you, that He may know if ye love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul." "^ Of this same thing
in the Wisdom of Solomon : " Althouo-h in the sio;ht of men
they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality ;
and having been in few things distressed, yet in many things
they shall be happily ordered, because God tried them, and
found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He
proved them, and as a burnt-offering He received them.
And in their time there shall be respect of them ; they shall
judge the nations, and shall rule over the people ; and their
Lord shall reign for ever." ^ Of this same thing in the
Maccabees : " Was not Abraham found faithful in tempta-
tion, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness ?" ^
16. Of the benefits of martyrdom.
In the Proverbs of Solomon : " The faithful martyr de-
livers his soul from evils." ^^ Also in the same place : " Then
1 Ps. xxxiv. 1. - Num. xvii. 10. ^ Acts xvi. 25.
* Reputationibus ; possibly " complainings."
^ Phil. ii. 14, 15. « Gen. xxii. 1, i. ^" Deut. xiii. 3.
8 Wisd. iii. 4-8. ^ 1 Mace. ii. 52. lo Yvoy. xiv. 25.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 153
shall the righteous stand in great boldness against them who
have afflicted them^ and who took away their labours. When
they see them, they shall be disturbed with a horrible fear ;
and they shall wonder at the suddenness of their unhoped-for
salvation, saying among themselves, rej)enting and groaning
with distress of spirit, These are they whom some time we
had in derision, and in the likeness of a proverb ; we fools
counted their life madness, and their end without honour.
How are they reckoned among the children of God, and
their lot among the saints ! Therefore we have wandered
from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not
shined upon us, and the sun has not risen upon us. We have
been wearied in the way of iniquity and of perdition, and
w^e have walked through difficult solitudes ; but we have not
known the w^ay of the Lord. What hath pride profited us ?
or what hath the boasting of riches brought to us? All these
things have passed away as a shadow." ^ Of this same thing
in the 115th Psalm : " Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of His saints." ^ Also in the 125th Psalm : "They
wdio sow in tears shall reap in joy. Walking they walked, and
wept as they cast their seeds ; but coming they shall come
in joy, raising up their laps." ^ Of this same thing in the
Gospel according to John : " He wdio loveth his life shall
lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this w^orld shall find it
to life eternal." * Also in the same place : " But when they
shall deliver you up, take no thought what ye shall speak ;
for it is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father
which speaketh in you." * Also in the same place : " The
hour shall come, that every one that killeth you shall think
he doetli service to God ; but they shall do this also because
they have not known the Father nor me." ^ Of this same
matter, according to Matthew : " Blessed are they which
shall suffer persecution for righteousness' sake ; for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven." ^ Also in the same place : " Fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
1 Wisd. V. 1-9. 2 Ps, cxvi. 5. 3 y&. cxxvi. 5, G.
* John xii. 25. « Matt. x. 19. 20. ^ John xvi. 2, 3.
7 Matt. V. 10.
154 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
soul ; but rather fear Him whicli is able to kill the soul and
body in Gehenna." ^ Also in the same place : " Whosoever
shall confess me before men, him also will I confess before
my Father which is in heaven ; but he who shall deny me
before men, him also will I deny before my Father which is
in heaven. And he that shall endure to the end, the same
shall be saved." ^ Of this same thing, according to Luke :
" Blessed shall ye be when men shall hate you, and shall sepa-
rate you [from their company], and shall drive you out, and
shall speak evil of your name, as wicked, for the Son of man's
sake. Rejoice in that day, and exult ; for, lo, your reward is
great in heaven." ^ Also in the same place : " Verily I say
unto you, There is no man that leaveth house, or parents, or
brethren, or wife, or children, for the sake of the kingdom
of God, and does not receive seven times as much in this
present time, but in the world to come life everlasting."*
Of this same thing in the Apocalypse : " And when he had
opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls
of them that were slain on account of the w^ord of God and
His testimony. And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? And
unto every one of them were given white robes ; and it was
said to them, that they should rest still for a short time, until
the number of their fellow-servants, and of their brethren,
should be fulfilled, and they who shall afterwards be slain,
after their example."^ Also in the same place : " After these
things I saw a great crowd, which no one among them could
number, from every nation, and from every tribe, and from
every people and tongue, standing before the throne and
before the Lamb ; and they were clothed with white robes,
and palms were in their hands. And they said with a loud
voice. Salvation to our God, that sitteth upon the throne,
and to the Lamb. And one of the elders answered and said
to me. What are these which are clothed with white robes ?
who are they, and whence have they come ? And I said unto
1 Matt. X. 28. 2 Matt. x. 32, 33. ^ l,^]-^ ^i. 22, 23.
•^ Luke xviii. 29, 30. ^ Rev. vi. 9-11.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 155
him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These
are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and
serve Him day and night in His temple ; and He who sitteth
upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall neither
hunger nor thirst ever ; and neither shall the sun fall upon
them, nor shall they suffer any heat : for the Lamb who is in
the midst of the throne shall protect them, and shall lead them
to the fountains of the waters of life ; and God shall wipe
away every tear from their eyes." ^ Also in the same place :
" He who shall overcome I will give him to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the paradise of my God." ^ Also in the same
place : " Be thou faithful even unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life."^ Also in the same place: " Blessed
shall they be who shall watch, and shall keep their garments,
lest they walk naked, and they see their shame." * Of this
same thing, Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy : " I am
now offered up, and the time of my assumption is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I
have kept the faith. There now remains for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give
me in that day ; and not only to me, but to all also who love
His appearing." ^ Of this same thing to the Romans : " We
are the sons of God : but if sons and heirs of God, we are
also joint-heirs with Christ ; if we suffer together, that we
may also be magnified together." ^ Of this same thing in
the 118th Psalmi; "Blessed are they who are undefiled in
the way, and walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they
who search into His testimonies." ^
17. That what we suffer in this world is of less account
than is the reward which is promised.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans : " The sufferings
of this present time are not worthy of comparison with the
1 Rev. vii. 9-17. 2 Rev. ii. 7. ■' Rev. ii. 10.
* Rev. xvi. 15. ^ 2 Tim. iv. Q-9'. « Rom. viii. 16, 17.
^Ps. cxix. 1, L>.
156 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
glory that is to come after, which shall be revealed in us." ^
Of this same thing in the Maccabees : " O Lord, who hast
the holy knowledge, it is manifest that wdiile I might be
delivered from death, I am suffering most cruel pains of
body, being beaten with whips ; yet in spirit I suffer these
things willingly, because of the fear of thine own self." ^
Also in the same place : " Thou indeed, being powerless,
destroyest us out of this present life ; but the King of the
world shall raise us up who have died for His laws into the
eternal resurrection of life." ^ Also in the same place : " It
is better that, given up to death by men, we should expect
hope from God to be raised again by Him. For there shall
be no resurrection to life for tiiee." * Also in the same
place : " Having power among men, although thou art cor-
ruptible, thou doest what thou wilt. But think not that our
race is forsaken of God. Sustain, and see how His great
power will torment thee and thy seed." ^ Also in the same
place : " Do not err without cause ; for we suffer these things
on our own accounts, as sinners against our God. But think
not thou that thou shalt be unpunished, having undertaken
to fight against God."^
18. That nothing is to be preferred to the love of God and
Christ.
In Deuteronomy : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
might." '^ Also in the Gospel according to Matthew : " He
that loveth fatlier or mother above me, is not worthy of me ;
and he that loveth son or daughter above me, is not worthy
of me ; and he that taketh not up his cross and followeth me,
is not my disciple."^ Also in the Epistle of Paul to the
Komans : " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written. Because for
thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as
1 Rom. viii. 18. - 2 Mace. vi. 30. ^ 2 Mace. vii. 9.
* 2 Mace. vii. 14. ^ 2 Mace. vii. 16, 17.
" Deut. vi. 5. ^ Matt. x. 37, 38.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 157
sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we are more
than conquerors for His sake who loved us." ^
19. That we are not to obey our own will, but the will of
God.
In the Gospel according to John : " I came not down from
heaven to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me." ^ Of this same matter, according to Matthew : " Father,,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not
what I will, but what Thou wilt." ^ Also in the daily prayer :
'' Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." * Also ac-
cording to Matthew ; " Not every one who saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he
who doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, he shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven." ^ Also according to
Luke : " But that servant which knoweth his Lord's will,
and obeyed not His will, shall be beaten with many stripes." ^
Li the Epistle of John : " But he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever, even as He Himself also abideth for ever."^
20. That the foundation and strength of hope and faith is
fear.
In the 110th Psalm : "The fear of the Lord is the begin-
ning of wisdom." ^ Of the same thing in the Wisdom of
Solomon : " The beginning of wisdom is to fear God." ^
Also in the Proverbs of the same : " Blessed is the man who
reverences all things with fear." ^° Of the same thing in
Isaiah : " And upon whom else will I look, except upon him
that is lowly and peaceful, and that trembleth at my words ?"^^
Of this same thing in Genesis : " And the angel of the Lord
called him from heaven, and said unto him, Abraham, Abra-
ham : and he said. Here am I. And he said. Lay not thine
hand upon the lad, neither do anything unto him : for now I
know that thou fearest thy God, and hast not spared thy bc-
1 Rom. viii. 35-37. 2 JqI^^ vi. 38. ^ ^fatt. xxvi. 39.
* Matt. vi. 10. ^ Matt. vii. 21. ^ Luke xii. 47.
7 1 John ii. 17. » Ps. cxi. 10. » Ecclus. i. 14
^^ Prov. xxviii. 14. ^^ Isa. Ixvi. 2.
158 THE TREATISES OF CYPPJAN.
loved son for my sake." ^ Also in the second Psalm : ^* Serve
the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto Him in trembling."^ Also
in Deuteronomy, the word of God to Moses : " Call the people
together to me, and let them hear my words, that they may
learn to fear me all the days that they themselves shall live
upon the earth." ^ Also in Jeremiah : "Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will perfect upon the house of Israel,
and in the house of Judah, a new covenant : not according to
the covenant that I had ordered with their fathers in the day
when I laid hold of their hand to bring them out of the land
of Egy|Dt ; because they have not abode in ni}^ covenant, and
I have been unmindful of them, saith the Lord ; because this
is the covenant which I will ordain for the house of Israel ;
After those days, saith the Lord, I will give my law, and will
■write it in their mind ; and I wall be to them for a God, and
they shall be to me for a people. And they shall not teach
every man his brother, saying. Know the Lord : because all
shall know me, from the least even to the greatest of them :
because I will be favourable to their iniquities, and their sins
I w^ill not remember any more. If the heaven should be
lifted up on high, saith the Lord, and if the earth should be
made low from beneath, yet I will not cast away the people
of Israel, saith the Lord, for all the things which they have
done. Behold, I wall gather them together from every land
in which I have scattered them in anger, and in my fury, and
in great indignation ; and I will grind them down into that
place, and I will leave them in fear; and they shall be to
me for a people, and I will be to them for a God : and I will
give them another way, and another heart, that they may
fear me all their days in prosperity with their children : and
I will perfect for them an everlasting covenant, which I will
not turn away after them ; and I will put my fear into their
heart, that they may not depart from me : and I will visit
upon them to do them good, and to plant them in their land
1 Gen. xxii. 11, 12.
2 Ps. ii. 11. The whole of the remainder of this section, except the
two concluding quotations from the Psalms, is wanting in many editions.
3 Deut. iv. 10.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 159
in faith, and with all the heart, and with all the mind." ^
Also in the Apocalypse : " And the four and twenty elders
which sit on their thrones in the sight [of God], fell upon
their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give Tliee
thanks, O Lord God omnipotent, which art and which wast ;
because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and hast reigned.
And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and
the time in which it should be judged concerning the dead,
and the reward should be given to Thy servants the prophets,
and the saints that fear Thy name, small and great ; and to
disperse those who have corrupted the earth." ^ Also in the
same place : " And I saw another angel flying through the
midst of the heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
to those who dwell upon the earth, and to all the nations, and
tribes, and tongues, and peoples, saying with a loud voice.
Fear God, and give Him honour, because the hour of His
judgment is come ; and adore Him who made the heaven,
and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." ^
Also in the same place : " And I saw as it were a sea of
glass mingled with fire; and the beasts were feeding with
His lambs ; ^ and the number of His name a hundred and
forty and four, standing upon the sea of glass, having the
harps of God ; and they sing the song of Closes, the servant
of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and mar-
vellous are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty ; just and
true are Thy ways. Thou King of the nations. Who would
not fear Thee, and give honour to Thy name? for Thou
only art holy : and because all nations shall come and worship
in Tliy sight, because Thy righteousnesses have been made
manifest." * Also in Daniel : " There was a man dwelling
in Babylon whose name was Joachim; and he took a wife by
name Susanna, the daughter of Helchias, a very beautiful
woman, and one that feared the Lord. And her parents
were righteous, and taught their daughter according to the
1 Jer. xxxi. Sl^il. 2 j^cv. xi. 16, 17. ^ j^qx. xiv. IG, 17.
* There is considerable departure here from the Apocalyptic text, for
which it is not easy to account.
^ Rev. XV. 2-4.
160 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
law of Moses." ^ Moreover, in Daniel : " And we are lowly
this day in all the earth because of our sins, and there is
not at this time any prince, or prophet, or leader, or burnt-
offering, or oblation, or sacrifice, or incense, or place to
sacrifice before Thee, and to find mercy from Thee. And
yet in the soul and spirit of lowliness let us be accepted as
the burnt-offerings of rams and bulls, and as it wxre many
thousands of lambs which are fattest. If our offering may
be made in Thy presence this day, their power shall be con-
sumed, for they shall not be ashamed who put their trust in
Thee. And now we follow with our whole heart, and we
fear and seek Thy face. Give us not over unto reproach,
but do with us according to Thy tranquillity, and according
to the multitude of Thy mercy deliver us." ^ Also in the
same place : " And the king exceedingly rejoiced, and com-
manded Daniel to be taken up out of the den of lions ; and
the lions had done him no hurt, because he trusted and had
believed in his God. And the king commanded, and they
brought those men who had accused Daniel ; and they cast
them in the den of lions, and their wives and their children.
And before they had reached the pavement- of tlie den they
were seized by the lions, and they brake all their bones in
pieces. Then Darius the king wrote, To all peoples, tribes,
and languages which are in my kingdom, peace be unto you
from my face. I decree and ordain that all those who are in
my kingdom shall fear and tremble before the most high
God whom Daniel serves, because He is the God who liveth
and abideth for ever, and His kingdom shall not pass away,
and His dominion goeth on for ever ; and He alone doeth
signs, and prodigies, and marvellous things in the heaven
and the earth, who snatched Daniel from the den of lions." *
Also in Micah : " Wherewith shall I approach the Lord, and
lay hold upon Him ? in sacrifices, in burnt-offerings, in calves
of a year old ? Does the Lord favour and receive me with
thousands of fat goats ? or shall I give my first-fruits of
unrighteousness, the fruit of my belly, the sin of my soul ?
^ Hist, of Susannah, 1-3.
2 Song of the Three Children, 14-19. ^ d^u. yi. 24-28.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. ICl
It is told thee, O man, what is good ; or what else the Lord
doth require, save that thou shouldst do judgment and jus-
tice, and love mercy, and be ready to go with the Lord thy
God. The voice of the Lord shall be invoked in the city,
and He will save those who fear His name." ^ Also in
Micah : " Feed Thy people with Thy rod, the sheep of Thine
inheritance ; and pluck up those who dwell separately in the
midst of Carmel. They shall prepare Bashan and Gilead
according to the days of the age ; and according to the days
of their going forth from the land of Egypt I will show
them wonderful things. The nations shall see, and be con-
founded at all their might ; and they shall place their hand
upon their mouth. Their ears shall be deafened, and they
shall lick the dust as do serpents. Dragging the earth, they
shall be disturbed, and they shall lick the dust : in their end
they shall be afraid towards the Lord their God, and they
shall fear because of Thee. Who is a God as Thou art,
raising up unrighteousness, and passing over impiety?"-
And in Nahum : " The mountains were moved at Him, and
the hills trembled ; and the earth was laid bare before His
face, and all who dwell therein. From the face of His anger
who shall bear it, and who withstandeth in the fury of His
soul ? His rage causes the beginnings to flow, and the rocks
were melted by Him. The Lord is good to those who sus-
tain Him in the day of affliction, and knoweth those who
fear Him." ^ Also in Haggai : " And Zerubbabel the son
of Salathiel, of the tribe of Judah, and Jesus the son of
Josedech, the high priest, and all who remained of the people,
obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, because the Lord
sent him to them, and the people feared from the face of
God."* Also in Malachi : " The covenant was with life and
peace ; and I gave to them the fear to fear me from the face
of my name." ^ Also in the thirty-third Psalm : " Fear the
Lord, all ye His saints : for there is no w^ant to them that
fear Him." ^ Also in the eighteenth Psalm : " The fear of
the Lord is chaste, abiding for ever." "
1 Mic. vi. G-9. 2 Mic. vii. 14-18. » Nah. i. 5-7. " Hag. i. 12.
5 Mai. ii. 5. « Vs. xxxiv. 9. ^ Ps. xix. 0.
CYr. — VOL. II. L
162 THE TREATISES OF CTPEIAiV,
21. That we must not rashly judge of another.
In the Gospel according to Luke : " Judge not, that ye
be not judged : condemn not, that ye be not condemned." ^
Of this same subject to the Romans : " Who art thou that
judgest another man's servant ? to his own master he standeth
or falleth. But he shall stand ; for God is able to make him
stand." ^ And again : " Wherefore thou art without excuse,
O every man that judgest : for in that in which thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself ; for thou doest the same
things which thou judgest. But dost thou hope, who judgest
those who do evil, and doest the same, that thou thyself shalt
escape the judgment of God I " ^ Also in the first Epistle
of Paul to the Corinthians : " And let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall." * And again : ^' If any
man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth not yet
in what manner he ought to know." ^
22. That when we have received a wrong, we must remit
and forgive it.
In the Gospel, in the daily prayer : " Forgive us our debts,
even as we forgive our debtors." ^ Also according to Mark :
^^ And when ye stand for prayer, forgive, if ye have ought
against any one ; that also your Father who is in heaven
may forgive you your sins. But if ye do not forgive, neither
will your Father which is in heaven forgive you your sins." ^
Also in the same place : *^ In what measure ye mete, in that
shall it be measured to you again." ^
23. That evil is not to be returned for evil.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans : " Rendering to no
man evil for evil." ^ Also in the same place : " Not to be
overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." ^° Of this
same thing in the Apocalypse : " And He said unto me,
Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book ; because
1 Luke vi. 87. ^ ^0^1. xiv. 4. ^ Rom. ii. 1-3.
* 1 Cor. X. 12. 5 1 Cor. viii. 2. ^ Matt. vi. 12.
7 Matt. xi. 25, 26. ^ Mark iv. 24. » Rom. xii. 17.
10 Rom. xii. 21.
I
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 163
now tlie time is at hand. And let those who persist in hmt-
ing, hurt : and let him who is filthy, be filthy still : but let
the righteous do still more righteousness : and in like manner,
let him that is holy do still more holiness. Behold, I come
quickly ; and my reward is with me, to render to every man
according to his deeds." ^
24. That it is impossible to attain to the Father but by His
Son Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel according to John : " I am the way, the
truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me."' ^ Also in the same place : " I am the door : by me if
any man enter in, he shall be saved." *
25. That unless a man have been baptized and born again,
he cannot attain unto the kingdom of God.
In the Gospel according to John : " Except a man be born
again of water and tlie Spirit, he cannot enter into the king-
dom of God. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh ;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." * AIgo in the
same place : " Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink His blood, ye shall not have life in you." ^
26. That it is of small account to be baptized and to re-
ceive the Eucharist, unless one profit by it both in
deeds and w^orks.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Know
ye not, that they which run in a race run indeed all, although
one receiveth the prize ? So run, that ye may obtain. And
those indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but
we an incorruptible." ^ In the Gospel according to Matthew :
" Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut
down, and cast into the fire." ^ Also in the same place :
" ^lany shall say unto me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name have cast out
1 Rev. xxii. 10-12. - John xiv. G. » John x. 9.
* John iii. 5, 6. •' John vi. 53. « i Cor. ix. 24, 25.
^ Matt. iii. 10.
164 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
devils, and in Thy name have done great works ? And then
shall I say to them, I never knew you ; depart from me, ye
who work iniquity." ^ Also in the same place : " Let your
light shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven." ^ Also Paul to
the Philippians : " Shine as lights in the world." ^
27. That even a baptized person loses the grace that he
has attained, unless he keep innocency.
In the Gospel according to John : " Lo, thou art made
whole : sin no more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee." *
Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God
abideth in you ? If any one violate the temple of God, him
will God destroy." ^ Of this same thing in the Chronicles :
" God is with you, while ye are with Him : if ye forsake
Him, He will forsake you." ^
28. That remission cannot in the church be granted unto
him who has sinned against God.
In the Gospel according to Matthew : " Whosoever shall
say a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ;
but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world
to come." '^ Also according to Mark : '^ All sins shall be
forgiven, and blasphemies, to the sons of men ; but whoever
shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be for-
given him, but he shall be guilty of eternal sin." ^ Of this
same thing in the first book of Kings : " If a man sin by
offending against a man, they shall pray the Lord for him ;
but if a man sin against God, who shall pray for him ? " ^
29. That it was before predicted, concerning the hatred of
the Name,
In the Gospel according to Luke : " And ye shall be hated
1 Matt. vii. 22, 23. ^ Matt. v. 16. ^ phn^ jj, 15,
4 John. V. 14. ^ 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. ^ 2 Cbron. xv. 2.
^ Matt. xii. 32. « Mark iii. 28, 29. ^ 1 Sam. ii. 25.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS, 165
of all men for my name's sake." ^ Also according to John :
" If the world hate you, know ye that it first hated me. If
ye were of the world, the world w^ould love what would be
its own : but because ye are not of the world, and I have
chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word which I said unto you, The servant is
not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you." ^ Also in Baruch : *' For the time
shall come, and ye shall seek me, both ye and those wdio shall
be after you, to hear the w^ord of wisdom and of understand-
ing ; and ye shall not find me. But the nations shall desire
to see the wise man, and it shall not happen to them ; not
because the wisdom of this world shall be wanting, or shall
fail to the earth ; but neither shall the word of the law^ be
wanting to the world. For wisdom sliall be in a few who
watch, and are silent and quiet, and who hold converse with
one another ; because some shall dread them, and shall fear
them as evil. But some do not believe the word of the law
of the Higliest. But some who are amazed in tlieir coun-
tenance will not believe ; and they also who contradict will
believe, and will be contrary to and hindering the spirit of
truth. Moreover, others will be wise to the spirit of error,
and declaring the edicts, as if of the Higliest and the Strong
One. Moreover, others iiVQ possessors of faith (^.).^ Others
are mighty and strong in the faith of the Highest, and hate-
ful to the stranfrer." *
30. That what any one has vowed to God, he must quickly
repay.
In Solomon : " According as thou hast vowed a vow to
God, delay not to pay it."^ Concerning this same thing in
Deuteronomy : " But if thou liast vowed a vow to the Lord
1 Luke xxi. 17. 2 j^i^j^ ^v. 18-20.
3 Personales fidei. This, like many other expressions in this strange
passage, gives no clue to a meaning.
^ The whole of this quotation, as it is called, from Barucli, is wanting
in all codices but two. It is remarkable, as finding no place in any
text of Scripture, nor in any translation, whether Greek or Latin.
^ Eccles. V. 4.
166 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it : because the Lord thy
God inqumng shall seek it of thee ; and it shall be for a sin.
Thou shalt observe those things that shall go forth out of thy
lips, and shalt perform the gift which thou hast spoken with
thy mouth." ^ Of this same matter in the forty-ninth Psalm :
" Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows
to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."^ Of this
same thing in the Acts of the Apostles ; " Why hath Satan
filled thine heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost,
when thy estate was in thine own power ? Thou hast not
lied unto men, but unto God." ^ Also in Jeremiah ; " Cursed
is he who doeth the work of God negligently." *
31. That he who does not believe is judged already.
In the Gospel according to John : " He that believeth not
is already judged, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only^ Son of God. And this is the judgment, that
light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness
rather than light." ^ Of this also in the first Psalm : " There-
fore the ungodly shall not rise up in judgment, nor sinners in
the council of the righteous." '^
32. Of the benefit of virginity and of continency.
In Genesis : " Multiplying I will multiply thy sorrows
and thy groanings, and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children ; and thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he
shall rule over thee." ^ Of this same thing in the Gospel
according to Matthew : " All men do not receive the word,
but they to whom it is given : for there are some eunuchs
who were born so from their mother's womb, and there are
eunuchs who have been constrained by men, and there are
eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kino;dom
of heaven's sake. He who can receive it, let him receive it." ®
1 Deut. xxiii. 21-23. 2 pg. 1. 14, 15. 3 ^cts v. 3, 4.
4 Jer. xlviii. 10. ^ t/nice; but some read ««zz^rem/i, "only-begotten."
« John iii. 18, 19. 7 Ps. i. 5. » Gen. iii. IG.
9 Matt. xix. 11, 12.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 167
Also according to Luke : " The children of this world beget,
and are begotten. But they who have been considered
worthy of that world, and the resurrection from the dead, do
not marry, nor are married : for neither shall they begin to
die : for they are equal to the angels of God, since they are
the childi'en of the resurrection. But, that the dead rise
again, Moses intimates when he says in the bush. The Lord,
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living :
for all live unto Him." ^ Also in the first Epistle of Paul
to the Corinthians : " It is good for a man not to touch a
woman. But, on account of fornication, let every man have
his own wife, and every woman have her own husband. Let
the husband render what is due to the wife, and similarly
the wife to the husband. The wife hath not power over her
own body, but the husband. And in like manner, the hus-
band hath not power over his own body, but the wife. De-
fraud not one the other, except by agreement for a time, that
ye may have leisure for prayer; and again return to the same
point, lest Satan tempt you on account of your incontinency.
This I say by way of allowance, not by way of command.
But I wish that all men should be even as I am. But every
one has his proper gift from God ; one in one way, but
another in another way." ^ Also in the same place : " An
unmarried man thinks of those things which are the Lord's,
in what way he may please God ; but he who has contracted
marriage thinks of those things that are of this world, in
what way he may please his wife. Thus also, both the
woman and the unmarried virgin thinketh of those things
which are the Lord's, that she may be holy both in body and
in spirit ; but she that hath married thinks of those things
which are of this world, in what way she may please her
husband."^ Also in Exodus, when the Lord had commanded
Moses that he should sanctify the people for the third day,
he sanctified them, and added : " Be ye ready, for three days
ye shall not approach to women."* Also in the first book
1 Luke XX. 34-38. - 1 Cor. vii. 1-7.
3 1 Cor. vii. 32-34. * Ex. xix. 15.
168 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
of Kings : " And the priest answered to David, and said.
There are no profane loaves in my hand, except one sacred
loaf. If the young men have been kept back from women,
they shall eat."^ Also in the Apocalypse: " These are tliey
who have not defiled themselves wdth women, for they have
continued virgins ; these are they wdio follow the Lamb
whithersoever He shall go." ^
33. That the Father judge th nothing, but the Son ; and
that the Father is not glorified by him by whom the
Son is not glorified.
In the Gospel according to John : " The Father judgeth
nothing, but hath given all judgment unto the Son, that all
may honour the Son as they honour the Father. He who
honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who hath
sent Him." ^ Also in the seventy-first Psalm : " O God,
give the king Thy judgment, and Thy righteousness to the
king's son, to judge Thy people in righteousness." * Also in
Genesis : "And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha
sulphur, and fire from heaven from the Lord." ^
34. That the believer ought not to live like the Gentile.
In Jeremiah : " Thus saith the Lord, Walk ye not accord-
ing to the way of the Gentiles." ^ Of this same thing, that
one ought to separate himself from the Gentiles, lest he should
be a companion of their sin, and become a partaker of their
penalty, in the Apocalypse : " And I heard another voice
from heaven, saying, Go forth from her, my people, lest thou
be partaker of her crimes, and lest thou be stricken with her
plagues ; because her crimes have reached even to heaven,
and the Lord God hath remembered her iniquities. There-
fore He hath returned unto her double, and in the cup wdiich
she hath mixed double is mingled for her ; and in how much
she hath glorified herself and possessed of delights, in so
much is given unto her both torment and grief. For in her
heart she says, I am a queen, and cannot be a widow, nor
1 1 Sam. xxi. 4. ^ ]^ev. xiv. 4. » John v. 22, 23.
* Ps. Ixxii. 1,2. 5 Gen. xix. 24. ^ jej.^ x. 2.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 169
shall I see sorrow. Therefore in one hour her plagues shall
come on her, death, grief, and famine ; and she shall be
bui'ned with fire, because the Lord God is strong who shall
judge her. And the kings of the earth shall weep and
lament themselves for her, who have committed fornication
with her, and have been conversant in her sins." ^ Also
in Isaiah : " Go forth from the midst of them, je who bear
the vessels of the Lord." ^
35. That God is patient for this end, that we may repent
of our sin, and be reformed.
Li Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus : " Say not, I have sinned,
and what sorrow hath happened to me ? For the Highest
is a patient repayer." ^ Also Paul to the Romans : ^' Or
despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and forbearance,
and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance ? But, according to thy hardness and
impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath in the
day of wrath and of revelation of the just judgment of God,
who will render to every man according to his deeds." *
36. That a Avoman ought not to be adorned in a worldly
fashion.
In the Apocalypse : " And there came one of the seven
angels having vials, and approached me, saying. Come, I will
show thee the condemnation of the great whore, Avho sitteth
upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have
committed fornication. And I saw a woman who sate upon
a beast. And that woman was clothed with a purple and
scarlet robe ; and she was adorned with gold, and precious
stones, and pearls, holding a golden cup in her hand full of
curses, and impurity, and fornication of the whole earth." ^
Also to Timothy : " Let your women be such as adorn them-
selves with shamefacedness and modesty, not with twisted
hair, nor with gold, nor with pearls, or precious garments,
1 Rev. xviii. 4-9. The Oxford text reads " deliciis" instead of " dc-
lictis," — making the last clause, " and have walked in delicacies."
2 Isa. Hi. 11. 3 Ecclus. v. 4. •* Rom. ii. 4-G. ^ Rev. xvii. 1-1.
170 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
but as becometli women professing chastity, with a good
conversation." ^ Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter
to the people at Pontus : " Let there be in a woman not the
outward adorning of ornament, or of gold, or of apparel, but
the adorning of the heart." ^ Also in Genesis : " Thamar
covered herself with a cloak, and adorned herself ; and when
Judah beheld her, she appeared to him to be a harlot." ^
37. That the believer ought not to be punished for other
offences, except for the name he bears.
In the Epistle of Peter to them of Pontus : " Nor let any
of you suffer as a thief, or a murderer, or as an evil-doer, or
as a minder of other people's business, but as a Christian."*
38. That the servant of God ought to be innocent, lest he
fall into secular punishment.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Eomans : " Wilt thou not be
afraid of the power ? Do that which is good, and thou shalt
have praise of it." ^
39. That there is given to us an example of living in
Christ.
In the Epistle of Peter to them of Pontus : " For Christ
suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye may follow
His steps ; who did no sin, neither was guile found in His
mouth ; who, when He was reviled, reviled not again ; when
He suffered, threatened not, but gave Himself up to him
that judgeth unrighteously."^ Also Paul to the PhiHppians :
*' Who, being appointed in the figure of God, thought it not
robbery that He was equal with God ; but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a servant, He was made in the hkeness
of man, and was found in fashion as a man. He humbled
Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and the death
of the cross. For which cause also God hath exalted Him,
and hath given Him a name, that it may be above every
name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should be bowed,
1 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10. ^ i Pet. iii. 4. '■^ Gen. xxxviii. 14, 15.
4 1 Pet. iv. 15, 16. ^ Rom. xiii. 3. « i Pet. ii. 21-23.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 171
of things heavenly, and earthly, and infernal ; and that every
tongue should confess that tlie Lord Jesus Christ is in glory
of God the Father."^ Of this same thing in the Gospel
according to John : " If I have washed your feet, being your
Master and Lord, ye also ought to wash the feet of others.
For I have given you an example, that as I have done, ye
also should do to others." ^
40. That we must not labour noisily nor boastfully.
In the Gospel according to Matthew : " Let not thy left
hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may
be in secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall
render to thee." ^ Also in the same place : " When thou
doest an alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the
hypocrites do in the streets and in the synagogues, that
they may be glorified of men. Verily I say unto you, They
have fulfilled their reward." *
41. That we must not speak foolishly and offensively.
In Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians : " Foolish speaking
and scurrility, which are not fitting for the occasion, let them
not be even named among you." ^
42. That faith is of advantage altogether, and that we can
do as much as we believe.
In Genesis : " And Abraham believed God, and it was
counted unto him for righteousness." ^ Also in Isaiah ; " And
if ye do not believe, neither shall ye understand." ' Also in
the Gospel according to Matthew : " O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt ? " ^ Also in the same place : " If
you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this
mountain. Pass over from here to that place, and it shall
pass over ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." ^ Also
according to ^lark : " All things whatsoever ye pray and ask
for, believe that ye shall receive them, and they shall be
1 Phil. ii. 6-11. 2 joiiii xiii. 14, 15. ^ .Afatt. vi. 3, 4.
^ :Matt. vi. 2. 5 Epii^ y, 4 e Gen. xv. 6.
7 Isa. vii. 9. « ^att. xiv. 31. » Matt. xvii. 20.
172 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
yours." ^ Also in the same place : " All things are possible to
him that believeth." ^ In Habakkuk : " But the righteous
liveth by my faith." ^ Also in Daniel: "Ananias, Azarias, and
Misael, trusting in God, were delivered from the fiery flame."
43. That he who truly believes can immediately obtain.
In the Acts of the Apostles : " Lo, here is water ; wdiat
is there which hinders me from being baptized ? Then said
Philip, If thou believest wdth all thine heart, thou mayest." *
44. That believers who differ among themselves ought not
to refer to a Gentile judge.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Dares any
of you, having a matter against another, to discuss it among
the unrighteous, and not among the saints ? Know ye not
that the saints shall judge this world?" ^ And again : "Now
indeed there is altogether a fault among you, because ye
have judgments one against another. Wherefore do ye not
rather suffer injury? or wherefore are ye not rather de-
frauded? But ye do wrong, and defraud, and this your
brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not obtain
the kingdom of God?" «
45. That hope is of future things, and therefore that our
faith concerning those things which are promised
ought to be patient.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans : " We are saved by
hope. But hope that is seen is not hope ; for what a man
seeth, why doth he hope for ? But if we hope for wdiat w^e
see not, we hope ^ for it in patience." ^
46. That a woman ought to be silent in the church.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Let women
be silent in the church. But if any wish to learn anything,
1 Mark xi. 24. ^ Mark ix. 22. ^ Hab. ii. 4.
4 Acts viii. 36, 37. '' 1 Cor. vi. 1, 2. . ^ i Cor. vi. 7-9.
' Some read " exspectamus," " we wait for it."
8 Rom. viii. 24, 25.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 173
let them ask their husbands at home." ^ Also to Timothy ;
" Let a woman learn with silence, in all subjection. But I
permit not a woman to teach, nor to be set over the man, but
to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve ; and
Adam was not seduced, but the woman was seduced." -
47. That it arises from our fault and our desert that we
suffer, and do not perceive God's help in everything.
In Hosea : " Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye children
of Israel : because judgment is from the Lord against the
inhabitants of the earth, because there is neither mercy nor
truth, nor acknowledgment of God upon the earth ; but cursing,
and lying, and slaughter, and theft, and adultery is scattered
abroad upon the earth : they mingle blood to blood. There-
fore the land shall mourn, with all its inhabitants, with the
beasts of the field, with the creeping things of the earth, with
the birds of heaven ; and the fishes of the sea shall fail : so
that no man may judge, no man may refute." ^ Of this same
thing in Isaiah : " Is not the Lord's hand stroncj to save, or
has He weighed down His ear that He may not hear ? But
your sins separate between you and God; and on account of
your iniquities He turns away His face from you, lest He
should pity. For your hands are polluted with blood, and your
fingers with sins ; and your lips have spoken wickedness, and
your tongue devises unrighteousness. No one speaks true
things, neither is judgment true. They trust in vanity, and
speak emptiness, who conceive sorrow, and bring forth wicked-
ness." * Also in Zephaniah : " In failing, let it fail from the
face of the earth, saith the Lord. Let man fail, and cattle ;
let the birds of heaven fail, and the fishes of the sea ; and I
will take away the unrighteous from the face of the earth." ^
48. That we must not take usury.
In the thirteenth Psalm :^ "He that hath not i^iven his
money upon usury, and has not received gifts concerning the
^ 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35. 2 1 ^^^ jj^ ;^j_i4 3 Hos. iv. 1-4.
* Isa. Hx. 1-4. 5 zeph. i. 2, 3.
« The Oxford edition lias " the fourteenth Psahn."
174 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
innocent. He who doetli these things shall not be moved
for ever." ^ Also in Ezekiel : " But the man who will be
righteous, shall not oppress a man, and shall return the
pledge of the debtor, and shall not commit rapine, and shall
give his bread to the hungry, and shall cover the naked, and
shall not give his money for usury." ^ Also in Deuteronomy:
" Thou shalt not lend to thy brother with usury of money,
and with usury of victuals." ^
49. That even our enemies must be loved.
In the Gospel according to Luke : " If ye love those who
love you, what thank have ye ? For even sinners love those
who love them." ^ Also according to Matthew : " Love your
enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that ye may
be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh
His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and giveth rain
upon the righteous and the unrighteous." ^
.50. That the sacrament of faith must not be profaned.
In Solomon, in the Proverbs : " Say not anything in the
ears of a foolish man ; lest, when he hears it, he may mock at
thy wise words." ^ Also in the Gospel according to Matthew:
" Give not that which is holy to dogs ; neither cast ye your
pearls before the swine, lest perchance they trample them
down with their feet, and turn again and crush you." ^
51. That no one should be uplifted in his labour.
In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus : " Extol not thyself in
doing thy work." ^ Also in the Gospel according to Luke :
" Which of you, having a servant ploughing, or a shepherd,
says to him when he cometh from the field, Pass forward
and recline ? But he says to him. Make ready somewhat
that I may sup, and gird thyself, and minister to me, until I
eat and drink; and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink?
Does he thank that servant because he has done what was
1 Ps. XV. 6. 2 Ezek. xviii. 7, 8. s Dgut. xxiii. 19.
* Luke vi. 32. ^ Matt. v. 44, 45. ^ Prov. xxiii. 9.
'' Matt. vii. 6. ^ Ecclus. x. 20.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS, 175
commanded him ? So also ye, when ye shall have done that
which is commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants ;
we have done what we had to do." ^
52. That the liberty of believing or of not believing is
placed in free choice.
In Deuteronomy: "Lo, I have set before thy face life
and death, good and evil. Choose for thyself life, that thou
mayest live." ^ Also in Isaiah : " And if ye be willing, and
hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye be
unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you.
For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things." ^
Also in the Gospel according to Luke : '' The kingdom of
God is within you." *
53. That the secrets of God cannot be seen through, and
therefore that our faith ought to be simple.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " We sec
now through the glass in an enigma, but then with face to
face. Now I know partly ; but then I shall know even as
also I am known." ^ Also in Solomon, in Wisdom: '^And
in simplicity of heart seek Him." ^ Also in the same : "He
who w^alketh with simplicity, walketh trustfully." ^ Also in
the same : " Seek not things higher than thyself, and look
not into things stronger than thyself." ^ Also in Solomon :
" Be not excessively righteous, and do not reason more than
is required." ^ Also in Isaiah : ^' Woe unto them who are
convicted in themselves." ^^ Also in the Maccabees : " Daniel
in his simplicity was delivered from the mouth of the lions." ^^
Also in the Epistle of Paul to the Komans : " Oh the depth
of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How
incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable
are His w^ays ! For who has known the mind of the Lord ?
or who has been His counsellor ? or who has first given to
1 Luke xvii. 7-10. - Deut. xiii. 10. ^ is,^. i. 19.
^ Luke xvii. 21. ^ i Qq^. xiii. ll>. ^ ^^y^^^l i 1.
• Prov. x. 9. 8 Ecclus. iii. 21. » Eccles. vii. 17.
^^ Isa. xxLx. 15. 11 1 Mac. ii. 60.
176 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again ? Because
from Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things :
to Him be glory for ever and ever." ^ Also to Timothy :
"But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that
they generate strifes. But the servant of God ought not to
strive, but to be gentle towards all men." ^
54. That no one is without filth and without sin.
In Job : '^ For who is pure from filth ? Not one ; even if
his life be of one day on the earth." ^ Also in the fiftietli
Psalm : " Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins
hath my mother conceived me." * Also in the Epistle of
John : "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us." ^
.55. That we must not please men, but God.
In the fifty-second Psalm : " They that please men are
confounded, because God hath made them nothing." ® Also
in the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians : "If I wished to
please men, I should not be the servant of Christ." ^
56. That nothing that is done is hidden from God.
In the Wisdom of Solomon : " In every place the eyes of
God look upon the good and evil." ^ Also in Jeremiah :
^' I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man
should be hidden in the secret place, shall I not therefore see
him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord."^
Also in the first of Kings : " Man looketh on the face, but
God on the heart." ^° Also in the Apocalypse : " And all
the churches shall know that I am the searcher of the reins
and heart ; and I will give to every one of you according to
his works." ^^ Also in the eighteenth Psalm : " Who under-
stands his faults ? Cleanse Thou me from my secret sins,
O Lord." ^^ Also in the second Epistle of Paul to the
1 Rom. xi. 33-36. ^ 2 Tim. ii. 23, 24. 3 Jq^ ^iv. 4, 5.
4 Ps. li. 5. ^ 1 John i. 8. ^ pg, jiij 5^
7 Gal. i. 10. ^ Prov. xv. 3. » Jer. xxiii. 23, 24.
10 1 Sam. xvi. 7. ^^ Rev. ii. 23. 12 pg_ xix. 12.
TESimONIES AGAINST THE JEWS, -ill
Corinthians : "We must all be manifested before tlie tribunal
of Christ, that every one may bear again the things which
belong to his own body, according to what he hath done,
whether good or evil." ^
57. That the believer is amended and reserved.
In the 117th Psalm : "The Lord amending hath amended
me, and hath not delivered me to death." ^ Also in the eighty-
eighth Psalm : " I will visit their transgressions with a rod, and
their sins with scourges. But my mercy will I not scatter
away from them." ^ Also in Malachi : "And He shall sit melt-
ing and purifying, as it were, gold and silver ; and He shall
purify the sons of Levi."* Also in the Gospel : " Thou shalt
not go out thence until thou pay the uttermost farthing." ^
58. That no one should be made sad by death, since in
living is labour and peril, in dying peace and the
certainty of resurrection.
In Genesis : " Then said the Lord to Adam, Because
thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of that tree of which alone I commanded thee that thou
shouldest not eat, cursed shall be the ground in all thy works ;
in sadness and groaning shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life : thorns and thistles shall it cast forth to thee ; and
thou shalt eat the herb of the field in the sweat of thy brow.
Thou shalt eat thy bread until thou return unto the earth
from which also thou wast taken ; because earth thou art, and
to earth thou shalt go." ® Also in the same place : " And
Enoch pleased God, and was not found afterwards ; because
God translated him."^ And in Isaiah : " All flesh is grass,
and all the glory of it as the flower of grass. The grass
withered, and the flower hath fallen away ; but the word of
the Lord abideth for ever."^ In Ezekiel : "They say, Our
bones are become dry, our hope hath perished : we have ex-
pired. Therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord,
1 2 Cor. V. 10. 2 ps^ cxviii. 18. ^ p^. Lxxxix. 32, 33.
* Mai. iii. 3. « .Afatt. v. 26. ^ g^u. iii. 17-19.
7 Gen. V. 24. « Isa. xl. 6, 7.
CYP. — VOL. IT. M
178 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
Belioldj I open your monuments, and I will bring you forth
from your monuments, and I will bring you into the land of
Israel ; and I will put my Spirit upon you, and ye shall live ;
and I will place you into your land : and ye shall know that
I the Lord have spoken, and will do it, saitli the Lord."^
Also in the Wisdom of Solomon : " He was taken away, lest
wickedness should change his understanding; for his soul
was pleasing to God."^ Also in the eighty-third Psalm:
" How beloved ^ are thy dwellings, Thou Lord of hosts ! My
soul desires and hastes to the courts of God."^ And in the
Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians : " But we would not
that you should be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who
sleep, that ye sorrow not as others which have no hope. For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also them
which have fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."^
Also in the first Epistle to the Corinthians : " Thou fool, that
which thou sowest is not quickened except it have first died." ^
And again : " Star differeth from star in glory : so also the
resurrection. The body is so'wn in corruption, it rises without
corruption ; it is sown in ignominy, it rises again in glory ;
it is sown in w^eakness, it rises again in power ; it is sown an
animal body, it rises again a spiritual body." '' And again :
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall come to pass the w^ord that is written,
Death is absorbed into striving. Where, O death, is thy
sting? Where, O death, is thy striving?"^ Also in the
Gospel according to John : " Father, I will that those whom
Thou hast given me be with me wdiere I shall be, and may
see my glory which Thou hast given me before the founda-
tion of the world." ^ Also according to Luke: "Now lettest
Thou Thy servant depart in peace, O Lord, according to the
word ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." ^^ Also ac-
1 Ezek. xxxvii. 11-14. ~ Wiscl. iv. 11, 14.
^ Some read "amabilcs," " amiable." "* Ps. Ixxxiv. 1, 2.
5 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14. « 1 Cor. xv. 3G. ^ i Cor. xv. 41-44.
8 1 Cor. XV. 53-55. » Johii xvii. 24. i» Luke ii. 29, 30.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 179
cording to John : " If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because
I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I."^
59. Of the idols which the Gentiles think to be gods.
In the Wisdom of Solomon : " All the idols of the nations
they counted gods, which neither have the use of their eyes
for seeing, nor their nostrils to receive breath, nor their ears
for hearing, nor the fingers on their hands for handling ; but
their feet also are slow to walk. For man made them ; and
he who has borrowed his breath, he fashioned them. But no
man will be able to fashion a god like to himself. For since
he is mortal, he fashioneth a dead thing with wicked hands.
But he himself is better than they whom he worships, since
he indeed lived, but they never." ^ On this same matter:
" Neither have they who regarded the works kno\vn who was
the artificer, but have thought that either fire, or wind, or the
rapid air, or the circle of the stars, or the abundant water, or
the sun and moon, were the gods that rule over the world ;
and if, on account of the beauty of these, they have thought
thus, let them know how much more beautiful than these is
the Lord ; or if they have admired their powers and opera-
tions, let them perceive from these very things that He who
has established these mighty things is stronger than they."^
Also in the 134th Psalm : " The idols of the nations are
silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have a
mouth, and speak not; they have eyes, and see not; they
have ears, and hear not; and neither is there any breath
in their mouth. Let them who make them become like
unto them, and all those who trust in them."* Also in
the ninety-fifth Psalm : " All the gods of the nations are
demons, but the Lord made the heavens."^ Also in Exodus:
" Ye shall not make unto yourselves gods of silver nor of
gold."^ And again: "Thoushalt not make to thyself an
idol, nor the likeness of anything."'' Also in Jeremiah:
1 John xiv. 28. - Wisd. xv. 15-17. ^ ^^-^^^ xiii. 1-4.
^* Ps. cxxxv. lG-18. ^ Ps. xcvi. 5. ^ Ex. xx. 23.
^ Ex. XX. 4. This section closes here, according to the Oxford text.
The Leipzic edition continues as in the above reading.
180 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
'' Tims saith the Lord, Walk not according to the ways of
the heathen ; for they fear those things in their own persons,
because the lawful things of the heathen are vain. Wood
cut out from the forest is made the work of the carpenter,
and melted silver and gold are beautifully arranged ; they
strengthen them with hammers and nails, and they shall not
be moved, for they are fixed. The silver is brought from
Tharsis, the gold comes from INIoab. All things are the
works of the artificers; they will clothe it with blue and
purple ; lifting them, they will carry them, because they will
not go forward. Be not afraid of them, because they do
no evil, neither is there good in them. Say thus. The gods
that have not made the heaven and the earth perish from
the earth, and from under this heaven. The heaven hath
trembled at this, and hath shuddered much more vehemently,
saith the Lord. These evil things hath my people done.
They have forsaken the fountain of living water, and have
duo- out for themselves worn-out wells, which could not hold
water. Thy love hath smitten thee, and thy wickedness
shall accuse thee. And know and see that it shall be a bitter
thinof for thee that thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord thy
God, and that thou hast not hoped in me, saith thy Lord.
Because of old time thou hast resented my yoke, and hast
broken thy bonds, and hast said, I will not serve, but I will go
upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, and
upon every shady tree : there I will be confounded with for-
nication. To the wood and to the stone they have said. Thou
art my father ; and to the stone, Thou hast begotten me : and
they turned to me their back, and not their face." ^ In Isaiah :
'^ The dragon hath fallen or is dissolved ; their carved works
have become as beasts and cattle. Labouring and hungry,
and without strength, ye shall bear them bound upon your
neck as a heavy burden." ^ And again : " Gathered together,
they shall not be able to be saved from war ; but they them-
selves have been led captive with thee." ^ And again : " To
1 Jer. X. 2-5, 9, 11, ii. 12, 13, 19, 20, 27. ^ ig^. xlvi. 1, 2, 5.
2 Migne refers this to Jer. li. 15-18, but there is nothing corresponding
to it in the passage.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 181
whom have ye likened me ? See and understand that ye err in
your heart, who lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver
in the balance, bringing it up to the weight. The workmen
have made with their hand the things made ; and bowing
themselves, they have adored it, and have raised it on their
shoulders : and thus they walked. But if they should place
them down, they will abide in their place, and will not be
moved ; and they will not hear those who cry unto them :
they will not save them from evils." ^ Also in Jeremiah :
^' The Lord, who made heaven and earth, in strength hath
ordered the world, in His wisdom hath stretched forth the
heaven, and the multitude of the waters in the heaven. He
hath brought out the clouds from the end of the earth, the
lio;litnino;s in the clouds; and lie hath broucjht forth the
winds from His treasures. Every man is made foolish by
his knowledge, every artificer is confounded by his graven
images ; because he hath molten a falsehood : there is no
breath in them. The works shut up in them are made vain ;
in the time of their consideration they shall perish."^ And
in the Apocalypse : '' And the sixth angel sounded with his
trumpet. And I heard one of the four corners of the golden
ark, which is in the presence of God, saying to the sixth
angel who had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are
bound upon the great river Euphrates. And the four angels
were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and
a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men ; and the
number of the army of the horsemen was two hundi'ed
thousand of thousand : I heard the number of them. And then
I saw the horses in the vision, and those that sate upon them,
having breastplates of fire, and of hyacinth, and of sulphur :
and the heads of the horses [as the heads of lions] ; and out
of their mouth went fire, and smoke, and sulphur. By these
three plagues the third part of men was slain, by the fire, and
the smoke, and the sulphur which went forth from their mouth,
and is in their tails : for their tails were like unto eels ; for they
had heads, and with them they do mischief. And the rest of
the men who were not slain by these plagues, nor repented of
1 Isa. xlvi. 6, 7. 2 j^r. li. 16_19.
182 THE TREATISES OF CYPPJAK
the works of the deeds of their hands, that they should not wor-
ship demons and idols, that is, images of gold, and of silver,
and of brass, and of stone, and of wood, which can neither see
nor walk, repented not also of their murders."^ Also in the
same place : " And the third angel followed them, saying with
a loud voice. If any man w^orship the beast and his image, and
hath received his mark in his forehead or upon his hand, the
same shall drink of the wine of His "v\Tath, and shall be
punished with fire and sulphur, under the eyes of the holy
angels, and under the eyes of the Lamb ; and the smoke of
their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever."^
60. That too great lust of food is not to be desired.
In Isaiah : " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall
die. This sin shall not be remitted to you even until ye
die." ^ Also in Exodus : " And the people sate down to eat
and drink, and rose up to play." * Paul, in the first to the
Corinthians : " Meat commendeth us not to God ; neither if
we eat shall we abound, nor if we eat not shall we w^ant." ^
And again : " When ye come together to eat, wait one for
another. If any is hungry, let him eat at home, that ye may
not come together for judgment." ^ Also to the Komans :
" The kino-dom of God is not meat and drink, but rio-hteous-
ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." '' In the
Gospel according to John : " I have meat which ye know
not of. My meat is, that I should do His will who sent me,
and should finish His work." ^
61. That the lust of possessing, and money, are not to be
sought for.
In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus : " He that loveth silver
shall not be satisfied with silver." ^ Also in Proverbs : " He
who holdeth back the corn is cursed among the people ; but
blessing is on the head of him that communicateth it." ^^
1 Rev. ix. 1, 13-21. 2 Rev, ^iv. 9-11. » iga. xxii. 13, 11.
4 Ex. xxxii. 6. ■"' 1 Cor. viii. 8. ^ i c^r. xi. 33.
7 Rom. xiv. 17. ^ John. iv. 32, 31. '' Eccles. v. 10.
10 Prov. xi. 2G.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 183
Also in Isaiali : " Woe unto them who join house to house,
and lay field to field, that they may take away sometliino;
from their neighbour. Will ye dwell alone upon the earth ?" ^
Also in Zephaniah : " They shall build houses, and shall not
dwell in them ; and they shall appoint vineyards, and shall
not drink the wine of them, because the day of the Lord is
near." ^ Also in the Gospel according to Luke : " For what
does it profit a man to make a gain of the whole world, but
that he should lose himself ? " ^ And ao;ain : " But the Lord
said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul is required
of thee. Whose, then, shall those things be which thou hast
provided ? " * And again : " Kemember that thou hast re-
ceived thy good things in this life, and likewise Lazarus evil
things. But now he is besought, and thou grievest." ^ And
in the Acts of the Apostles : " But Peter said unto him,
Silver and gold indeed I have not ; but what I have I give
unto you ; In tlie name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up
and walk. And, taking hold of his right hand, he lifted him
up." ^ Also in the first to Timothy : " We brought nothing
into this world, but neither can we take anything away.
Therefore, having maintenance and clothing, let us with
these be content. But they who will become rich fall into
temptation and a snare, and many and lun'tful lusts, which
drown man in perdition and destruction. For the root of all
evils is covetousness, which some coveting, have made ship-
wreck from the faith, and have plunged themselves in many
62. That marriage is not to be contracted with Gentiles.
Li Tobias : " Take a wife from the seed of thy parents,
and take not a strange woman who is not of the tribe of thy
parents." ^ Also in Genesis, Abraham sends his servant to
take from his seed Bebecca, for his son Isaac. Also in
Esdras, it was not sufficient for God when the Jews were
laid waste, unless they forsook their foreign wives, with the
1 Isa. V. 8. ' Zeph. i. 13, 14. ^ Lnlcc ix. 25.
* Luke xii. 20. ^ Luke xvi. 25. ^ Acts iii. 6.
7 1 Tim. vi. 7-10. « Tob. iv. 12.
184 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
children also whom they had begotten of them. Also in the
first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " The woman is
bound so long as her husband liveth ; but if he die, she is
freed to marry whom she will, only in the Lord. But she
will be happier if she abide thus." ^ And again : " Know ye
not that your bodies are the members of Christ ? Shall I take
the members of Christ, and make them the members of an
harlot ? Far be it from me. Or know ye not that he who is
joined together with an harlot is one body ? for two shall be
in one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." ^
Also in the second to the Corinthians : " Be not joined to-
gether with unbelievers. For what participation is there
between rio;hteousness and unriojhteousness ? or what com-
munication hath liMit with darkness ? " ^ Also concernino;
Solomon in the third book of Kings : " And foreign wives
turned away his heart after their gods." *
63. That the sin of fornication is grievous.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Every
sin whatsoever a man doeth is outside the body ; but he who
committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. Ye
are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price.
Glorify and bear the Lord in your body." ^
64. What are those carnal things which beget death, and
what are the spiritual things which lead to life.
Paul to the Galatians : " The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : for these are contrary
the one to the other, that ye cannot do even those things
which ye wish. But the deeds of the flesh are manifest,
which are : adulteries, fornications, impurities, filthiness, idola-
tries, sorceries, murders, hatreds, strifes, emulations, animosi-
ties, provocations, hatreds, dissensions, heresies, envyings,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like : witli respect to which
I declare, that they who do such things shall not possess the
kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy,
1 1 Cor. vii. 39, 40. ^ i Cor. vi. 15-17. » 2 Cor. vi. 14.
* 1 Kinirs xi. 4. ^ 1 Cor. vi. 18-20.
TESTIMONIES A GAINST THE JE WS. 1 85
peace, magnanimity, goodness, faith, gentleness, continency,
chastity. For they who are Christ's have crucified their
flesh, with its vices and lusts." ^
Qb, That all sins are put away in baptism.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Neither
fornicators, nor those who serve idols, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor the lusters after mankind, nor thieves, nor
cheaters, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers, shall obtain
the kingdom of God. And these things indeed ye were :
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." ^
Q>Q. That the discipline of God is to be observed in church
precepts.
In Jeremiah : " And I will give to yon shepherds accord-
ing to my own heart ; and they shall feed the sheep, feeding
them with discipline." ^ Also in Solomon, in the Proverbs :
" My son, neglect not the discipline of God, nor fail w^hen
rebuked by Him. For whom God loveth. He rebuketh." •*
Also in the second Psalm : " Keep discipline, lest perchance
the Lord should be angry, and ye perish from the right way,
when His anger shall burn up quickly against you. Blessed
are all they who trust in Him." ^ Also in the forty-ninth
Psalm : " But to the sinner saith God, For what dost thou
set forth my judgments, and takest my covenant into thy
mouth ? But thou hatest discipline, and hast cast my words
behind thee." ® Also in the Wisdom of Solomon : " He who
casteth away discipline is miserable." ^
67. That it was foretold that men should despise sound
discipline.
Paul, in the second to Timothy : " There will be a time
when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but according to
their own lusts will heap to themselves teachers itching in
1 Gal. V. 17-24. 2 1 c^p ^i. 9-11. ^ Jer. iii. 15.
* Prov. iii. 11, 12. •'' Ps. ii. 12. ^ pg. j. ig.
7 Wisd. iii. 11.
186 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
hearing, tickling their ears ; and shall turn away their hear-
ing indeed from the truth, but they shall be converted unto
fables." ^
68. That we must depart from him who lives irregularly
and contrary to discipline.
Paul to the Thessalonians : '' But we have commanded
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that ye depart from all
brethren who walk disorderly, and not according to the tra-
dition which they have received from us." ^ Also in the
forty-ninth Psalm : " If thou sawest a thief, at once thou
rannest with him, and placedst thy portion with the adul-
terers." ^
69. That the kingdom of God is not in the wisdom of the
world, nor in eloquence, but in the faith of the cross,
and in virtue of conversation.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Christ
sent me to preach, not in wisdom of discourse, lest the cross
of Christ should become of no effect. For the word of
the cross is foolishness to those who perish ; but to those
who are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reprove the
prudence of the prudent. Where is the wise ? where is the
scribe ? where is the disputer of this world % Hath not God
made foolish the wisdom of this world? Since indeed, in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them
that believe. Because the Jews desire signs, and the Greeks
seek for wisdom : but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews
indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness ;
but to them that are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God, and the wisdom of God."* And again : "Let
no man deceive himself. If any man think that he is wise
among you, let him become a fool to this world, that he may
be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God. For it is written. Thou shalt rebuke the wise in their
1 2 Tim. iv. 3, 4. ^2 Thcss. iii. 6. ^ Ps. 1. 18. ^ i Qq^,^ j^ 17-24.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 187
own craftiness.*' ^ And again : " The Lord knoweth the
thoughts of the wise, that they are foohsh.*' *
70. That we must obey parents.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians ; " Children, be
obedient to your parents: for this is right. Honour thy
father and thy mother (which is the first command with pro-
mise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be
long-lived on the earth." ^
71. And that fathers also should not be harsh in respect
of their children.
Also in the same place : " And, ye fathers, drive not your
children to wrath : but nourish them in the discipline and
rebuke of the Lord." *
72. That servants, when they have believed, ought to
serve their carnal masters the better.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians : " Servants, obey
your fleshly masters with fear and trembling, and in sim-
plicity of your heart, as to Christ ; not serving for the eye,
as if you were pleasing men ; but as servants of God." ^
73. Moreover, that masters should be the more gentle.
Also in the same place : " And, ye masters, do the same
things to them, forbearing anger : knowing that both your
blaster and theirs is in heaven ; and there is no choice of
persons with Him." ^
74. That all widows that are approved are to be held in
honour.
In the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy : ^' Honour widows
which are truly widows. But the widow that is wanton, is
dead while she liveth." ^ And again : " But the younger
widows pass by : for when they shall be wanton in Christ,
1 1 Cor. iii. 18-20. 2 pg. xciii. 11. s Epi,. vi. 1-3.
* Eph. vi. 4. 5 Eph. vi. 5, 6. « Eph. vi. 9.
7 1 Tim. v. 3, 6.
188 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN.
they wish to marry; having judgment, because they have
cast off their first faith." ^
75. That every person ought to have care rather of his
own people, and especially of believers.
The apostle in his first Epistle to Timothy : " But if any
take not care of his own, and especially of those of his own
household, he denies the faith, and is worse than an infidel." ^
Of this same thing in Isaiah : "If thou shalt see the naked,
clothe him ; and despise not those who are of the household
of thine own seed." ^ Of which members of the household
it is said in the Gospel : " If they have called the master of
the house Beelzebub, how much rather them of his house-
hold!"*
76. That an elder must not be rashly accused.
In the first to Timothy : " Against an elder receive not
an accusation." ^
77. That the sinner must be publicly reproved.
In the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy : " Rebuke them
that sin in the presence of all, that others also may be afraid." ^
78. That we must not speak with heretics.
To Titus : " A man that is an heretic, after one rebuke
avoid ; knowing that one of such sort is perverted, and
sinneth, and is by his own self condemned." ^ Of this same
thing in the Epistle of John : " They went out from among
us, but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us, they
would doubtless have remained ^vith us." ^ Also in the
second to Timothy : " Their word doth creep as a canker." ^
79. That innocency asks with confidence, and obtains.
In the Epistle of John : " If our heart blame us not, we
have confidence towards God ; and whatever we ask, we
1 1 Tim. V. 11, 12. 2 I Y\m. v. 8. ^ iga. Iviii. 7.
* Matt. X. 25. ^ 1 Tim. v. 19. « 1 Tim. v. 20.
f Tit. iii. 10, 11. Q 1 John ii. 19. ^ 2 Tim. ii. 17.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 189
shall receive from Him." ^ Also in the Gospel according to
Matthew : " Blessed are they of a pure heart, for they shall
see God." ^ Also in the twenty-third Psalm : " Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord ? or who shall stand in His
holy place ? The innocent in hands and of a pure heart." ^
80. That the devil has no power against man unless God
have allowed it.
In the Gospel according to John : " Jesus said, Thou
couldest have no power against me, unless it were given thee
from above." * Also in the third of Kings : " And God
stirred up Satan against Solomon himself." ^ Also in Job,
first of all God permitted, and then it was allowed to the
devil ; and in the Gospel, the Lord first permitted, by saying
to Judas, " What thou doest, do quickl3\" ^ Also in Solomon,
in the Proverbs: "The heart of the king is in God's hand."^
8L That wages be quickly paid to the hireling.
In Leviticus : " The wages of thy hireling shall not sleep
W'ith thee until the morning." ^
^2. That divination must not be used.
In Deuteronomy : " Do not use omens nor auguries." '
83. That a tuft of hair is not to be worn on the head.
In Leviticus : " Ye shall not make a tuft from the hair of
your head." ^«
84. That the beard must not be plucked.
" Ye shall not deface the figure of your beard." ^^
85. That we must rise when a bishop or a presbyter comes.
In Leviticus : " Thou shalt rise up before the face of the
elder, and shalt honour the person of the presbyter." ^^
1 1 John ii. 21, 22. 2 j^r^tt v. 8. 3 p^. ^xiv. 3, 4.
* John xix. 11. ^ 1 Kings xi. 23. ^ John xiii. 27.
^ Prov. xxi. 1. ^ Lev. xix. 13. '' Dent, xviii. 10.
10 Lev. xix. 27. ^^ Lev. xix. 27. ^- Lev. xix. 32.
190 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
^^. That a schism must not be made, even although he
who withdraws should remain in one faith, and in the
same tradition.
In Ecclesiasticus, in Solomon : " He that cleaveth firewood
shall be endangered by it if the iron shall fall off." ^ Also in
Exodus : " In one house shall it be eaten : ye shall not cast
forth the flesh abroad out of the house." ^ Also in the 132d
Psalm : " Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is
that brethren should dwell in unity ! " ^ Also in the Gospel
according to Matthew : " He that is not with me is against
me ; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth." * Also
in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " But I be-
seech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms
among you ; but that ye be all joined together in the same
mind and in the same opinion." ^ Also in the sixty-seventh
Psalm : " God, who maketh men to dwell with one mind in
a house." ^
87. That believers ought to be simple, with prudence.
In the Gospel according to Matthew : " Be ye prudent as
serpents, and simple as doves." "^ And again : " Ye are the
salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savour, in
what shall it be salted ? It is good for nothing, but to be
cast out abroad, and to be trodden under foot of men." ^
88. That a brother must not be deceived.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians : " That
a man do not deceive his brother in a matter, because God is
the avenger for all these." ^
89. That the end of the world comes suddenly.
The apostle says: "The day of the Lord shall so come
as a thief in the night. When they shall say. Peace and
security, then on them shall come sudden destruction." ^^
1 Eccles. X. 9. 2 Ex. xii. 4. s pg, cxxxiii. 1. ^ ;Matt. xii. 30.
5 1 Cor. i. 10. ^ Ps. Ixviii. 6. '' Matt. x. IG. » ]\Xatt. v. 13.
9 1 Thess. iv. C. ^» 1 Thess. v. 2, 3.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 191
Also in the Acts of the Apostles : " No one can know the
times or the seasons which the Father has placed in His own
power." ^
90. That a wife must not depart from her husband; or
if she should depart, she must remain unmarried.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " But to
them that are married I command, yet not I, but the Lord,
that the w ife should not be separated from her husband ; but
if she should depart, that she remain unmarried or be recon-
ciled to her husband : and that the husband should not put
away his wife." ^
91. That every one is tempted so much as he is able to
bear.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: ^'No
temptation shall take you, except such is human. But God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that
ye are able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape, that ye may be able to bear it." ^
92. That not everything is to be done which is lawful.
Paul, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians : " All things
are lawful, but all things are not expedient : all things are
lawful, but all things edify not." ^
93. That it was foretold that heresies would arise.
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : " Heresies
must needs be, in order that they which are approved may be
made manifest among you." ^
94. That the Eucharist is to be received with fear and
honour.
In Leviticus : ^' But whatever soul shall eat of the flesh of
the sacrifice of salvation, which is the Lord's, and his un-
cleanness is still upon him, that soul shall perish from his
1 Acts i. 7. 2 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11. M Cor. x. 13.
* 1 Cor. X. 23. 5 I Cor. xi. 19.
192 THE TREATISES OF CYPRIAN,
people." ^ Also in the first to the Corinthians : " Whosoever
shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." ^
95. That we are to live with the good, but to avoid the
evil.
In Solomon, in the Proverbs : *^ Bring not the impious man
into the habitation of the righteous." ^ Also in the same, in
Ecclesiasticus : " Let righteous men be thy guests." * And
affain : " The faithful friend is a medicine of life and of
immortality." ^ Also in the same place : " Be thou far from
the man who has the power to slay, and thou shalt not
suspect fear." ^ Also in the same place : " Blessed is he
who findeth a true friend, and who speaketh righteousness to
the listening ear." ^ Also in the same place : '^ Hedge thine
ears with thorns, and hear not a wicked tongue." ^ Also in
the seventeenth Psalm : " With the righteous Thou shalt be
justified ; and with the innocent man Thou shalt be innocent ;
and with the froward man Thou shalt be froward." ^ Also
in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians : '* Evil com-
munications corrupt good dispositions." ^°
96. That we must labour not with words, but with deeds.
In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus : " Be not hasty in thy
tongue, and in thy deeds useless and remiss." -^^ And Paul,
in the first to the Corinthians : " The kingdom of God is
not in word, but in power." ^^ Also to the Romans : '' Not
the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the
doers of the law shall be justified." ^^ Also in the Gospel
according to Matthew : " He who shall do and teach so,
shall be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven." ^* Also
in the same place : " Every one who heareth my words, and
doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his
1 Lev. vii. 20. ^ i Cor. xi. 27. ^ Prov. xxiv. 15.
-* Ecclus. ix. 16. ^ Ecclus. vi. 16. ^ Ecclus. ix. 13.
7 Ecclus. XXV. 9. 8 Ecclus. xxviii. 21. » Ps. xviii. 25, 26.
10 1 Cor. XV. 33. " Ecclus. iv. 29. ^- 1 Cor. iv. 20.
13 Rom. ii. 13. 1^ Matt. v. 19.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 193
house upon a rock. The rain descended, the floods came,
the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not :
for it was founded upon a rock. And every one who
heareth my words, and doeth them not, I will liken him to
the foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. The
rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat
upon that house ; and it fell : and its ruin became great."
" 1
97. That we must hasten to faith and to attainment.
In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus : *' Delay not to be con-
verted to God, and do not put off from day to day ; for His
anger cometh suddenly." ^
98. That the catechumen ouMit now no lono-er to sin.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Komans : " Let us do evil
until the good things come ; whose condemnation is just." ^
99. That judgment will be according to the times, either
of equity before the law, or of law after Moses.
Paul to the Pomans : '' As many as have sinned without
law, shall perish without law ; and as many as have sinned
in the law, shall be judged also by the law." ^
100. That the grace of God ought to be without price.
In the Acts of the Apostles : " Thy money be in perdition
with thyself, because thou hast thought that the grace of
God is possessed by money." ^ Also in the Gospel : ^' Freely
ye have received, freely give." ^ Also in the same place :
" Ye have made my Fatlier's house a house of merchandise ;
and ye have made the house of prayer a den of thieves." ^"
Also in Isaiah : " Ye who thirst, go to the water, and as
many as have not money : go, and buy, and drink without
money." ^ Also in the Apocalypse : " I am Alpha and
1 Mcatt. vii. 24-27. 2 Ecclus. v. 7. 3 Rom. iii. 8.
4 Rom. ii. 12. s ^^cts viii. 20. « Matt. x. 8.
'' Matt. xxi. 13. The latter clause of this quotation is omitted by
the Oxford editor.
^ Isa. Iv. 1.
CYP. — VOL. IT. N
194 THE TREATISES OF CTPETAK
Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that
thirsteth from the fountain of the water of life freely. He
who shall overcome shall possess these things, and their in-
heritance ; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son," ^
101. That the Holy Spirit has frequently appeared in fire.
In Exodus : " And the whole of Mount Sinai smoked,
because God had come down upon it in fire." ^ Also in the
Acts of the Apostles : " And suddenly there was made a
sound from heaven, as if a vehement blast were borne along,
and it filled the whole of that place in which they were
sitting. And there appeared to them cloven tongues as if of
fire, which also settled upon each of them ; and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost." ^ Also in the sacrifices, what-
soever God accounted accepted, fire descended from heaven,
which consumed what w^as sacrificed. In Exodus : " The
angel of the Lord appeared in a fiame of fire from the
bush." *
102. That all good men ought willingly to hear rebuke.
In Solomon, in the Proverbs : " He who reproveth a
wicked man shall be hated by him. Eebuke a wise man, and
he will love you." ^
103. That we must abstain from much speaking.
In Solomon : " Out of much speaking thou shalt not
escape sin ; but sparing thy lips, thou shalt be wise." ®
104. That we must not lie.
" Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord." ^
105. That they are frequently to be corrected who do
Avrong in domestic duty.
In Solomon : " He who spareth the rod, hateth his son." *
And again : " Do not cease from correcting the child." ^
^ Rev. xxi. 6, 7.
2 Ex. xix. 18.
3 Acts ii. 2-4.
* Ex. iii. 2.
5 Prov. ix. 8.
6 Prov. X. 19.
7 Prov. xii. 22.
^ Prov. xiii. 24.
9 Prov. xix. 18.
TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS. 195
106. That when a wrong is received, patience is to be
maintained, and vengeance to be left to God.
Say not, I will avenge me of mine enemy ; but wait for the
Lord, that He may be thy help." ^ Also elsewhere : " To
me belongeth vengeance ; I will repay, saith the Lord." ^
Also in Zephaniah : " Wait on me, saith the Lord, in the
day of my rising again to witness ; because my judgment is
to the congregations of the Gentiles, that I may take kings,
and pour out upon them my anger." ^
107. That we must not use detraction.
In Solomon, in the Proverbs : " Love not to detract, lest
thou be taken away." * Also in the forty-ninth Psalm :
" Thou sattest, and spakest against thy brother ; and against
the son of thy mother thou placedst a stumbling-block." ^
Also in the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians : ^ "To speak
ill of no man, nor to be litigious." ^
108. That we must not lay snares against our neighbour.
In Solomon, in the Proverbs : " He who diggeth a pit for
his neighbour, himself shall fall into it." ^
109. That the sick are to be visited.
In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus : " Be not slack to visit the
sick man ; for from these things thou shalt be strengthened
in love." ^ Also in the Gospel : " I was sick, and ye visited
me ; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." ^"
110. That tale-bearers are accursed.
In Ecclesiasticus, in Solomon : " The tale-bearer and the
double-tongued is accursed ; for he will distm-b many who
have peace." ^^
1 Lev. xix. 18. * Deut. xxxii. 35.
3 Zeph. iu. 8. * Prov. xx. 13 (LXX.).
^ Ps. 1. 20. 6 Oxford edition, " to Titus.»»
' Tit. iii. 2. 8 Prov. xxvi. 27.
^ Ecclus. vii. 39. lo Matt. xxv. 36.
^^ Ecclus. xxviii. 15.
196 THE TREATISES OF CYPPJAN.
111. That the sacrifices of the wicked are not acceptable.
In the same : " The Highest approveth not the gifts of
the unrighteous." ^
112. That those are more severely judged, who in this
world have had more power.
In Solomon : " The hardest judgment shall be made on
those who govern. For to a mean man mercy is granted ;
but the powerful shall suffer torments mightily." ^ Also in
the second Psalm : " And now, ye kings, understand ; be
amended, ye who judge the earth." ^
113. That the widow and orphans ought to be protected.
In Solomon : " Be merciful to the orphans as a father, and
as a husband to their mother ; and thou shalt be the son of
the Highest if thou shalt obey." * Also in Exodus : " Ye
shall not afflict any widow and orphan. But if ye afflict
them, and they cry out and call unto me, I will hear their
cryings, and will be angry in mind against you ; and I will
destroy you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows,
and your children orphans." ^ Also in Isaiah : " Judge for
the fatherless, and justify the widow ; and come, let us
reason, saith the Lord." ® Also in Job : '^ I have preserved
the poor man from the hand of the mighty, and I have
helped the fatherless, who had no helper : the mouth of
the widow hath blessed me." '' Also in the sixty-seventh
Psalm : " The Father of the orphans, and the Judge of the
widows."^
114. That while one is in the flesh, he ought to make
confession.
In the flfth Psalm : '^ But in the grave who will confess
unto Thee f ° Also in the twenty-ninth Psalm : " Shall the
dust make confession to Thee ?" ^^ Also elsewhere that con-
1 Ecclus. xxxiv. 19. ^ ^yisd. vi. 6. 3 pg. n iq.
4 Ecclus. iv. 10. ^ Ex. xxii. l>2-24. ^ jga. i. 17, IS.
7 Job xxix. 12, 13. s Ps. Ixviii. 5. ^ Ps. vi. 5.
10 Ps. XXX. 9.
TESTIMONIES A GAINST THE JE WS, 1 9 7
fession Is to be made : " I would rather have the repentance
of the sinner than his death." ^ Also In Jeremiah : " Thus
salth the Lord, Shall not he that falleth arise ? or shall not
he that Is turned away be converted ?" ^
115. That flattery Is pernicious.
In Isaiah : " They who call you blessed, lead you into
error, and trouble the paths of your feet." ^
116. That God is more loved by him who has had many
sins forgiven in baptism.
In the Gospel according to Luke : " To whom much is
forgiven, he loveth much ; and to whom little is forgiven, tlie
same loveth little." *
117. That there Is a strong conflict to be waged against
the devil, and that therefore we ought to stand
bravely, that we may be able to conquer.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians : " Our wrestle
Is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and
princes of this world, and of this darkness ; against the spi-
ritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places. Because
of this, put on the whole armour of God, that ye ma}^ be able
to resist in the most evil day ; that when ye have accomplished
all, ye may stand, having your loins girt in the truth of the
gospel, putting on the breastplate of righteousness, and
having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace ; In all things taking the shield of faith. In which ye
may extingaish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one ;
and take tlie helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which Is the word of God." ^
118. Also of Antichrist, that he will come as a man.
In Isaiah : " This is the man who arouscth the earth, who
disturbeth kings, who maketh the whole earth a desert." ^
^ Ezck. xxxiii. 11. 2 jj^j. yjji 4^
3 Isa. iii. 12. * lAike vii. 47.
5 Eph. vi. 12-17. 6 Isa. xiv. IC.
198 THE TREATISES OF CYPPJAN.
119. That the yoke of the law was heavy, which is cast
off by us, and that the Lord's yoke is easy, which
is taken up by us.
In the second Psalm : " Wherefore have the heathen been
in tumult, and the peoples meditated vain things ? The kings
of the earth have stood up, and their princes have been
gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.
Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away from us
their yoke." ^ Also in the Gospel according to Matthew :
" Come unto me, ye who labour and are burdened, and I
will make you to rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me : for I am meek and lowly of heart,^ and ye shall find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is good, and my burden is
light." ^ Also in the Acts of the Apostles : " It seemed good
to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to impose upon you no other
burden than those things which are of necessity, that you
should abstain from idolatries, from shedding of blood, and
from fornication. And whatsoever you would not to be done
unto you, do not to others." -
120. That we are to be urgent in prayers.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians : " Be instant in
prayer, and watch therein." ^ Also in the first Psalm : " But
in the law of the Lord is his will, and in His law will he
meditate day and night." ^
1 Ps. ii. 1-3.
2 In one codex, from this point all the rest is wanting,
3 Matt. xi. 28-30. * Acts xv. 28, 29. ^^ Col. iv. 2.
^ Ps. i. 2. The Oxford edition continues : " Likewise in Solomon ;
' Be not hindered from praying ever, and delay not unto death to be
justified ; for the repayment of the Lord abideth for ever.'"
THE
SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CAETHAGE UNDER CYPEIAN.
A.D. 256.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS.
THE JUDGMENT OF EIGHTY-SEVEN BISHOPS ON THE
BAPTISM OF HEKETICS.
Peocemium. — }Vhen the Pope Stephen had hy his letters con-
demned the decrees of the African Council on the hajytism
of heretics,^ Cyprian lost no time in holding another council
at Carthage ivith a greater number of bishops. Having
therefore summoned eighty-seven bishops from Africa,
Numidia, and Mauritania, who assembled at Carthage in
the kalends of September 258, this third council on the
same matter of baptism was then celebrated; at the
beginning of which, after the letters on either side had
been read, Cyprian, by implication, condemns the assump-
tion of Stephen, Of this council there exists no further
memorials than such as have been here collected from
Cyprian, and from St. Augustine, '' De Baptismo contra
JDonatistas,'" Look iii. cli. iv. v. and vi., and book vii. cli.
i. ; a7id in these nothing else is contained than the judg-
ments of the eighty-seven bishops on the nullity of baptisju
administered by heretics. If any one desires to see these
judgments impugned, let him consult Augustine as above.
IIEN, in the kalends of Se]3tember, a great many
bishops from the provinces of Africa, Numidia,
and ^lauritania, had met together at Carthage,
together with the presbyters and deacons, and a
considerable part of the congregation who were also present ;
^ The results of this council are given in Ep. Ixxi. vol. i. p. 256.
199
200 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE,
and when the letter of Jubaianus written to Cyprian had
been read, as also the reply of Cyprian to Jubaianus, about
baptizing heretics, and what the same Jubaianus had sub-
sequently rejoined to Cyprian, — Cyprian said : You have
heard, my dearly beloved colleagues, what Jubaianus our
co-bishop has written to me, taking counsel of my poor in-
telligence concerning the unlawful and profane baptism of
heretics, as well as what I wrote in answer to him, decreeing,
to wit, what we have once and again and frequently de-
termined, that heretics who come to the church must be
baptized and sanctified by the baptism of the church.
Moreover, another letter of Jubaianus has also been read to
you, wherein, replying, in accordance with his sincere and
religious devotion, to my letter, he not only acquiesced in
what I had said, but confessing that he had been instructed
thereby, he returned thanks for it. It remains, that upon
this same matter each of us should bring forward what we
think, judging no man, nor rejecting any one from the right
of communion, if he should think differently from us. For
neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of bishops,^
nor by tyrannical terror does any compel his colleague to the
necessity of obedience ; since every bishop, according to the
allowance of his liberty and power, has his own proper right
of judgment, and can no more be judged by another than
he himself can judge another. But let us all wait for the
judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only one
that has the power both of preferring us in the government
of His church, and of judging us in our conduct there.
Csecilius of Bilta ^ said : I know only one baptism in the
church, and none out of the church. This one will be here,
where there is the true hope and the certain faith. For thus
it is written: "One faith, one hope, one baptism;"^ not
among heretics, where there is no hope, and the faith is false,
where all things are carried on by lying ; where a demoniac
^ Of course this implies a rebuke to the assumption of Stephen.
2 Sell of Mauritania ; possibly, says the Oxford translator, Bidil, Bita,
or " urbs Abitensis."
3 Eph. iv. 5.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 201
exorcises ; where one^ whose mouth and words send forth a
cancer puts the sacramental interrogation ; ^ the faithless gives
faith ; the wicked bestows pardon of sins ; and Antichrist
baptizes in the name of Christ ; he who is cursed of God
blesses ; he who is dead promises life ; he who is unpeaceful
gives peace; the blasphemer calls upon God; the profane
person administers the office of the priesthood; the sacrile-
gious person establishes an altar. In addition to all these
things, there is also this evil, that the priests of the devil
dare to celebrate the Eucharist ; or else let those who stand
by them say that all these things concerning heretics are
false. Behold to what kind of things the church is com-
pelled ^ to consent, and is constrained without baptism, with-
out pardon of sins, to hold communion. And this thing,
brethren, we ought to flee from and avoid, and to separate
ourselves from so great a wickedness, and to hold one
baptism, which is granted by the Lord to the church alone.
Primus of Misgirpa * said : I decide, that every man who
comes to us from heresy must be baptized. For in vain does
he think that he has been baptized there, seeing that there is
no baptism save the one and true baptism in the chui'ch ;
because not only is God one, but the faith is one, and the
church is one, wherein stands the one baptism, and holiness,
and the rest. For whatever is done without, has no effect of
salvation.
Polycarp from Adrumetum * said : They who approve the
baptism of heretics make void our baptism.
Novatus of Thamugada ® said : Although we know that all
the Scriptures give witness concerning the saving baptism,
still we ought to declare our faith, that heretics and schis-
matics who come to the church, and appear to have been
1 According to some editions, "the sacrilegious man," etc.
^ " Sacramentum interrogat."
^ By the despotism of Stephen.
* A city of Zeugitana. Augustine calls this bishop FeHx, and speaks
of him as ihQ first of that name who spoke.— FeZZ.
^ This is the Polycarp referred to in Ep. xliv. vol. i. p. 119. Adru-
metum was a colony on the coast, about eighty-five miles from Carthage.
^ In Numidia.
202 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CAETHAGE.
falsely baptized, ought to be baptized in the everlasting
fountain ; and therefore, according to the testimony of the
Scriptures, and according to the decree of our colleagues,
men of most holy memory, that all schismatics and heretics
who are converted to the church must be baptized; and
moreover, that those who appeared to have been ordained
must be received among lay people.
Nemesianus of Thubunsa ^ said : That the baptism which
heretics and schismatics bestow is not the true one, is every-
where declared in the Holy Scriptiu'es, since their very
leading men are false Christs and false prophets, as the Lord
says by Solomon : " He who trusteth in that which is false,
he feedeth the winds ; and the very same, moreover, followeth
the flight of birds. For he forsaketh the ways of his own
vineyard, he has wandered from the paths of his own little
field. But he walketh through pathless places, and dry, and
a land destined for thirst ; moreover, he gathereth together
fruitless things in his hands." ^ And again : " Abstain from
strange w^ater, and from the fountain of another do not
drink, that you may live a long time ; also that the years of
life may be added to thee." ^ And in the Gospel our Lord
Jesus Christ spoke with His divine voice, saying, " Except a
man be born again of w^ater and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God." * This is the Spirit which from the
beginning was borne over the waters ; for neither can the
Spirit operate without the water, nor the water mthout the
Spirit. Certain people therefore interpret for themselves ill,
when they say that by imposition of the hand they receive
the Holy Ghost, and are thus received, when it is manifest
that they ought to be born again in the Catholic Church by
both sacraments. Then indeed they will be able to be sons
of God, as says the apostle : " Taking care to keep the unit}'
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and
one Spirit, as ye have been called in one hope of your
calling ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God." ^ All
these things speaks the Catholic Church. And again, in the
1 In Mauritania Csesariensis. ^ Prov. ix. 12, LXX.
3 Prov. ix. 19. ** John iii. 5. ^ Eph. iv. 3-6.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 203
Gospel the Lord says : " That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit ; because
God is a Spirit, and he is born of God." ^ Therefore, what-
soever things all heretics and schismatics do are carnal, as
the apostle says : " For the works of the flesh are mani-
fest, which are, fornications, uncleannesses, incest, idolatries,
witchcrafts, hatreds, contentions, jealousy, anger, divisions,
heresies, and the like to these ; concerning which I have told
you before, as I also foretell you now, that whoever do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." ^ And thus
the apostle condemns, with all the wicked, those also who
cause division, that is, schismatics and heretics. Unless
therefore they receive saving baptism in the Catholic Church,
wdiich is one, they cannot be saved, but will be condemned
with the carnal in the judgment of the Lord Christ.
Januarius of Lambesis ^ said : According to the authority
of the holy Scriptures, I decree that all heretics must be
baptized, and so admitted into the holy church.
Lucius of Castra Galbse * said : Since the Lord in His
Gospel said, '^ Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt
should have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? It
is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out of doors,
and to be trodden under foot of men." ^ And again, after
His resurrection, sending His apostles, He gave them charge,
saying, " All power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth.
Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." ^ Since,
therefore, it is manifest that heretics — that is, the enemies of
Christ — have not the sound confession of the sacrament ;
moreover, that schismatics cannot season others with spiritual
wisdom, since they themselves, by departing from the church,
which is one, having lost the savour, have become contrary to
it, — let it be done as it is written, " The house of those that
are contrary to the law owes a cleansing." ^" And it is a con-
sequence that those who, having been baptized by people who
^ John ill. 6. 2 Gal. y. 19-21. « In Numidia.
4 Or Gilba. « Matt. v. IS. « Matt, xxviii. 18, 19.
7 Prov. xiv. 9, LXX.
204 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.
are contrary to the cliurch, are polluted, must first be cleansed,
and then at length be baptized.
Crescens of Cu'ta ^ said : In such an assembly of most holy
fellow-priests, as the letters of our most beloved Cyprian to
Jubaianus and also to Stephen have been read, containing
in them so much of the holy testimonies which descend from
the divinely made Scriptures, that with reason we ought, all
being made one by the grace of God, to consent to them ; I
judge that all heretics and schismatics who wish to come to
the Catholic Church, shall not be allowed to enter without
they have first been exorcised and baptized ; with the excep-
tion of those indeed who may previously have been baptized
in the Catholic Church, and these in such a way that they
may be reconciled to the penitence of the church by the
imposition of hands.
Nicomedes of Segermoe ^ said : My opinion is this, that
heretics coming to the church should be baptized, for the
reason that among sinners without they can obtain no remis-
sion of sins.
Munnulus ^ of Girba ^ said : The truth of our Mother
the Catholic Church, brethren, hath always remained and still
remains with us, and even especially in the Trinity of baptism,
as our Lord says, " Go ye and baptize the nations, in the
name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." ^
Since, then, we manifestly know that heretics have not either
Father, or Son, or Holy Spirit, they ought, when they come
to the Church our ^Mother, truly to be born again and to be
baptized ; that the cancer which they had, and the anger of
damnation, and the witchery of error, may be sanctified by
the holy and heavenly laver.
Secundinus of Cedias ® said : Since our Lord Christ says,
" He who is not with me is against me ; " ^ and John the
apostle calls those who depart from the church Antichrists —
1 Cirta Julia in Nuraidia. 2 j^-^ J^umidia.
^ Ep. liii. vol. i. p. 155. Munnulus is mentioned as one of the bishops
who write with Cyprian to Cornelius. He is there called " Monulus."
4 Gerra. ^ Matt, xxviii. 19.
^ Perhaps Quidias in Mauritania Csesariensis. ^" Matt. xii. 30.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 205
imdoubteclly enemies of Christ — any such as are called Anti-
christs cannot minister the grace of saving baptism. And
therefore I think that those who flee from the snares of the
heretics to the church must be baptized by us, who are called
friends of God, of His condescension.
Felix of Bagai ^ said : As, when the blind leads the blind,
they fall together into the ditch ; so, when the heretic baptizes
a heretic, they fall together into death. And therefore a
heretic must be baptized and made alive, lest we who arc
alive should hold communion with the dead.
Pollanus of Mlleum ^ said : It is right that a heretic be
baptized in the holy church.
Theogenes of Hippo Regius ^ said : According to the
sacrament of God's heavenly grace which we have received,
we believa one baptism which is in the holy church.
Dativus of Badis ^ said : We, as far as in us lies, do not
hold communion with heretics, unless they have been baptized
in the church, and have received remission of their sins.
Successus of Abbir Germaniclana ^ said : Heretics can
either do nothing, or they can do all. If they can baptize,
they can also bestow the Holy Spirit. But if they cannot
give the Holy Spirit, because they have not the Holy Spirit,
neither can they spiritually baptize. Therefore we judge
that heretics must be baptized.
Fortunatus of Tuccaboris ° said : Jesus Christ our Lord
and God, Son of God the Father and Creator, built His
church upon a rock, not upon heresy ; and gave the power
of baptizing to bishops, not to heretics. Wherefore they who
are without the church, and, standing in opposition to Christ,
disperse His sheep and flock, cannot baptize, being without.
Sedatus of Tuburbo ^ said : In the deOTce in which water
^ In Numidia. Here was lield the Donatist " Concilium Bagaiense "'
of 310 bishops (Oxford cd.).
2 In Numidia.
2 The See of St. Augustine in Numidia, 218 miles from Carthage, and
ICO miles from Hippo Diarrhytus ; quod vide p. 215.
■* Badea, or Badel, in Numidia. ^ In Zeugitana.
^ Tucca-terebinthina in Zeugitana.
^ Thuburbo, or Thubiu-bis, in Zeugitana.
206 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.
sanctified in the cliurcli by the prayer of the priest, washes
away sins ; in that degree, if infected with heretical discourse
as with a cancer, it heaps up sins. Wherefore we must
endeavour with all peaceful powers, that no one infected
and stained with heretical error refuse to receive the single
and true baptism of the church, by which whosoever is not
baptized, shall become an alien from the kingdom of heaven.
Privatianus of Suf etula ^ said : Let him who says that
heretics have the power of baptizing, say first who founded
heresy. For if heresy is of God, it also may have the divine
indulgence. But if it is not from God, how can it either
have the grace of God, or confer it upon any one ?
Privatus of Sufes ^ said : He who approves the baptism
of heretics, what else does he do than communicate with
heretics ?
Hortensianus of Lares ^ said : Let either these presump-
tuous ones, or those who favour heretics, consider how many
baptisms there are. We claim for the church one baptism,
which we know not except in the church. Or how can they
baptize any one in the name of Christ, whom Christ Himself
declares to be His adversaries ?
Cassius of Macomadge * said : Since there cannot be two
baptisms, he who yields baptism to the heretics takes it away
from himself. I judge therefore that heretics, lamentable
and corrupt, must be baptized when they begin to come to
the church ; and that when washed by the sacred and divine
washing, and illuminated by the light of life, they may be
received into the church, not as enemies, but as made peace-
ful ; not as foreigners, but as of the household of the faith of
the Lord ; not as children of adultery, but as sons of God ;
not of error, but of salvation ; except those who once faithful
have been supplanted, and have passed over from the church
to the darkness of heresy, but that these must be restored by
the imposition of hands.
Another Januarius of Vicus Csesaris ^ said : If error does
^ A city of Numidia Byzacense. ^ j^^ Byzacena.
3 A city of Numidia Ptolemais. * Or Macodama in Numidia.
^ Perhaps Nova Csesaris in Numidia.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 207
not obey truth, much more truth does not consent to error ;
and therefore we stand by the church in which we preside,
that, claiming her baptism for herself alone, we should baptize
those whom the church has not baptized.
Another Secundinus of Carpi ^ said : Are heretics Chris-
tians or not? If they are Christians, why are they not in
the church of God ? If they are not Christians, how come
they to make Christians ? Or whither will tend the Lord's
discourse, when He says, " He that is not with me is against
me, and he who gathereth not with me scattereth ?" ^ Whence
it appears plain that upon strange children, and on the off-
spring of Antichrist, the Holy Ghost cannot descend only by
imposition of hands, since it is manifest that heretics have
not baptism.
Victoricus of Thabraca ^ said : If heretics are allowed to
baptize and to give remission of sins, wherefore do we brand
them with infamy and call them heretics ?
Another Felix of Uthina* said : Nobody doubts, most holy
fellow-priests, that human presumption is not able to do so
much as the adorable and venerable majesty of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, remembering the danger, we ought
not only to observe this also, but moreover to confirm it by
the voice of all of us, that all heretics who come to the bosom
of Mother Church should be baptized, that thus the heretical
mind that has been polluted by a long decay, purged by the
sanctification of the laver, may be reformed for the better.
Quietus of Baruch^ said : We who live by faith ought to
obey with careful observance those things which before have
been foretold for our instruction. For it is written in Solo-
mon: " He that is baptized from the dead, [and again toucheth
the dead, ^] what availeth his washing ? " '' which certainly
speaks of those who are washed by heretics, and of those
^ In Zengitana, on the borders of Tunis.
2 Matt. xii. 30.
^ A colony variously called Tabraca or Tabatlira.
* Ovdi'jce, in Zeugitana.
^ Or Buruch, probably Bourka in Numidia.
* This clause is omitted in the larger number of editions.
^Eccliis. xxxiv. 25.
208 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.
that wasli them. For if those who are baptized among them
obtain by remission of their sins life eternal, why do they
come to the church ? But if from a dead person no salva-
tion is received, and therefore, acknowledging their previous
error, they return to the truth with penitence, they ought to
be sanctified with the one vital baptism which is in the Catholic
Church.
Castus of Sicca^ said : He who with contempt of the truth
presumes to follow custom, is either envious and malignant in
respect of his brethren to whom the truth is revealed, or is
ungrateful in respect of God, by whose inspiration His church
is instructed.
Euchratius of Theno3^ said: God and our Lord Jesus
Christ, teaching the apostles with His own mouth, has en-
tirely completed our faith, and the grace of baptism, and the
rule of the ecclesiastical law, saying : " Go ye and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." ^ Thus the false and
wicked baptism of heretics must be rejected by us, and re-
futed with all detestation, from whose mouth is expressed
poison, not life, not celestial grace, but blasphemy of the
Trinity.^ And therefore it is manifest that heretics who
come to the church ought to be baptized with the sound and
catholic baptism, in order that, being purified from the blas-
phemy of their presumption, they may be reformed by the
grace of the Holy Spirit.
Libosus of Yaga ^ said : In the Gospel the Lord says, '^ I
am the truth." ° He said not, "I am the custom." There-
fore the truth being manifest, let custom yield to truth ; so
that, although for the past any one was not in the habit of
baptizing heretics in the church, let him now begin to baptize
them.
Lucius of Thebeste '' said : I determine that blasphemous
^ Sicca Veneria, a city of Zeugitana.
2 A city of Byzacena. ^ Matt, xxviii. 18.
* " Let the reader observe here, as elsewhere, that the word ' Trinity'
is simply used for the persons of the Godhead " (Oxford edit.).
5 A city of Xumidia. ^ John xiv. 6. ''A city of Niimidia.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 209
and unrigliteous heretics, who with various words tear asunder
the holy and adorable words of the Scriptures, are to be
accursed, and therefore that they must be exorcised and
baptized.
Euffenius of Ammedera ^ said : And I determine the
same — that heretics must be baptized.
Also another Felix of Amaccora ^ said : And I myself,
following the authority of the divine Scriptures, judge that
heretics must be baptized ; and, moreover, those also who con-
tend that they have been baptized among the schismatics.
For if, according to Christ's warning, our font is private to
us, let all the adversaries of our church understand that It
cannot be for another. Nor can He who is the Shepherd of
the one flock give the saving water to two peoples. And
therefore It is plain that neither heretics nor schismatics can
receive anything heavenly, seeing that they dare to receive
from men who are sinners, and from those who are external
to the church. When there is no place for the giver,
assuredly there is no profit for the receiver.
Also another Januarius of Muzzuli ^ said : I am surprised,
since all confess that there is one baptism, that all do not
perceive the unity of the same baptism. For the church and
heresy are two things, and different things. If heretics have
baptism, we have it not ; but If we have it, heretics cannot
have it. But there is no doubt that the church alone pos-
sesses the baptism of Christ, since she alone possesses both
the grace and the truth of Christ.
Adelphlus of Thasvalte* said: Certain persons without
reason impugn the truth by false and envious words, in saying
that we rebaptize, when the church does not rebaptize heretics,
but baptizes them.
Demetrius of Leptlmlnus ^ said : We maintain one baptism,
because we demand for the church catholic alone her own
property. But they who say that heretics truly and leglti-
^ A city of Numidia.
2 " Damatcorc," or " Yamaccorc," in Xumidia.
3 Mazula in Numidia. ^ A city of Byzaccna.
^ AiTTTi; y.t>cpa — a city of Byzacena.
CYr. — VOL. II. O
210 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.
mately baptize, are themselves the people who make not one,
but many baptisms. For since heresies are many, according
to their number will be reckoned baptisms.
Vincentius of Thibaris ^ said : We know that heretics are
worse than Gentiles. If, therefore, being converted, they
should wish to come to the Lord, we have assuredly the rule
of truth which the Lord by His divine precept commanded
to His apostles, saying, " Go ye, lay on hands in my name,
expel demons."^ And in another place : '^ Go ye and teach
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." ^ Therefore first of all by
imposition of hands in exorcism, secondly by the regenera-
tion of baptism, they may then come to the promise of Christ.
Otherwise I think it ought not to be done.
Marcus of Mactaris * said ; It is not to be wondered at if
heretics, enemies, and impugners of the truth claim to them-
selves a matter in the power and condescension of others.
But it is to be wondered at, that some of us, prevaricators of
the truth, support heretics and oppose themselves to Chris-
tians. Therefore we decree that heretics must be baptized.
Sattius of Sicilibba^ said : If to heretics in baptism their
sins are remitted, they come to the church without reason.
For since, in the day of judgment, they are sins which are
punished, there is nothing which the heretics can fear from
Christ's judgment, if they have already obtained remission of
their sins.
Victor of Gor^ said : Since sins are not remitted save in
the baptism of the church, he who admits a heretic to com-
munion without baptism does two things against reason : he
does not cleanse the heretics, and he befouls the Christians.
Aurelius of Utica'' said : Since the apostle says that we are
^ Tabora, a city of Mauritania Csesariensis.
2 Apparently in reference to Mark xvi. 17, 18.
3 Matt, xxviii. 19. ^ A city of Byzacena.
^ A city of Zeugitana — " Sicilibra," thirty-four uiiles from Cartliage.
^ Probably " Garra," a city of Mauritania Csesariensis, or " Garriana,"
a city of Byzacena.
^ A city of Zeugitana, famous as being tbe place of Cato's death, now
called Byzerta.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 211
not to communicate witli other people's sins, what else does
he do but communicate Avitli other people's sins, who holds
communion with heretics without the church's baptism?
And therefore I judge that heretics must be baptized, that
they may receive forgiveness of tlieir sins ; and thus com-
munion may be had with them.
Iambus of Germaniciana^ said : They who approve of the
baptism of heretics, disapprove of ours, in denying that they
who are, I will not say washed, but befouled, outside the
church, ought to be baptized in the church.
Lucianus of Rucuma^ said : It is WTitten, " And God saw
the light, that it was good, and divided between the light and
the darkness."^ If there can be agreement between light
and darkness, there may be something in common between
us and heretics. Therefore I determine that heretics must
be baptized.
Pelagianus of Luperciana* said : It is written, " Either
the Lord is God, or Baal is God." ^ Therefore in the present
case also, either the church is the church, or heresy is the
church. On the other hand, if heresy is not the church, how
can the church's baptism be among heretics ?
Jader of Midila^ said : We know that there is but one
baptism in the Catholic Church, and therefore we ought not
to receive a heretic unless he has been baptized among us ; lest
he should think that he has been baptized out of the Catholic
Church.
Also another Felix of Marazana '^ said : There is one faith,
one baptism, but of the Catholic Church, which alone has the
right to baptize.
Paulus of Obba^ said : It does not disturb me if any man
does not assert the faith and truth of the church, since the
apostle says, " For what if some of them have fallen away
^ Scil. " urbs," a city of Byzacena. Tlie epithet refere to its beiug a
place frequented by the veterans of German cohorts, and distinguishes it
from " Abbiritana."
2 A city of Zeugitana. * Gen. i. 4.
^ Possibly " Lubertina." ^ 1 Kings xviii. 21.
^ A city of Numidia. "^ A city of Byzacena.
^ Otherwise " Bobba," a city of Mauritania.
212 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.
from the faith ? Has their unbelief made the faith of God
of no effect? By no means. For God is true, but everj
man a liar."-^ But if God is true, how can the truth of
baptism be among the heretics, among ^yhom God is not ?
Pomponius of Dionysiana^ said : It is evident that heretics
cannot baptize and give remission of sins, seeing that they
have not power to be able to loose or to bind anything on
earth.
Venantius of Timisa^ said : If a husband, going into foreign
parts, had commended his wife to the guardianship of his
friend, that friend would take care of her who was com-
mended to him with all possible diligence, that her chastity
and holiness should not be corrupted by any one. Christ the
Lord and our God, going to His Father, has commended to
us His bride. Shall we guard her incorrupt and inviolate, or
shall we betray her integrity and chastity to adulterers and
corrupters % For he who makes the chm'ch's baptism common
to heretics, betrays the spouse of Christ to adulterers.
Ahymnus of Ansvaga* said : We have received one
baptism, and that same we maintain and practise. But he
who says that heretics also may lawfully baptize, makes two
baptisms.
Saturninus of Yictoriana^ said: If heretics may baptize,
they who do unlawful things are excused and defended ; nor
do I see why either Christ should have called them adver-
saries, or the apostle should have called them Antichrists.
Saturninus'^ of Thucca'' said : The Gentiles, although they
worship idols, do yet know and confess a supreme God^ as
Father and Creator. Against Him Marcion blasphemes,
and some persons do not blush to approve the baptism of
Marcion. How do such priests either observe or vindicate
God's priesthood, who do not baptize God's enemies, and hold
communion with them as they are !
1 Rom. iii. 3, 4. ^ A city of Byzacena. ^ A city of Zeugitana.
* This seems to be " Ausana ". or " Aiisagga." ^ A city of Byzacena.
^ The Oxford reads " Another Saturninus." ^ A city of Numidia.
8 Manifestly, says the Oxford editor, this expression refers to " Jupiter
the father of gods and men."
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 213
Marcellus of Zama^ said : Since sins are not remitted save
in the baptism of the church, he who does not baptize a
lieretic holds communion with a sinner.
IrensDus of Ululi^ said : If the church does not baptize a
heretic, for the reason that he is said to be already baptized,
it is the greater heresy.
Donatus of Cibaliana^ said : I know one church and her
one baptism. If there is any who says that the grace of
baptism is with heretics, he must first show and prove that
the church is among them.
Zosimus of Tharassa"^ said : When a revelation of the truth
is made, let error give place to truth ; because Peter also, who
previously circumcised, yielded to Paul when he preached
the truth. ^
Julianus of Telepte^ said : It is written, " No man can
receive anything unless it have been given him from heaven."^
If heresy is from heaven, it can also give baptism.
Faustus of Timida Peo'ia'' said : Let not them who are in
favour of heretics flatter themselves. He who interferes with
the baptism of the church on behalf of heretics, makes them
Christians, and us heretics.
Geminius of Farni^ said : Some of our colleagues may
prefer heretics to themselves, they cannot to us ; and therefore
what we have once determined we maintain — that we baptize
those who come to us from the heretics.
Kogatianus of Nova^ said : Christ instituted the church ;
the Devil, heresy. How can the synagogue of Satan have
tlie baptism of Christ?
Therapius of Bulla^" said: He who concedes and betrays
^ A city of Numiclia ; the scene of Hannibal's overthro"\v by Scipio.
2 " Usilla," a city of Byzaccna.
^ Possibly " Ccrbaliana " in Byzacena.
* A city of Numidia.
^ A city of Numidia Byzaccncc. ^ John iii. 27.
^ A city of Zeugitana ; some read " Tumida."
^ A city of Zeugitana.
^ A city of ^fauritania Csesariensis. l^cll observes that in Niunidia are
many cities of tlie name of " Nova " or " Noba."
1° A city of Zeugitana. There were two cities of the name — BovX-hocpfoe,
214 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE.
the cliurcli's baptism to heretics, what else has he been to the
spouse of Christ than a Judas ?
Also another Lucius of Membresa^ said : It is written,
" God heareth not a sinner."^ How can a heretic who is a
sinner be heard in baptism ?
Also another Felix of Bussacene^ said : In the matter of
receiving heretics without the baptism of the churchj let no
one prefer custom to reason and truth, because reason and
truth always exclude custom.
Another Saturninus of Avitini * said : If Antichrist can
give to any one the grace of Christ, heretics also are able to
baptize, for they are called Antichrists.
Quintus of Aggya : ^ He can give something who has some-
thing. But what can heretics give, who, it is plain, have
nothing ?
Another Julianus of Marcelliana ^ said : If a man can serve
two masters, God and mammon, baptism also can serve two
masters, the Cliristian and the heretic.
Tenax of Horrea Cselise ^ said : Baptism is one, but it is the
church's. Where the church is not there, there can be no
baptism.
Another Victor of Assuri ^ said : It is written, that " God
is one, and Christ is one, and the church is one, and baptism
is one." ^ How, therefore, can any one be baptized there,
where God, and Christ, and the one church is not ?
Donatulus of Capse ^° said : And I also have always
thought this, that heretics, who can obtain nothing without
or Bulla Regia, and BovT^T^x/^ivacc, or Bulla Minor. The latter is pro-
bably referred to.
1 Otherwise " Memosita," a city of Zeugitana. It is also written
'^ Membrosa."
2 John ix. 31. ^ Probably " Byzacene."
* This is supposed to be " Autenti," a city of Byzacene.
^ Supposed to be Aggiva.
6 Mention of the bishop of MarceUiana is found in Notitla Episcopatus
Africse. ,
"^ A village belonging to Byzacene, seventy-five miles from Carthage.
8 A city of Zeugitana. ^ Eph. iv. 5.
10 A city of Byzacene.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 215
tlie church, when they are converted to the church, must be
baptized.
Yerukis ^ of Rusiccada ^ said : A man who is a heretic can-
not give what he has not ; much more a schismatic, who has
lost what he once had.
Pudentianus of CuicuHs ^ said : The novelty of my epis-
copal office, beloved brethren, has caused me to await what
my elders should judge. For it is manifest that heresies
have nothing, nor can have anything. And thus, if any one
comes from them, it is most justly decreed that they must
be baptized.
Peter of Hippo Diarrhytus * said : Since there is one bap-
tism in the Catholic Church, it is manifest that one cannot
be baptized outside the church. And therefore I judge that
those who have been dipped in heresy or in schism, when
they come to the church, should be baptized.
Also another Lucius of Ausaf a ^ said : According to the
direction of my mind, and of the Holy Spirit, as there is one
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one Christ,
and one hope, and one Spirit, and one church, there ought
also to be one baptism. And therefore I say, that if anything
have been set on foot or accomplished by heretics, it ought
to be rescinded, and that those who come thence must be
baptized in the church.
Also another Felix of Gurgites ^ said : I judge that, accord-
ing to the precepts of the holy Scriptures, he who is unlaw-
fully baptized by heretics outside the church, when he wishes
to take refuge in the church, should obtain the grace of
baptism where it is lawfully given.
Pusillus of Lamasba'' said: I believe that there is no
saving baptism except in the Catholic Church. Whatsoever
is apart from the Catholic Church is a pretence.
^ Called in some editions " a martyr from the schismatics."
2 A city of Kumidia. ^ ^ gj^-y ^f Numidia.
^ A city of Zciigitaua, called Diarrhytiis because of the number of the
streams that water it. The name is otherwise read " Hippo Diarrhy-
torum."
^ A city of Zeugitana, sometimes written " Assapha."'
* A city of Bysacena. "^ " Lambesa," a city of Xumidia.
216 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CABTHAGE.
Salvianus of Gazanfala ^ said : It is certain that heretics
have nothing, and therefore they come to us that they may
receive what they have not.
Honoratiis of Thncca^ said : Since Christ is the truth, we
ought rather to follow truth than custom ; so that we should
sanctify heretics with the church's baptism, seeing that they
come to us for the reason that they could receive nothing
without.
Victor of Octavum ^ said : As yourselves also know, I have
not long been appointed a bishop, and I therefore waited for
the decision of my predecessors. I therefore think this, that
as many as come from heresy should undoubtedly be baptized.
Clarus of Mascula * said : The sentence of our Lord Jesus
Christ is plain, when He sent His apostles, and accorded to
them alone the power given to Him by His Father ; and to
them we have succeeded, governing the Lord's church with
the same power, and baptizing the faith of believers. And
therefore heretics, who neither have power without, nor have
the church of Christ, are able to baptize no one with His
baptism.
Secundianus of Thambei^ said : We ought not to deceive
heretics by our presumption ; so that they who have not been
baptized in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and have
not obtained by this means remission of their sins, when the
day of judgment shall come, should impute to us that through
us they were not baptized, and did not obtain the indulgence
of divine grace ; on which account, since there is one church
and one baptism, when they are converted to us they should
obtain, together with the church, the church's baptism also.
Also another Aurelius of Chullabi ^ said : John the apostle
laid it down in his epistle, saying : " If any one come unto
you, and have not the doctrine of Christ, receive him not into
1 A city of Numidia, otlicrwise TuvaocC^vce, (Ptol.) and T cc>^6(pv'ha.
(Procop.).
- There are four cities in Africa of this name.
3 A city of Numidia, otherwise called " Octabum."
4 A city of Numidia. ^ A city of Byzacena.
6 This is otherwise called " Cululi," a city of Byzacena.
CONCERNING THE BAPTISM OF HERETICS. 217
your house, and say not to him, HalL For he that saith to
him, Hail, partakes with his evil deeds." ^ How can such be
rashly admitted into God's house, who are prohibited from
being admitted into our private dwelling ? Or how can we
hold communion with them without the church's baptism, to
whom, if we should only say Hail, we are partakers of their
evil deeds ?
Litteus - of Gemelli ^ said : If the blind lead the blind, both
fall into the ditch. Since, then, it is manifest that heretics
cannot give light to any, as being themselves blind, their
baptism docs not avail.
Natalis of Oca'* said: As well I who am present, as Pompey^
of Sabrata,® as also Dioga of Leptis Magna ^ — who, absent
indeed in body, but present in spirit, have given me charge — •
judge the same as our colleagues, that heretics cannot hold
communion with us, unless they shall be baptized with eccle-
siastical baptism.
Junius of Neapolis ^ said : From the judgment which we
once determined on I do not recede, that we should baptize
heretics who come to the church.
Cyprian of Carthage said : The letter which was written
to our colleague Jubaianus very fully expresses my opinion,
that, according to evangelical and apostolic testimony, heretics,
who are called adversaries of Christ and Antichrists, when
they come to the church, must be baptized with the one bap-
tism of the church, that they may be made of adversaries,
friends, and of Antichrists, Christians.
1 2 John 10, 11.
2 This Litteus is mentioned in Ep. Ixxvi. vol. i. p. 315.
3 A city of Xumidica. A Roman colony was planted there under the
Emperor Hadrian.
^ A city of Tripolis.
^ Probably the same to whom Ep. Ixxiii. (vol. i. p. 27 G) was written.
6 A city of Tripolis.
7 A city of Tripolis, thus distinguished from Leptis parva.
^ A city of Tripolis.
TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN
ON QUESTIONABLE AUTHORITY.
HE treatises which follow are usually classed under
the doubtful works of Cyprian. Baluzius, however,
gives the two first, On the Public Shows, and On
the Glory of Martiirdom, among the genuine Opus-
aula, and says : " I have not thought it fit to prejudice any
one amid the diversity of opinions on the subject, but have
refrained from separating the following from the genuine
works of the blessed martyr, especially since many have
observed that there is no such difference of style in these
writings as to justify the denial of their authorship to
Cyprian."
Of course the question is one almost entirely of criticism,
and the translator leaves the discussion of it to abler hands.
He ventures, however, to record his impression, that the
style of the following writings throughout is more preten-
tious and laboured, and far more wordy and involved, than
that of Cyprian's undoubted works. With a more copious
vocabulary, there is manifested less skill in the use of words ;
and if the text be not in some places most elaborately and
unintelligibly corrupt, the accumulation of epithets, as well
as their collocation, seems the very wantonness of rhetoric.
The text, however, is undoubtedly far less to be depended
upon than in the case of the genuine works.
219
220 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
The treatises On the Discipline and Benefit of Chastity
and the Exhortation to Repentance are generally placed
under the Opuscula duhia. The former was first edited by
Baluzius, with the title " Epistle of an Unknown Author."
Its Cyprianic authorship was maintained by Bellarmin,
Pamelius, and others ; while Erasmus, Tillemont, and others
have rejected it as spurious. The second treatise was first
published by Joannes Chrysostomus Trombellius in 1751,
who regarded it as a genuine work of Cyprian's. And in-
deed, as far as internal evidence goes, the treatise, consisting
merely of a collection of quotations from Scripture, in the
manner of the Testimonies against the JewSy may probably be
attributed to him with as much reason as the Testimonies.
It is, however, right to add, that Professor Blunt quotes
from the Treatise on the Glory of Martyrdom as being
Cyprian's, without referring to any doubts on the subject.
ON THE PUBLIC SHOWS.
Argument. — The imiter first of all treats against those who
endeavoured to defend the public exhibitions of the hea-
thens by scriptural authority ; and he jwoves that, al-
though they are never jyj^ohibited by the express icords of
Scripture, yet that they are condemned in the scriptural
2?rohibition of idolatry^ from the fact thcd there is no
kind of public shoio ichich is not consecrated to idols. He
then p)rosecutes the subject^ by going through the several
kinds of p)ubliG exhibitions^ and sets forth, a little more
diffusely than in the Epistle to Donatus, ichat risks are
incurred by the spectators, and especicdJy in respect of
those exhibitions icherein, as he says, " representcdions
of lust convey instruction in obscenity T Fincdly, he
briefly enumerates such exhibitions as are icorthy of the
interest of a Christian man, and in ichich he ought right-
fully to find pleasure, obviously imitating Tertullians
treatise " De Spectaculis,'^
YPRIAN to the con m'e «ration wlio stand fast
in the gospel, sends greeting. As it greatly
saddens me, and deeply afflicts my soul, when
no opportunity of writing to you is presented
to me, for it is my loss not to hold converse with you ; so
nothing restores to me such joyfulness and hilarity, as when
that opportunity is once more afforded me. I think that I am
with you when I am speaking to you by letter. Although,
therefore, I Imow that you are satisfied that what I tell you
is even as I say, and that you have no doubt of the truth of
221
222 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
my words, nevertheless an actual proof will also attest the
reality of the matter. For my affection [for you] is proved,
when absolutely no opportunity [of writing] is passed over.
However certain I may be, then, that you are no less respect-
able in the conduct of your life than faithful in respect of your
sacramental vow ;^ still, since there are not wanting smooth-
tongued advocates of vice, and indulgent patrons who afford
authority to vices, and, what is worse, convert the rebuke of
the heavenly- Scriptures into an advocacy of crimes ; as if the
pleasure derived from the public exhibitions might be sought
after as being innocent, by way of a mental relaxation ; — for
thereby the vigour of ecclesiastical discipline is so relaxed,
and is so deteriorated by all the languor of vice, that it is no
longer apology, but authority, that is given for wickedness, —
it seemed good in a few words not now to instruct you, but
to admonish you who are instructed, lest, because the w^ounds
are badly bound up, they should break through the cicatrix
of their closed soundness. For no mischief is put an end to
with so much difficulty but that its recurrence is easy, so
long as it is both maintained by the consent, and caressed by
the excuses of the multitude.
2. Believers, and men w^ho claim for themselves the autho-
rity of the Christian name, are not ashamed — are not, I
repeat, ashamed to find a defence in the heavenly Scriptures
for the vain superstitions associated with the public exhibi-
tions of the heathens, and thus to attribute divine authority-
to idolatry. For how is it, that what is done by the heathens
in honour of any idol is resorted to in a public show by
faithful Christians, and the heathen idolatry is maintained,
and the true and divine religion is trampled upon in contempt
of God? Shame binds me to relate their pretexts and de-
fences in this behalf. " Where," say they, '^ are there such
Scriptures ? where are these things prohibited ? On the
contrary, both Elias is the charioteer of Israel, and David
himself danced before the ark. We read of psalteries,
horns,^ trumpets, drums, pipes, harps, and choral dances.
Moreover, the apostle, in his struggle, puts before us the
1 " In Sacramento." ^ u x^^i^ia."
(
ON THE PUBLIC SHOWS. 223
contest of the Caestus, and of our wrestle against the spiritual
things of wickedness. Again, when he borrows his illustra-
tions from the racecourse, he also proposes the prize of the
crown. Why, then, may not a faithful Christian man gaze
upon that which the divine pen might write about ? " At this
point I might not unreasonably say that it would have been
far better for them not to know any wTitings at all, than
thus to read the writings [of the Scriptures]. For words
and illustrations which are recorded by way of exhortation
to evangelical virtue, are translated by them into pleas for
vice ; because those things are written of, not that they
should be gazed upon, but that a greater eagerness might be
aroused in our minds in respect of things that will benefit us,
seeing that among the heathens there is manifest so much
eagerness in respect of things which will be of no advan-
tage.
3. These are therefore an argument to stimulate virtue,
not a permission or a liberty to look upon heathen error, that
by this consideration the mind may be more inflamed to gospel
virtue for the sake of the divine rewards, since through the
suffering of all these labours and pains it is granted to attain
to eternal benefits. For that Elias is the charioteer of Israel
is no defence for gazing upon the public games ; for he ran
his race in no circus. And that David in the presence of
God led the dances, is no sanction for faithful Christians to
occupy seats in the public theatre ; for David did not twist
his limbs about in obscene movements, to represent in his
dancing the story of Grecian lust. Psalteries, horns, pipes,
drums, harps, were used in the service of the Lord, and not
of idols. Let it not on this account be objected that unlawful
things may be gazed upon ; for by the artifice of the devil
these are changed from things holy to things unlawful.
Then let shame demur to these things, even if the Holy
Scriptures cannot. For there are certain things wherein the
Scripture is more careful in giving instruction. Acquiescing
in the claim of modesty, it has forbidden more where it has been
silent. The truth, if it descended low enough to deal with
such things, would think very badly of its faithful votaries.
224 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN,
For yerj often, in matters of precept, some things are advan-
tageously said nothing about ; they often remind when they
are expressly forbidden. So also there is an implied silence
even in the writings of the Scripture ; and severity speaks
in the place of precepts ; and reason teaches where Scripture
has held its peace. Let every man only take counsel with
himself, and let him speak consistently with the character of
his profession/ and then he will never do any of these things.^
For that conscience will have more weight which shall be
indebted to none other than itself.
4. What has Scripture interdicted? Certainly it has
forbidden gazing upon what it forbids to be done. It
condemned, I say, all those kinds of exhibitions when it
abrogated idolatry — the mother of all public amusements,^
whence these prodigies of vanity and lightness came. For
what public exhibition is without an idol ? what amusement
w^ithout a sacrifice ? what contest is not consecrated to some
dead person ? And what does a faithful Christian do in the
midst of such things as these ? If he avoids idolatry, why
does he * who is now sacred take pleasure in things which
are worthy of reproach? AVhy does he approve of supersti-
tions which are opposed to God, and which he loves while
he gazes upon them ? Besides, let him be aware that all
these things are the inventions of demons, not of God. He
is shameless who in the church exorcises demons while he
praises their delights in public shows ; and although, once for
all renouncing him, he has put away everything in baptism,
when he goes to the devil's exhibition after [receiving]
Christ, he renounces Christ as much as [he had done] the
devil. Idolatry, as I have already said, is the mother of all
the public amusements; and this, in order that faithful
Christians may come under its influence, entices them by the
1 " Cum persona professionis suae loquatur."
2 Baluzius reads with less probability " indecorum," " anything un-
becoming." The reading adopted in the text is, according to Fell, " inde
eorura."
3 Vid. Ovid's Fasti, lib. v.
* The Oxford text here has the reading, " Why does he speak of it ?
why does he," etc.
ON THE PUBLIC SHOWS. 225
delight of the eyes and the ears. Eomulus was the first who
consecrated the games of the circus to Census as the god of
counsel, in reference to the rape of the Sabine women.
But the rest of the scenic amusements were provided to
distract the attention of the people while famine invaded the
city, and were subsequently dedicated to Ceres and Bacchus,
and to the rest of the idols and dead men. Those Grecian
contests, whether in poems, or in instrumental music, or
in words, or in personal prowess, have as their guardians
various demons ; and whatever else there is which either
attracts the eyes or allures the ears of the spectators, if it be
investigated in reference to its origin and institution, presents
as its reason either an idol, or a demon, or a dead man.
Thus the devil, who is their original contriver, because he
knew that naked idolatry would by itself excite repugnance,
associated it with public exhibitions, that for the sake of their
attraction it miglit be loved.
5. What is the need of prosecuting the subject further,
or of describing the unnatural kinds of sacrifices in the
public shows, among which sometimes even a man becomes
the victim by the fraud of the priest, when the gore, yet hot
from the throat, is received in the foaming cup while it still
steams, and, as if it were thrown into the face of the thirsting
idol, is brutally drunk in pledge to it ; and in the midst of
the pleasures of the spectators the death of some is eagerly
besought, so that by means of a bloody exhibition men may
learn fierceness, as if a man's own private frenzy were of
little account to him unless he should learn it also in public ?
For the punishment of a man, a rabid wild beast is nourished
with delicacies, that he may become the more cruelly fero-
cious under the eyes of the spectators. The^ilful trainer
instructs the brute, which perhaps might have been more
merciful had not its more brutal master taught it cruelty.
Then, to say nothing of whatever idolatry more generally
recommends, how idle are the contests themselves ! — strifes in
colours, contentions in races, acclamations in mere questions
of honour; rejoicing because a horse has been more fleet,
grieving because it was more sluggish, reckoning up the
CYP. — VOL. II. r
226 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN-.
years of cattle, knowing the consuls [under whom they ran],
learning their age, tracing their breed, recording their very
grandfathers and great-grandfathers! How unprofitable a
matter is all this; nay, how disgraceful and ignominious!
"Were you to inquire of this man — this very man, I say,
who can compute by memory the whole family of his
equine race, and can relate it with great quickness without
interfering with the exhibition — who were the parents of
Christ, he cannot tell, or he is the more unfortunate if he
can. But if, again, I should ask him by what road he has
come to that exhibition, he will confess [that he has come]
by the naked bodies of prostitutes and of profligate women,
by [scenes of] public lust, by public disgrace, by vulgar
lasciviousness, by the common contempt of all men. And,
not to object to him what perchance he has done, still he has
seen what was not fit to be done, and he has trained his
eyes to the exhibition of idolatry by lust: he would have
dared, had he been able, to take that which is holy into the
brothel with him ; since, as he hastens to the spectacle when
dismissed from the Lord's [table], and still bearing with
him, as is usual, the Eucharist, that unfaithful man has
carried about the holy body of Christ among the filthy
bodies of harlots, and has deserved a deeper condemnation
for the way [by which he has gone thither], than for the
pleasure he has received from the exhibition.
6. But now to pass from this to the shameless corruption
of the sta^e. I am ashamed to tell what things are said ; I
am even ashamed to denounce the things that are done — the
tricks of arguments, the cheatings of adulterers, the im-
modesties of women, the scurrile jokes, the sordid parasites,
even the toga'd fathers of families themselves, sometimes
stupid, sometimes obscene, but in all cases dull, in all cases
immodest. And though no individual, or family, or pro-
fession, is spared by the discourse of these reprobates, yet
every one flocks to the play. The general infamy is de-
lightful to see or to recognise ; it is a pleasure, nay, even to
learn it. People flock thither to the public disgrace of the
brothel for the teaching of obscenity, that nothing less may
ON THE PUBLIC SHOWS. 227
be done in secret than what is learnt in public ; and in the
midst of the laws themselves is taught everything that the
laws forbid. What does a faithful Christian do among these
things, since he may not even think upon wickedness ? Why
does he find pleasure in the representations of lust, so as
among them to lay aside his modesty and become more daring
in crimes? He is learning to do, while he is becoming
accustomed to see. Nevertheless, those women whom their
misfortune has introduced and degraded to this slavery, con-
ceal their public wantonness, and find consolation for their
disgrace in their concealment. Even they who have sold their
modesty blush to appear to have done so. But that public
prodigy is transacted in the sight of all, and the obscenity
of prostitutes is surpassed. A method is sought to commit
adultery with the eyes. To this infam}^ an infamy fully
worthy of it is superadded : a human being broken down in
every limb, a man melted to something beneath the effemi-
nacy of a woman, has found the art to supply language with
his hands; and on behalf of one I know not what, but
neither man nor woman, the whole city is in a state of
commotion, that the fabulous debaucheries of antiquity may
be represented in a ballet. Whatever is not lawful is so
beloved, that what had even been lost sight of by the lapse
of time is brought back again into the recollection of the
eyes.
7. It is not sufficient for lust to make use of its present
moans of mischief, unless by the exhibition it makes its own
that in which a former age had also gone wrong. It is
not lawful, I say, for faithful Christians to be present ; it is
not lawful, I say, at all, even for those whom for the delight
of their ears Greece sends everywhere to all who are in-
structed in her vain arts. One imitates the hoarse warlike
clangours of the trumpet ; another with his breath blowing
into a pipe regulates its mournful sounds; another with
dances, and with the musical voice of a man, strives with
his breath, which by an effort he had drawn from his
bowels into the upper parts of his body, to play upon the
stops of pipes, — now letting forth the sound, and now closing
228 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
it Tip inside, and forcing it into the air by certain openings of
the stops ; — now breaking the sound in measure, he endea-
vours to speak with his fingers, ungrateful to the Artificer
who gave him a tongue. Why should I speak of comic and
tiseless efforts ? Why of those great tragic vocal ravings %
Why of strings set vibrating with noise ? These things, even
if they were not dedicated to idols, ought not to be approached
and gazed upon by faithful Christians ; because, even if they
were not criminal, they are characterized by a worthlessness
which is extreme, and which is little suited to believers.
8. Now that other folly of others is an obvious source of
advantage to idle men ; and the first victory is for the belly to
be able to crave food beyond the human limit, — a flagitious
traffic for the claim to the crown of gluttony : the wretched
face is hired out to bear wounding blows, that the more
wTetched belly may be gorged. How disgusting, besides, are
those struggles ! Man lying below man is enfolded in abomi-
nable embraces and twinings. In such a contest, whether a
man looks on or conquers, still his modesty is conquered.
Behold, one naked man bounds forth towards you ; another
with straining powers tosses a brazen ball into the air. This
is not glory, but folly. In fine, take away the spectator, and
you will have shown its emptiness. Such things as these
should be avoided by faithful Christians, as I have frequently
said already, — spectacles so vain, so mischievous, so sacri-
leoious, from which both our eyes and our ears should be
guarded. We quickly get accustomed to what w^e hear and
wdiat we see. For since man's mind is itself drawn towards
vice, wdiat will it do if it should have inducements of a
bodily nature as well as a downward tendency in its slippery
will ? What will it do if it should be impelled [from with-
out] % ^ Therefore the mind must be called away from such
things as these.
9. The Christian has nobler exhibitions, if he wishes for
1 There is much confusion in the reading of this passage, which in the
original runs, according to Baluzius : " Nam cum mens hominis ad vitia
ipsa ducatur, quid faciet, si habuerit exempla naturae corporis lubrica
quae sponte corruit? Quid faciet si fuerit impulsa ? "
ON THE PUBLIC SHOWS. 229
tliem. He has true and profitable pleasures, if he will recol-
lect himself. And to say nothing of those which he cannot
yet contemplate, he has that beauty of the world to look upon
and admire. He may gaze upon the sun's rising, and again
on its setting, as it brings round in their mutual changes
days and nights ; the moon's orb, designating in its waxings
and wanings the courses of the seasons; the troops of
shining stars, and those which glitter from on high with ex-
treme mobility, — their members divided through the changes
of the entire year, and the days themselves with the nights
distributed into hourly periods ; the heavy mass of the earth
balanced by the mountains, and the flowing rivers with their
sources ; the expanse of seas, with their waves and shores ;
and meanwhile, the air, subsisting equally everywhere in
perfect harmony, expanded in the midst of all, and in con-
cordant bonds animating all things with its delicate life, now
scattering showers from the contracted clouds, now recalling
the serenity of the sky wdth its refreshed purity ; and in all
these spheres their appropriate tenants — in the air the birds,
in the waters the fishes, on the earth man. Let these, I
say, and other divine w^orks, be the exhibitions for faithful
Christians. What theatre built by human hands could ever
be compared to such works as these ? Although it may be
reared with immense piles of stones, the mountain crests are
loftier ; and although the fretted roofs glitter with gold, they
will be surpassed by the brightness of the starry firmament.
Never will any one admire the works of man, if he has recog-
nised himself as the son of God. He deo;rades himself from
the height of his nobility, w^ho can admire anything but the
Lord.
10. Let the faithful Christian, I say, devote himself to the
sacred Scriptures, and there he shall find worthy exhibitions
for his faith. Pie will see God establishinsc His world, and
making not only the other animals, but that marvellous
and better fabric of man. He will gaze upon the world in
its delightfulness, righteous shipwrecks, the rewards of the
good, and the punishments of the impious, seas drained dry
by a people, and again from the rock seas spread out by a
230 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
people. He will behold harvests descending from heaven, not
pressed in by the plough ; rivers with their hosts of waters
bridled in, exhibiting dry crossings. He Avill behold in some
cases faith struggling with the flame, wild beasts overcome by
devotion and soothed into gentleness. He will look also upon
souls brought back even from death. Moreover, he will con-
sider the marvellous souls brought back to the life of bodies
which themselves were already consumed. And in all these
things he will see a still greater exhibition — that devil who
had triumphed over the whole world lying prostrate under
the feet of Christ. How honourable is this exhibition,
brethren! how delightful, how needful ever to gaze upon
one's hope, and to open our eyes to one's salvation ! This is
a spectacle which is beheld even when sight is lost. This is
an exhibition which is given by neither pr^tor nor consul,
but by Him who is alone and above all things, and before
all things, yea, and of whom are all things, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and honour for
ever and ever. I bid you, brethren, ever heartily farewell.
Amen,
ON THE GLOEY OF MARTYEBOM.
Argument. — The writer describes with a lofty style of expres-
sion the glory of martyrdom, treating at large throughout
the work chiefly of three questions^ — namely , what martyr-
dom is, hoio great it is, and of what advantage it is. In
the meantime, by captivating similitudes, and by argument
deduced from the daily deaths, he exhorts to joyous sub-
inission to death for Chrises sake. Moreover, among the
benefits of mcLrtyrdom he enumerates that the propitia-
tion of Christ crowns martyrs ivithout experience of the
universal suffering that prevails, in such a way that against
them that saying of Christ is not applicable, that they must
'pay the very last farthing. In place of reward, he sets
before than not only security from the fear of Gehenna, but
also the attainment of everlasting life, describing both alter-
natives briefly in a poetical manner ; and then he points
out, that to some, martyi^dojn serves as a crown, ivhile to
others who are baptized in their own blood, it serves as
redemption. Finally, ivhen from the Scriptures he has
stirred up) his o^eaders to confession of the name of Christ,
he asks them to remember him when the Lord begins to
honour martyrdom in them, since the Lord is known not
to deny such as they when they ask Him for anything.
LTHOUGH, beloved brethren, it is unfitting,
while my speaking to you receives this indul-
gence, to profess any trepidation, and it very
little becomes me to diminish the glory of so
great a devotion by the confession of an incipient doubt; yet
231
232 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN,
at the same time I say that my mind is clividecl by that very
dehberation, being influenced by the desire of describing
the glory, and restrained from speaking by the magnitude of
the virtue [to be described] ; since it is either not becoming
to be silent, or it is perilous to say too little, save that to one
who is tossing in doubt this consideration alone is helpful,
that it would appear easy for him to be pardoned who has
not feared to dare. Wherefore, beloved brethren, although
my mental capacity is burdened by the importance of the
subject in such a way, that in proportion as it puts itself
forth in declaring the dignity of martyrdom, in that degree
it is overwhelmed by the very weight of the glory, and by
its estimation of all those things concerning which, when it
speaks most, it fails, by its address being weakened, and
broken, and self-entangled, and does not with free and
loosened reins display the might of such glory in the liberal
eloquence of discourse ; yet, if I am not mistaken, some
power there will be in my utterance, which, when fortified
by the appeal of the work itself, may here and there pour
forth what the unequal consciousness of my ability withheld
from my words. Since, therefore, beloved brethren, involved
as we are in affairs so many and important, we are endea-
vouring with all eagerness and labour to confirm the excellent
and most beautiful issues of salvation, I do not fear being
so deterred by any slothful dread as to be withheld or ren-
dered powerless ; since, if any one should desire to look into
that of which we are considering, the hope of devotion being
taken into account, and the very magnitude of the thing
being weighed, he would rather wonder that I could have
dared at all, in a matter wherein both the vastness of the
subject oppressed me, and the earnestness of its own desire
drove my mind, confused with its joy, into mental difficulties.
For who is there whom such a subject would not alarm? who
is there whom it would not overthrow with the fear of its
own wonder ?
2. For there is indeed, unless I am mistaken, even in the
very power of conscience, a marvellous fear which at once
disturbs and inflames us ; whose power, the more closely you.
av THE GLORY OF MABTYRDOM. 233
look into, the more the dreadful sense of its obligation is
gathered from its very aspect of venerable majesty. For
assuredly you ought to consider what glory there is in ex-
piating any kind of defilement of life, and the foulness of a
jDolluted body, and the contagions gathered from the lono-
putrefaction of vices, and the worldly guilt incurred by so
great a lapse of time, by the remedial agency of one stroke,
whereby both reward may be increased, and guilt may be
excluded. Whence every perfection and condition of life is
included in martyrdom. This is the foundation of life and
faith, this is the safeguard of salvation, this is the bond of
liberty and honour ; and although there are also other means
whereby the light may be attained, yet we more easily arrive
at nearness to the promised reward, by help of tliese punish-
ments, which sustain us.
3. For consider what glory it is to set aside the lusts of
this life, and to oppose a mind withdrawn from all commerce
with nature and the world, to all the opposition of the adver-
sary, and to have no dread of the cruelty of the torturer ;
that a man should be animated by the suffering whereby he
might be believed to be destroyed, and should take to himself,
as an enhancement of his strength, that which the punisher
thinks will aggravate his torments. For although the hook,
springing forth from the stiffening ribs, is put back again
into the wound, and with the repeated strokes of the whip
the returning lash^ is drawn away with the rent portions of
the flesh; still he stands immoveable, the stronger for his
sufferings, revolving only this in his mind, that in that bru-
tality of the executioners Christ Himself is suffering more in
proportion to what he suffers. For since, if he should deny the
Lord, he would incur guilt on His behalf for wliom he ought
to have overcome, it is essential that He should be seen to bear
all things to whom the victory is due, even in the suffering.
4. Therefore, since martyrdom is the cliief thing, there
are three points arising out of it on which we liave proposed
to ourselves to speak : What it is, how great it is, and of
what advantage it is. What, then, is martyrdom ? It is the
^ " Habena;" but according to Baluzius "arena," "an oat-straw."
234 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
end of sinSj tlie limit of dangers, the guide of salvation, the
teacher of patience, the home of life, on the journey to which
those things moreover befall which in the coming crisis might
be considered torments. By this also testimony is borne to
the Name, and the majesty of the Name is greatly enhanced :
not that in itself tliat majesty can be diminished, or its mag-
nitude detracted from, by the guilt of one who denies it ; but
that it redounds to the increase of its glory, when the terror
of the populace that howls around is giving to suffering, fear-
less minds, and by the threats of snarling hatred is adding to
the title whereby Christ has desired to crown the man, that
in proportion as he has thought that he conquered, in that
proportion his courage has grown in the struggle. It is then,
therefore, that all the vigour of faith is brought to bear, then
facility of belief is approved, when you encounter the speeches
and the reproaches of the rabble, and when you strengthen
yourself by a religious mind against those madnesses of the
people, — overcoming, that is, and repelling whatever their blas-
phemous speech may have uttered to wrong Christ in your
person, as when the resisting breakwater repels the adverse
sea, although the waves dash and the rolling water again
and again beats upon it, yet its immoveable strength abides
firm, and does not yield even when covered over by the
waves that foam around, until its force is scattered over the
rocks and loses itself, and the conquered billow lying upon
the rocks retires forth into the open spaces of the shore.
5. For what is there in these [blasphemous speeches] other
than empty discourse, and senseless talk, and a depraved
pleasure in meaningless words % As it is written : '^ They
have eyes, and they see not ; ears have they, and they hear
not." ^ " Their foolish heart is made sluggish, lest at any
time they should be converted, and I should heal them." ^
For there is no doubt but that He said this of all whose
hardened mind and obstinate brutality of heart is always
driven away and repugnates from a vital devotion, folly
leading them, madness dragging them, in fine, every kind
of ferocity enraging them, whereby they are instigated as
1 Ps. cxiii. 13. 2 isa. vi. 10.
ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM. 235
well as carried away, so that in their case their own deeds
would be sufficient for their punishment, their guilt would
burden the very penalty of the persecution inflicted.
6. The wdiole of this tends to the praise of martyrdom, the
whole illuminates the glory of suffering wherein the hope of
time future is beheld, wherein Christ Himself is engaged, of
whom are given the examples that we seek, and whose is
the strength by which we resist. And that in this behalf
something is supplied to us to present, is surely a lofty and
marvellous condescension, and such as we are able neither
mentally to conceive nor fully to express in words. For
what could He with His liberal affection bestow upon us
more, than that He should be the first to show forth in
Himself what He would reward with a crown in others?
He became mortal that we might be immortal, and He
underwent the issue of human destiny, by whom things
human are governed; and that He might appear to have
given to us the benefit of His having suffered. He gave us
confession. He suggested martyrdoms ; finally. He, by the
merits of His nativity, imputed all those things whereby the
light [of life] may be quenched, to a saving remedy, by His
excellent humility, by His divine strength. Whoever have
deserved to be worthy of this have been without death, have
overcome all the foulest stains of the world, having subdued
the condition of death.
7. For there is no doubt how much they obtain from the
Lord, who have preferred God's name to their own safety, so
that in that judgment-day their blood-shedding would make
them better, and the blood spilt would show them to be spot-
less. Because death makes life more complete, death rather
leads to glory. Thus, whenever on the rejoicing wheat-stalks
the ears of corn distended by rains grow full, the abundant
harvests are forced ^ by the summer ; thus, as often as the vine
is pruned by the knife from the tendrils that break forth
upon it, the bunch of grapes is more liberally clothed. For
whatever is of advantage by its injury turns out for the in-
crease of the time to come ; just as it has often been of avail
* "Coguntur," or "coquuutur," — "are matured."
236 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
to the fields to let loose the flames, that by the heat of the
wanderinor conflaizratlon the blind breathing-holes of the earth
might be relaxed. It has been useful to parch the light stalks
with the crackling fire, that the pregnant corn-field might
raise itself higher, and a more abundant grain might flourish
on the breeding stems. Therefore such also is first of all
the calamity, and by and by the fruit of martyrdom, that
it so contemns death, that it may preserve life in death.
8. For what is so illustrious and sublime, as by a robust
devotion to preserve all the vigour of faith in the midst of
so many weapons of executioners'? What so great and
honourable, as in the midst of so many swords of the sur-
rounding guards, again and again to profess in repeated
words the Lord of one's liberty and the author of one's salva-
tion ? — and especially if you set before your eyes that there
is nothing more detestable than dishonour, nothing baser than
slavery, that now you ought to seek nothing else, to ask for
nothing else, than that you should be snatched from the
slaughters of the world, be delivered from the ills of the
world, and be engaged only as an alien from the contagion
of earth, among the ruins of a globe that is speedily to perish?
For what have you to do with this light, if you have the
promise of an eternal light? AVhat interest have you in this
commerce of life and nature, if the ampHtude of heaven is
awaiting you? Doubtless let that lust of life keep hold, but
let it be of those whom for unatoned sin the raging fire will
torture w^ith eternal vengeance for their crimes. Let that
lust of life keep hold, but let it be of those to whom it is both
a punishment to die, and a torment to endure [after death].
But to you both the world itself is subjected, and the earth
yields, if, when all are dying, you are reserved for this fate
of being a martyr. Do we not behold daily dyings? AYe
behold new kinds of death of the body long worn out with
ra^-ing diseases, the miserable results of some plao;ue hitherto
unexperienced; and we behold the destruction of wasted
cities, and hence we may acknowledge how great is to be con-
sidered the dignity of martyrdom, to the attainment of the
glory of which even the pestilence is beginning to drive us.
ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM. 2?j1
9. Moreover, beloved brethren, regard, I beseech you, this
consideration more fully ; for in it both salvation is involved,
and sublimity accounted of, although I am not unaware that
you abundantly know that we are supported by the judgments
of all who stand fast, and that you are not ignorant that
this is the teaching handed down to us, that we should main-
tain the power of so great a name without any dread of the
warfare; because we whom once the desire of an everlasting
remembrance has withheld from the loncrino; for this lio-ht,
and whom the anticipations of the future have wrenched
away, and whom the society of Christ so longed for has kept
aloof from all wickedness, shrink from offering our soul to
death except it be in the way of yielding to a mischief, and
that those benefits of God must no longer be retained and
clung to by us, since beyond the burning up of these things
the reward is so great as that human infirmity can hardly
attain sufiiciently to speak of it. Heaven lies open to our
blood — the dwelling-place of Gehenna gives way to our
blood ; and among all the attainments of glory, the title of
blood is sealed as the fairest, and its crown is designated as
most complete.
10. Thus, whenever the soldier returns from the enemy
laden with triumphant spoils, he rejoices in his wounds.
Thus, whenever the sailor, long harassed with tempests, arrives
at safe shores, he reckons his happiness by the dangers tliat
he has suffered. For, unless I am mistaken, that is assuredly
a joyous labour whereby safety is found. Therefore all
things must be suffered, all things must be endured ; nor
should we desire the means of rejoicing for a brief period
and being punished with a perpetual burning. For
ought to remember that you are bound, as it were, by a certain
federal paction, out of which arises the just condition either of
obtaining salvation, or the merited fearfulness of punishment.
You stand equally among adverse things and prosperous, in
the midst of arms and darts ; and on the one hand, worldly
ambition, on the other heavenly greatness, incites you.
11. If you fear to lose salvation, know that you can die ;
and, moreover, death should be contemned by you, for whom
vou
238 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
Christ was slain. Let the examples of the Lord's passion, I
beseech you, pass before your eyes; let the offerings, and the
rewards, and the distinctions prepared come together before
you, and look carefully at both events, how great a difficulty
they have between them. For you will not be able to
confess unless you know what a great mischief you do if you
deny. Martyrs rejoice in heaven; the fire will consume those
who are enemies of the truth. The paradise of God blooms
for the witnesses; Gehenna will enfold the deniers, and
eternal fire will burn them up. And, to say nothing of other
matters, this assuredly ought rather to urge us, that the con-
fession of one word is maintained by the everlasting confession
of Christ ; as it is written, " Whosoever shall confess me on
earth before men, him also will I confess before my Father,
and before His angels." ^ To this are added, by way of an
enhancement of glory, the adornments of virtue ; for He
says, " The righteous shall shine as sparks that run to and
fro among the stubble; they shall judge the nations, and shall
have dominion over the peoples." ^
12. For it is a great glory, beloved brethren, to adorn the
life of eternal salvation with the dignity of suffering : it is a
great sublimity before the face of the Lord, and under the
gaze of Christ, to contemn without a shudder the torments
inflicted by human power. Thus Daniel, by the constancy
of his faith, overcame the threats of the king and the fury
of raging lions, in that he believed that none else than God
w^as to be adored. Thus, when the young men were thrown
into the fm^nace, the fire raged against itself, because, being
righteous, they endured the flames, and guarded against
those of Gehenna, by believing in God, whence also they
received things worthy of them : they were not delayed to a
future time : they were not reserved for the reward of eter-
nal salvation. God saw their faith ; that what they had
promised to themselves to see after their death, they merited
to see in their body. For how great a reward was given
them in the present tribulation could not be estimated. If
there was cruelty, it gave way ; if there was flame, it stood
1 Lulcc xxii. 8. ^ Wisd. iii. 7.
ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM. 239
still. For there was one mind to all of them, which neither
violence could break down nor wrath could subvert ; nor
could the fear of death restrain them from the obedience of
devotion. Whence by the Lord's grace it happened, that in
this manner the king himself appeared rather to be punished
in those men [who were slain], whilst they escape wdiom he
had thought to slay.
13. And now, beloved brethren, I shall come to that point
whence I shall very easily be able to show you how highly
the virtue of martyrdom is esteemed, wdiich, although it is
well known to all, and is to be desired on account of the
insignia of its inborn glory, yet in the desire of its enjojniient
has received more enhancement from the necessity of the
times. Because if any one be crowned at that season in
which he supposes himself to be crowned, if perchance he
should die, he is greatly rewarded. Therefore, sublime and
illustrious as martyrdom is, it is the more needful now, when
the world itself is turned upside down, and, while the globe
is partially shattered, failing nature is giving evidence of the
tokens of its final destruction. For the rain-cloud hangs
over us in the sky, and the very air stretches forth the
mournful rain-[curtain] ; and as often as the black tempest
threatens the raging sea, the glittering lightning-flashes glow
terribly in the midst of the opening darkness of the clouds.
Moreover, when the deep is lashed into immense billows, by
degrees the wave is lifted up, and by degrees the foam
whitens, until at length you behold it rush in such a manner,
that on those rocks on which it is hurled, it throws its foam
higher than the wave that was vomited forth by the swelling
sea. You read that it is written, that we must pay even the
uttermost farthing. But the martyrs alone are relieved of
this obligation ; because they who trust to their desires for
eternal salvation, and have overcome their lonmnffs for this
life, have been made by the Lord's precepts free from the
universal suffering. Therefore from this especially, beloved
brethren, we shall be able to set forth what great things the
virtue of martyrdom is able to fulfil.
14. And, to pass over everything else, we ought to rcmem-
240 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
ber what a glory it is to come immaculate to Christ — to be a
sharer in His suffering, and to reign in a perpetual eternity
with the Lord — to be free from the threatening destruction
of the world, and not to be mixed up with the bloody carnage
of wasting diseases in a common lot wqth others ; and, not to
speak of the crown itself, if, being situated in the midst of
these critical evils of nature, you had the promise of an
escape from this life, w^ould you not rejoice with all your
heart? If, I say, while tossing amid the tempests of this
world, a near repose should invite you, would you not con-
sider death in the light of a remedy ? Thus, surrounded as
you are with the knives of the executioners, and the instru-
ments of testing tortures, stand sublime and strong, consider-
ing how great is the penalty of denying, in a time when you
are unable to enjoy, the world for the sake of which you
would deny, because indeed the Lord knew that cruel tor-
ments and mischievous acts of punishment would be armed
against us for our destruction, in order that He might make
ns strong to endure them all. " My son," says He, " if thou
come to serve God, stand fast in righteousness, and fear, and
prepare thy soul for temptation." ^ Moreover, also, the
blessed Apostle Paul exclaimed, and said, " To me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain."^
15. Wherefore, beloved brethren, with a firm faith, with a
robust devotion, with a virtue opposed to the fierce threaten-
ings of the world, and the savage murmurs of the attending
crowds, we must resist and not fear, seeing that ours is the
hope of eternity and heavenly life, and that our ardour is
inflamed with the lonmno; for the light, and our salvation
rejoices in the promise of immortality. But the fact that
our hands are bound with tightened bonds, and that heavy
links fastened round our necks oppress us with their solid
weight, or that our body strained on the rack hisses on the
[application of the] red-hot plates, is not for the sake of
seeking our blood, but for the sake of trying us. For in
wdiat manner should we be able to recognise even the dignity
of martyrdom, if we were not constrained to desire it, even at
1 Ecclus. ii. 1. 2 piio. i. 21.
ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM. 211
the price of the sacrifice of our body ? I indeed have known
it, and I am not deceived in the truth of what I say, when
the cruel hands of the persecutors were WTenching asunder
the martyr's hmbs, and the furious torturer was ploughing
up his lacerated muscles, and still could not overcome him.
I have known it by the words of those who stood around.
" This is a great matter. Assuredly I know not what it is —
that he is not subdued by suffering, that he is not broken
down by w^earing torments." Moreover, there were other
words of those wdio spoke : " And yet I believe he has chil-
dren : for he has a wife associated with him in his house ;
and yet he does not give way to the bond of his offspring,
nor is he withdrawn by the claim of his family affection from
his stedfast purpose. This matter must be known, and this
strength must be investigated, even to the very heart ; for
that is no trifling confession, whatever it may be, for which
a man suffers, even so as to be able to die."
16. Moreover, beloved brethren, so great is the virtue of
martyrdom, that by its means even he who has wished to
slay you is constrained to believe. It is written, and we
read : " Endure in suffering, and in thy humiliation have
patience, because gold and silver are tried by the fire." ^
Since, therefore, the Lord proves us by earthly temptations,
and Christ the Judge weighs us by these worldly ills, we
must congratulate ourselves, and rejoice that He does not
reserve us for those eternal destructions, but rejoices over us
as purged from all contagion. But from those whom He
adopts as partners of His inheritance, and is willing to
receive into the kingdom of heaven, wdiat else indeed does
He ask than a walk in integrity ? He Himself has said that
all things are His, both those things which are displayed
upon the level plains, and wdiich lift themselves up into
sloping hills ; and moreover, whatever the greatness of heaven
surrounds, and what the gliding w^ater embraces in the cir-
cumfluent ocean. But if all things are within His ken, and
He does not require of us anything but sincere actions, we
ought, as He Himself has said, to be like to gold. Because,
1 Ecclus. ii. 4.
CYP. — VOL. II. Q
242 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
when you behold in the glistening earth the gold glittering
under the tremulous light, and melting into a liquid form by
the roaring flames (for this also is generally the care of the
workmen), whenever from the panting furnaces is vomited
forth the glowing fire, the rich flame is drawn away from
the access of the earth in a narrow channel, and is kept back
by sand from the refluent masses of earth. Whence it is
necessary to suffer all things, that we may be free from all
wickedness, as He has said by His prophet ; " And though
in the sight of men they have suffered torments, yet is their
hope full of immortality ; and being vexed in a few things,
they shall be well rewarded in many things, because God has
tried them, and has found them worthy of Himself, and has
received them as a sacrifice of burnt-offering." ^
17. But if ambitious dignity deter you, and the amount of
your money heaped up in your stores influence you — a cause
which ever distracts the intentions of a virtuous heart, and
assails the soul devoted to its Lord with a fearful trembling —
I beg that you would again refer to the heavenly words.
For it is the very voice of Christ who speaks, and says,
"Whosoever shall lose his life for my name's sake, shall
receive in this world a hundred-fold, and in the world to
come shall possess eternal life."^ And we ought assuredly
to reckon nothing greater, nothing more advantageous, than
this. For although in the nature of your costly garments
the purple dye flows into figures, and in the slackening
threads the gold strays into a pattern, and the weighty metals
to which you devote yourselves are not wanting in your ex-
cavated treasures; still, unless I am mistaken, those things
will be esteemed vain and purposeless, if, while all things else
are added to you, salvation alone is found to be wanting;
even as the Holy Spirit declares that we can give nothing in
exchange for our soul. For He says, " If you should gain
the whole world, and lose your own soul, what shall it profit
you, or what exchange shall a man give for his soul ? " ^ For
all those things which w^e behold are worthless, and such
as resting on weak foundations, are unable to sustain the
1 Wisd. iii. 4. ^ Matt. x. 39. ^ ^^^tt. xv. 26.
ON THE GLORY OF MAETYEDOM. 243
weight of their own mass. For whatever is received from
the world is made of no account by the antiquity of time.
Whence, that nothing sliould be sweet or dear that might be
preferred to the desires of eternal life, things which are of
personal right and individual law are cut off by the Lord's
precepts ; so that in the undergoing of tortures, for instance,
the son should not soften the suffering father, and private
affection should not change the heart that was previouslv
pledged to enduring strength, into another disposition.
Christ of His own right ordained that truth and salvation
alone must be embraced in the midst of great sufferings,
under which wife, and children, and grandchildren, under
which all the offspring of one's bowels, must be forsaken, and
the victory be claimed.
18. For Abraham also thus pleased God, in that he, when
tried by God, spared not even his own son, in behalf of
whom perhaps he might have been pardoned had he hesitated
to slay him. A religious devotion armed his hands ; and his
paternal love, at the command of the Lord who bade it, set
aside all the feelings of affection. Neither did it shock him
that he was to shed the blood of his son, nor did he tremble at
the word ; nevertheless for him Christ had not yet been slain.
For what is dearer than Him who, that you might not sustain
anything unwillingly in the present day, first of all Himself
suffered that which He taught [others to suffer] ? What
is sweeter than Him who, although He is our God and Lord,
nevertheless makes the man who suffers for His sake His
fellow-heir in the kingdom of heaven ? Oh grand — I know
not what ! — whether that reason scarcely bears to receive that
consciousness, although it always marvels at the greatness of
the rewards ; or that the majesty of God is so abundant, that
to all who trust in it, it even offers those things which, while
we were considering what we have done, it had been sin to
desire. Moreover, if only eternal salvation should be given,
for that very perpetuity of living we should be thankful.
But now, when heaven and the power of judging concerning
others is bestowed in the eternal world, what is there wherein
man's mediocrity may not find itself equal to [the endurance
244 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
of] all these trials ? If you are assailed with injuries, He was
first so assailed. If you are oppressed with reproaches, you
are imitating the experience of God. Whence also it is but
a little matter whatever you undergo for Him, seeing that
you can do nothing more, unless that in this consists the whole
of salvation, that He has promised the whole to martyrdom.
Finally, the apostle, to whom all things were always dear,
while he deeply marvelled at the greatness of the promised
benefits, said, " I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not w^orthy to be compared to the glory that is to
follow, which shall be revealed in us."^ Because he was
musing in his own mind how great would be the reward, that
to him to whom it would be enough to be free from death,
should be given not only the prerogative of salvation, but
also to ascend to heaven — to heaven which is not constrained
into darkness, even when light is expelled from it, and the
day does not unfold into light by alternate changes ; but the
serene temperature of the liquid air unfolds a piu'e brightness
through a clearness that reddens with a fiery glow.
19. It now remains, beloved brethren, that we are bound to
show what is the advantage of martyrdom, and that we should
teach that especially, so that the fear of the future may
stimulate us to this glorious title. Because those to whom
great things are promised, seem to have greater things which
they are bound to fear. For the soldier does not arouse him-
self to arms before the enemy have brandished their hostile
weapons; nor does a man withdraw his ship in an anchorage,
unless the fear of the deep have checked his courage. INIore-
over also, while eager for his wealth, the considerate husband-
man does not stir up the earth with a fortunate ploughshare,
before the crumbling glebe is loosened into dust by the rain
that it has received. Thus this is the natural practice of
every man, to be ignorant of what is of advantage, unless you
recognise what has been mischievous. Whence also a reward
is given to all the saints, in that the punishment of their deeds
is inflicted on the unrighteous. Therefore what the Lord has
promised to His people is doubtful to none, however ignorant
1 Rom. viii. 18.
ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM. 245
he is ; but neither is there any doubt what punitive fires He
threatens. And since my discourse has led me thus to argue
about both these classes of things in a few words, as I have
already spoken of both, I will briefly explain them.
20. A horrible place, of which the name is Gehenna, with
an awful murmuring and groaning of souls bewailing, and
with flames belchine; forth throuMi the horrid darkness of
thick night, is always breathing out the raging fires of a
smoking furnace, [while] the confined mass of flames is re-
strained or relaxed for the various purposes of punishment.
Then there are very many degrees of its violence, as it gathers
into itself whatever tortures the eatino; fire of the heat emitted
can supply. Those by whom the voice of the Lord has been
rejected, and His control contemned, it punishes with different
dooms; and in proportion to the different degree of deserving
of the forfeited salvation it applies its power, while a portion
assigns its due distinction to crime. And some, for example,
are bowed down by an intolerable load, some are hurried by
a merciless force over the abrupt descent of a precipitous
path, and the heavy weight of clanking chains bends over
them its bondage. Some there are, also, whom a wdieel is
closely turning, and an unwearied dizziness [is tormenting] ;
and [others] whom, bound to one another with tenacious close-
ness, body clinging to body compresses : so that both fire is
consuming, and the load of iron is weighing down, and the
uproar of many is torturing.
21. But those by whom God has always been sought or
known, have never lost the position which Christ has given
them, where grace is found, where in the verdant fields the
luxuriant earth clotlies itself with tender grass, and is pastured
with the scent of flowers ; where the groves are carried up
to the lofty hill-top, and where the tree clothes with a thicker
foliage whatever spot the canopy, expanded by its curving
branches, may have shaded. There is no excess of cold or
of heat, nor is it needed that in autumn the fields should
rest, or, again in the young spring, that the fruitful earth
should brino; forth. All thin^js are of one season : fruits are
borne of a continued summer, since there neither does the
246 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
moon serve the purpose of her months, nor does the sun run
his course along the moments of the hours, nor does the
banishment of the light make way for night. A joyous
repose possesses the people, a calm home shelters them, where
a gushing fountain in the midst issues from the bosom of a
broken hollow, and flows in sinuous mazes by a course deep-
sounding, at intervals to be divided among the sources of
rivers springing from it. Here there is the great praise of
martyrs, here is the noble crown of the victors, who have the
promise of greater things than those whose rewards are more
abundant. And that either their body is thrown to wild
beasts, or the threatening sword is not feared, is shown as the
reason of their dignity, is manifested as [the ground of] their
election. Because it would have been inconsistent, that he
who had been judged equal to such a duty, should be kept
among earthly vices and corruptions.
22. For you deserve, O excellent martyrs, that nothing
should be denied to you who are nourished with the hope of
eternity and of light; whose absolute devotion, and whose
mind dedicated to the service of heaven, is evidently seen.
Deservedly, I say deservedly, nothing is forbidden to you to
wish for, since by your soul this world is looked down upon,
and the alienated appearance of the time has made you to
shudder, as if it were a confused blindness of darkness ; to
whom this world is always regarded in the light of a dungeon,
its dwellings for restraints, in a life which has always been
esteemed by you as a period of delay on a journey. Thus,
indeed, in the triumph of victory he is snatched from these
evils, whom no vain ambition with pompous step has subdued,
nor popular greatness has elated, but whom, burning with
heavenly desire, Christ has added to His kingdom.
23. There is nothing, then, so great and venerable as the
deliverance from death, and the causing to live, and the
giving to reign for ever. This is fitting for the saints,
needful for the wretched, pleasing to all, in which the good
rejoice, the abject are lifted up, the elect are crowned.
Assuredly God, who cares for all, gave to life a certain
medicine as it were in martyrdom, when to some He assigned
ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM. 247
it on account of their deserving, to others He gave it on
account of His mercy. We have assuredly seen very many
distinguished by their faith, come to claim this illustrious
name, that death might ennoble the obedience of their
devotion. Moreover, also, we have frequently beheld others
stand undismayed, that they might redeem their sins com-
mitted, and be regarded as washed in their gore by [His]
blood ; and so being slain they might live again, who when
alive were counted slain. Death assuredly makes life more
complete, death finds the glory that was lost. For in this the
hope once lost is regained, in this all salvation is restored.
Thus, when the seed-times shall fail on the withering plains,
and the earth shall be parched wdth its dying grass, the
river has delighted to spring forth from the sloping hills, and
to soothe the thirsty fields with its gushing streams, so that
the vanquished poverty of the land might be dissolved into
fruitful wheat-stems, and the corn-field might bristle up the
thicker for the counterfeited showers of rain.
24. What then, beloved brethren, shall I chiefly relate, or
what shall I say? When all dignified titles thus combine
in one, the mind is confused, the perception is misled ; and
in the very attempt to speak with brilliancy, my unworthy
discourse vanishes away. For what is there to be said which
can be sufficient, when, if you should express the power of
eternal salvation, its attending glories come in your way; if you
would speak of its surroundings, its greatness prevents you ?
The things at the same time are both in agreement and in
opposition, and there is nothing which appears w^orthy to
be uttered. Thus the instances of martyrdom have held
in check the impulses of daring speech, as if entangled
and ensnared by an opponent. What voice, what lungs,
what strength, can undertake to sustain the form of such a
dignity ? At the confession of one voice, adverse things give
way, joyous things appear, kingdoms are opened, empires
are prepared, suffering is overcome, death is subdued, life is
preferred, and the resisting weapons of a mischievous enemy
are broken up. If there is sin, it perishes ; if there is crime,
it is left behind. Wherefore I beseech you, weigh this in
248 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN,
your minds, and from my address receive so much as you
know that you can feel.
25. Let it present itself to your eyes, what a day that
is, when, with the people looking on, and all men watching,
an undismayed devotion is struggling against earthly crosses
and the threats of the world ; how the minds in suspense, and
hearts anxious about the tremblings of doubt, are agitated
by the dread of the timid fearfulness of those who are con-
gratulating them ! What an anxiety is there, what a prayer-
ful entreaty, what desires are recorded, when, with the victory
still wavering, and the crown of conquest hanging in doubt
over the head while the results are still uncertain, and when
that pestilent and raving confession is inflamed by passion, is
kindled by madness, and finally, is heated by the fury of the
heart, and by gnashing threats ! For who is ignorant how
great a matter this is, that our, as it were, despised frailty,
and the unexpected boldness of human strength, should not
yield to the pangs of wounds, nor to the blows of tortures, —
that a man should stand fast and not be moved, should be
tortured and still not be overcome, but should rather be
armed by the very suffering whereby he is tormented ?
26. Consider what it is, beloved brethren : set before your
perceptions and your minds all the endurance of martyrdom.
Behold, indeed, in the passion of any one you will, they who
are called martyrs rejoice as being already summoned out of
the world ; they rejoice as being messengers of all good men ;
they rejoice in like manner as elected. Thus the Lord
rejoices in His soldier, Christ rejoices in the vritness to His
name. It is a small matter that I am speaking of, beloved
brethren ; it is a small matter, so great a subject in this kind
of address, and so marvellous a difficulty has been under-
taken by me ; but let the gravity of the issue, I beseech you,
not be wanting for my own purpose, knowing that as much
can be said of martyrdom as could be appreciated. Whence
also this alone has been the reason of my describing its
glory, not that I judged myself equal and fitted for its
praise, but that I saw that there was such a virtue in it, that
however little I might say about it, I should profess that I
ON THE GLORY OF MARTYRDOM. 249
had said as much as possible. For although the custody of
faith may be preferred to the benefit of righteousness, and
an immaculate virginity may recognise itself as better than
the praises of all ; yet it is necessary that even it should
give place to the claim of blood, and be made second to a
gory death. The former have chosen what is good, the latter
have imitated Christ.
27. But now, beloved brethren, lest any one should think
that I have placed all salvation in no other condition than in
martyrdom, let him first of all look especially at this, that it
is not I who seem to speak, that am of so great importance,
nor is the order of things so arranged that the promised
hope of immortality should depend on the strength of a
partial advocacy. But since the Lord has testified with His
own mouth, that in the Father's possession are many dwell-
ings, I have believed that there is nothing greater than
that glory whereby those men are proved who are unworthy
of this worldly life. Therefore, beloved brethren, striving
with a religious rivalry, as if stirred up with some incentive of
reward, let us submit to all the abundance and the endurance
of strength. For things passing away ought not to move us,
seeing that they are always being pressed forward to their
own overthrow, not only by the law proposed to them, but
even by the very end of time. John exclaims, and says, " Now
is the axe laid to the root of the tree ; " ^ show^ing, to wit, and
pointing out that it is the last old age of all things. More-
over, also, the Lord Himself says, " AYalk while ye have the
light, lest the darkness lay hold upon you." ^ But if He has
foretold that we must walk in that time, certainly He shows
that we must at any rate walk.
28. And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a
word of the blessed Paul, who says : " Know ye not that
thoy who run in a race strive many, but one receiveth the
prize ? But do ye so run, that all of you may obtain." ^
Moreover also elsewhere, that he may exhort us to martyr-
dom, he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ ; nay, that he
might omit nothing, he says, " If ye are dead with Christ,
1 Matt. iii. 10. ^ JqI^ xii. 35. ^ i Cor. ix. 21.
250 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
why, as if living in the world, do ye make distinctions *? " ^
Because, dearest brethren, we who bear the rewards of resur-
rection, who seek for the day of judgment, who, in fine, are
trusting that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to
the world. For you can neither desire martyrdom till you
have first hated the world, nor attain to God's reward unless
you have loved Christ. And he who loves Christ does not
love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even
as the world also was given up by Christ ; as it is written,
" The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.'' ^
The world has been an object of affection to none whom the
Lord has not previously condemned ; nor could he enjoy
eternal salvation who has gloried in the life of the world.
That is the very voice of Christ, who says : ^' He that loveth
his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come ; but
he that hateth his life in this world, shall find it in the world
to come." ^ Moreover, also, the Apostle Paul says : " Be ye
imitators of me, as I also am of Christ."'' And the same
elsewhere says : " I wish that all of you, if it were possible,
should be imitators of me." ^
29. He said this who suffered, and who suffered for this
cause, that he might imitate the Lord ; and assuredly he
wished us also to suffer for this cause, that through him we
might imitate Christ. If thou art righteous, and believest in
God, why f earest thou to shed thy blood for Him whom thou
knowest to have so often suffered for thee ? In Isaiah He
was sawn asunder, in Abel He was slain, in Isaac He was
offered up, in Joseph He was sold into slavery, in man He
was crucified. And I say nothing of other matters, such as
neither my discourse is able to tell nor my mind to bear.
My consciousness is overcome by the example of His humi-
lity; and when it considers what things befell when He
suffered, it marvels that He should suffer on whose behalf
all things quaked. The day fled into the night ; the light
gave up all things into darkness ; and its mass being inclined
backwards and forwards, the whole earth was jarred, and
1 Col. ii. 20 ; " decernitis." ^ Qj^^. ^i. 14, 3 Matt. x. 39.
* 1 Cor. vi. 4. ^1 Cor. vii. 7.
ON THE GLORY OF MAltTYRDOM. 251
burst open ; the ]\Ianes were disturbed, the graves were laid
bare, and as the tombs gaped open into the rent of the earth,
bodies returning to the light were restored ; the world
trembled at the flowing of Plis blood ; and the veil which
hung from the opening of the temple was rent, and all the
temple uttered a groan. For which cause it is a great
matter to imitate liim who, in dying, convicted the world.
Therefore when, after the example of the Lord's passion,
and after all the testimony of Christ, you lay down your life,
and fear not to shed your blood, everything must absolutely
give way to martyrdom. Inestimable is the glory of martyr-
dom, infinite its measure, immaculate its victory, invaluable
its title, immense its triumph ; because he who is presented
to Him with the special glory of a confessor, is adorned with
the kindred blood of Christ.
30. Therefore, beloved brethren, although this is alto-
gether of the Lord's promise and gift, and although it is
given from on high, and is not received except by Plis will,
and moreover, can neither be expressed in words nor de-
scribed by speech, nor can be satisfied by any kind of powers
of eloquence, still such will be your benevolence, such will
be your charity and love, as to be mindful of me when the
Lord shall begin to glorify martyrdom in your experience.
That holy altar encloses you within itself, that great dwelling-
place of the venerable Name encloses you within itself, as if
in the folds of a heart's embrace : the powers of the everlast-
ing age sustain you, and that by which you shall ever reign
and shall ever conquer. O blessed ones ! and such as truly
have your sins remitted, if, however, you who are Christ's
peers ever have sinned ! O blessed ones ! whom the blood
of the Lord has dyed from the beginning of the world, and
whom such a brightness of snowy clothing has deservedly
invested, and the whiteness of the enfolding robe has adorned I
Finally, I myself seem to myself to behold already, and, as
far as is possible to the mind of man, that divine and illus-
trious thing occurs to my eyes and view. 1 seem, I say to
myself, already to behold, that that truly noble army accom-
panies the glory and the path of their Christ. The blessed
252 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
band of victors will go before His face ; and as the crowds
become denser, the whole army, illuminated as it were by
the rising of the sun, will ascribe to Him the power. And
would that it might be the lot of such a poor creature as
myself to see that sight ! But the Lord can do what He is
believed not to deny to your petitions.
OF THE DISCIPLINE AND ADYANTAGE OF
CHASTITY.
1
1
-^* (S'^^SSl ^O not conceive that I have exceeded any
portions of my duty, in always striving as much
as possible, by daily discussions of the Gospels,
to afford to you from time to time the means
of growth, by the Lord's help, in faith and knowledge. For
what else can be effected in the Lord's church with greater
advantage, wdiat can be found more suitable to the office of
a bishop, than that, by the teaching of the divine words,
recommended and commented on by Him, believers should
be enabled to attain to the promised kingdom of heaven?
This assuredly, as the desired result day by day of my work
as well as of my office, I endeavour, notwithstanding my
absence, to accomphsh ; and by my letters I try to make
myself present to you, addressing you in faith, in my usual
manner, by the exhortations that I send you. I call upon
you, therefore, to be established in the power of the root of
the gospel, and to stand always armed against all the assaults
of the devil. I shall not believe myself to be absent from
you, if I shall be sure of you. Nevertheless, everything
which is advantageously set forth, and which either defines
or promises the condition of eternal life to those who are
investigating it, is then only profitable, if it be aided in
attaining the reward of the effort by the power of the divine
mercy. We not only set forth words which come from the
sacred fountains of the Scriptures, but with these very words
we associate prayers to the Lord, and wishes, that, as well to
253
254 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAJST.
us as to you, He would not only unfold the treasures of His
sacraments, but would bestow strength for the carrying into
act of what we know. For the danger is all the greater if we
know the Lord's will, and loiter in the work of the will of God.
2. Although, therefore, I exhort you always, as you are
aware, to many things, and to the precepts of the Lord's
admonition (for what else can be desirable or more important
to me, than that in all things you should stand perfect in the
Lord ?) ; yet I admonish you, that you should before all
things maintain the barriers of chastity (as also you do) :
knowing that you are the temple of the Lord, the members
of Christ, the habitation of the Holy Spirit, elected to hope,
consecrated to faith, destined to salvation, sons of God,
brethren of Christ, associates of the Holy Spirit, owing no-
thing any longer to the flesh, as born again of water, that
the chastity, over and above the will, which we should
always desire to be ours, may be afforded to us also, on
account of the redemption, that that which has been conse-
crated by Christ might not be corrupted. For if the apostle
declares the church to be the spouse of Christ, I beseech you
[consider] what chastity is required, where the church is
given in marriage as a betrothed virgin. And I indeed,
except that I have proposed to admonish you with brevity,
think the most diffuse praises due, and could set forth abun-
dant laudations of chastity ; but I have thought it super-
fluous to praise it at greater length among those who practise
it. For you adorn it while you exhibit it ; and in its exer-
cise you set forth its more abundant praises, being made its
ornament, while it also is yours, each lending and borrowing
honour from the other. It adds to you the discipline of
good morals ; you confer upon it the ministry of saintly
works. For how much and what it can effect has on the
one hand been manifest by your means, and on the other it
has shown and taught what you are wishing for, — the two
advantages of precepts and practice being combined into
one, that nothing should appear maimed, as would be the
case if either principles were wanting to service, or service to
principles.
OF TEE DISCIPLINE OF CHASTITY. 255
3. Chastity is the dignity of the body, the ornament of
morality, the sacredness of the sexes, the bond of modesty,
the source of purity, the peacefulness of home, the crown of
concord. Chastity is not careful whom it pleases but itself.
Chastity is always modest, being the mother of innocency ;
chastity is ever adorned with modesty alone, then rightly
conscious of its ow^n beauty if it is displeasing to the wicked.
Chastity seeks nothing in the way of adornments : it is its
own glory. It is this which commends us to the Lord,
unites us with Christ ; it is this which drives out from our
members all the illicit conflicts of desire, instils peace into
our bodies : blessed itself, and making those blessed, whoever
they are, in whom it condescends to dwell. It is that which
they can never accuse even who possess it not ; it is even
venerable to its enemies, since they admire it much more
because they are unable to capture it. Moreover, as mature,
it is both always excellent in men, and to be earnestly desired
by women ; so its enemy, unchastity, is always detestable,
making an obscene sport for its servants, sparing neither
bodies nor souls. For their own proper character being
overcome, it sends the entire man under its yoke of lust,
alluring at first, that it may do the more mischief by its
attraction, exhausting both means and modesty — the foe of
continency; the perilous madness of lust frequently attain-
ing to the blood, the destruction of a good conscience, the
mother of impenitence, the ruin of a more virtuous age, the
disgrace of one's race, driving away all confidence in blood
and family, intruding one's own children upon the affections
of strangers, interpolating the offspring of an unknown and
corrupted stock into the testaments of others. And this also,
very frequently burning without reference to sex, and not
restraining itself within the permitted limits, thinks it little
satisfaction to itself, unless even in the bodies of men it
seeks, not a new pleasure, but goes in quest of extraordinaiy
and revolting extravagances, contrary to nature itself, of men
with men.
4. But chastity maintains the first rank in virgins, the
second in those who are continent, the third in the case of
256 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
wedlock. Yet in all it is glorious, with all its degrees. For
even to maintain the marriage-faith is a matter of praise in
the midst of so many bodily strifes ; and to have determined
on a limit in marriage defined by continency is more virtuous
still, because herein even lawful things are refused. Assuredly
to have guarded one's purity from the womb, and to have
kept oneself [pure as] an infant even to old age throughout
the whole of life, is certainly the part of an admirable virtue ;
only that never to have known the body's seductive capacities
is the greater blessedness, to have overcome them when once
known is the greater virtue ; yet still in such a sort that that
virtue comes of God's gift, although it manifests itself to
men in their members.
5. The precepts of chastity, brethren, are ancient. Where-
fore do I say ancient ? Because they were ordained at the
same time as men themselves. For both her own husband
belongs to the woman, for the reason that besides him she
may know no other ; and the woman is given to the man for
the purpose that, when that which had been his own had
been yielded to him, he should seek for nothing belonging
to another. And in such wise it is said, " Two shall be in
one flesh," ^ that what had been made one should return
together, that a separation without return should not afford
any occasion to a stranger. Thence also the apostle declares
that the man is the head of the woman, that he might com-
mend chastity in the conjunction of the two. For as the
head cannot be suited to the limbs of another, so also one's
limbs cannot be suited to the head of another : for one's
head matches one's limbs, and one's limbs one's head ; and
both of them are associated by a natural link in mutual con-
cord, lest, by any discord arising from the separation of the
members, the compact of the divine covenant should be
broken. Yet he adds, and says : " Because he who loves his
wife, loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh ; but
nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ the church." ^
From this passage there is great authority for charity with
chastity, if wives are to be loved by their husbands even as
1 Matt. xix. 5. 2 Eph. V. 28, 29.
OF THE DISCIPLINE OF CHASTITY. 257
Christ loved the church, and wives ought so to love their
hushands also as the church loves Christ.
6. Christ gave this judgment when, being inquired of,
He said that a wife must not be put away, save for the
cause of adultery ; such honour did He put upon chastity.
Hence arose the decree : " Ye shall not suffer adulteresses to
live." ^ Hence the apostle says : " This is the will of God,
that ye abstain from fornication." ^ Hence also he says the
same thing : " That the members of Christ must not be
joined with the members of an harlot." ^ Hence the man is
delivered over unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh,
who, treading under foot the law of chastity, practises the
vices of the flesh. Hence with reason adulterers do not
attain the kingdom of heaven. Hence it is that every sin
is without the body, but that the adulterer alone sins against
his own body. Hence other authoritative utterances of the
instructor, all of which it is not necessary at this time to
collect, especially among you, who for the most part know
and do them ; and you cannot find cause for complaint con-
cerning these things, even though they are not described.
For the adulterer has not an excuse, nor could he have, be-
cause he mio;ht take a wife.
7. But as laws are prescribed to matrons, who are so
bound that they cannot thence be separated, while virginity
and continency are beyond all law, there is nothing in the
laws of matrimony which pertains to virginity; for by its
loftiness it transcends them all. If any evil undertakings of
men endeavour to transcend laws, virginity places itself on an
equality with angels; moreover, if we investigate it, even
excels them, because stru^^Mino; in the flesh it o;ains the
victory even against a nature which angels have not. What
else is virginity than the glorious preparation for the future
life? Virginity is of neither sex. Virginity is the con-
tinuance of infancy. Virginity is the triumph over plea-
sures. Virginity has no children ; but what is more, it has
contempt for offspring : it has not fruitfulness, but neither
has it bereavement ; blessed that it is free from the pain of
1 Lev. XX. 10. 2 I Tj^css. iv. 3. ^ i Cor. vi. 15.
CYr. — VOL. II. K
258 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN,
bringing forth, more blessed still that it is free from the
calamity of the death of children. What else is virginity
than the freedom of liberty? It has no husband for a
master. Virginity is freed from all affections : it is not
given up to marriage, nor to the world, nor to children. It
cannot dread persecution, since it cannot provoke it from its
secm-ity.
8. But since the precepts of chastity have thus briefly been
set forth to us, let us now give an instance of chastity. For
it is more profitable when we come in the very presence
of the thing ; nor will there be any doubt about the virtue,
when that which is prescribed is also designated by illustra-
tions. The example of chastity begins with Joseph. A
Hebrew youth, noble by his parentage, nobler by his inno-
cence, on account of the envy excited by his revelations
exposed for sale by his brethren to the Israelites, had attained
to the household of a man of Egypt ; by his obedience and
his innocence, and by the entire faithfulness of his service,
he had aroused in his favour the easy and kindly disposition
of his master ; and his appearance had commended itself to
all men, alike by his gracious speech as by his youthfulness.
But that same nobility of manner was received by his master's
wife in another manner than was becoming ; in a secret part
of the house, and w^ithout witnesses, — a place high up, and
fitted for deeds of wickedness, the unrestrained unchastity
of the w^oman thought that it could overcome the youth's
chastity, now by promises, now by threats. And Avhen he
w^as restrained from attempting flight by her holding his
garments, shocked at the audacity of such a crime, tearing
his very garments, and able to appeal to the sincerity of his
naked body as a witness of his innocence, the rash woman
did not shrink from adding calumny to the crime of her un-
chastity; dishevelled, and raging that her desire should be
despised, she complained both to others and to her husband
that the Hebrew youth had attempted to use that force to
her which she herself had striven to exercise.-^ The hus-
band's passion, unconscious of the truth, and terribly inflamed
1 " Irro2;are."
OF THE DISCIPLINE OF CHASTITY, 259
by his wife's accusation, is aroused ; and tlie modest youth,
because he did not defile his conscience with the crime, is
thrust into the lowest dungeon of the prison. But chastity
is not alone in the dungeon ; for God is with Joseph, and the
guilty are given into his charge, because he had been guiltless.
Moreover, he dissolves the obscurities of dreams, because his
spirit was watchful in temptations, and he is freed from
chains by the master [of the prison]. He who had been an
inferior in the house with peril, was made lord of the palace
without risk ; restored to his noble station, he received the
reward of chastity and innocence by the judgment of God,
from whom he had deserved it.
9. But not less from a different direction arises to us
another similar instance of chastity from the continence of
w^omen. Susanna, as we read, the daughter of Chelcias, the
wife of Joachim, was exceedingly beautiful — more beautiful
still in character. Her outward appearance added no charm
to her, for she was simple : chastity had cultivated her ; and
in addition to chastity, nature alone. With her, tw^o of the
elders had begun to be madly in love, mindful of nothing,
neither of the fear of God, nor even of their age, already
withering with years. Thus the flame of resuscitated lust
recalled them into the glowing heats of their bygone youth.
Kobbers of chastity, they profess love, while they really
hate. They threaten her with calumnies when she resists ;
the adulterers in wish declare themselves the accusers of
adultery. And between these rocks of lust she sought help
of the Lord, because she was not equal to prevailing against
them by bodily strength. And the Lord heard from heaven
chastity crying to Him ; and when she, overwhelmed with
injustice, was being led to punishment, she was delivered,
and saw her revenge upon her enemies. Twice victorious,
and in her peril so often and so fatally hedged in, she escaped
both the lust and death. It will be endless if I continue to
produce more examples ; I am content with these two, espe-
cially as in these cases chastity has been defended wuth all
their might.
10. The memory of noble descent could not enervate
260 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
them, although to some this is a suggestive licence to lasci-
viousness ; nor the comeliness of their bodies, and the beauty
of their well-ordered limbs, although for the most part this
affords a hint, that being, as it were, the short-lived flower of
an age that rapidly passes away, it should be fed with the offered
opportunity of pleasure ; nor the first years of a green but
mature age, although the blood, still inexperienced, grows hot,
and stimulates the natural fires, and the blind flames that stir
in the marrow, to seek a remedy, even if they should break
forth at the risk of modesty ; nor any opportunity afforded
by secrecy, or by freedom from witnesses, which to some
seems to ensure safety, although this is the greatest tempta-
tion to the commission of crime, that there is no punishment
for meditating it. Neither was a necessity laid upon them
by the authority of those who bade them yield, and in the
boldness of association and companionship, by which kind of
temptations also righteous determinations are often overcome.
Neither did the very rewards nor the kindliness, nor did the
accusations, nor threats, nor punishments, nor death, move
them ; nothing was counted so cruel, so hard, so distressing,
as to have fallen from the lofty stand of chastity. They
were w^orthy of such a reward of the Divine Judge, that one
of them should be glorified on a throne almost regal ; that
the other, endowed with her husband's sympathy, should be
rescued by the death of her enemies. These, and such as
these, are the examples ever to be placed before our eyes, the
like of them to be meditated on day and night.
11. Nothing so delights the faithful soul as the healthy
■consciousness of an unstained modesty. To have vanquished
pleasure is the greatest pleasure; nor is there any greater
victory than that which is gained over one's desires. He
who has conquered an enemy has been stronger, but it was
stronger than another ; he who has subdued lust has been
stronger than himself. He who has overthrown an enemy
has beaten a foreign foe ; he who has cast dio^xn desire has
vanquished a domestic adversary. Every evil is more easily
conquered than pleasure ; because, whatever it is, the former
is repulsive, the latter is attractive. Nothing is crushed
OF THE DISCIPLINE OF CHASTITY, 261
witli such difficulty as that which is armed by it. He who
gets rid of desires has got rid of fears also ; for from desires
come fears. He who overcomes desires, triumphs over sin ;
he who overcomes desires, shows that the mischief of the
human family lies prostrate under his feet ; he who has over-
come desires, has given to himself perpetual peace ; he who
has overcome desires, restores to himself liberty, — a most
difficult matter even for noble natures. Therefore we should
always meditate, brethren, as these matters teach us, on
chastity. That it may be the more easy, it is based upon no
acquired skill. For the right will that is therein carried to
perfection — which, were it not checked, is remote \scil. from
our consciousness] — is still our will ; so that it is not a will
to be acquired, but that which is our own is to be cherished.^
12. For what is chastity but a virtuous mind added to watch-
fulness over the body ; so that modesty observed in respect of
the sexual relations, attested by strictness [of demeanour],
should maintain honourable faith by an uncorrupted off-
spring ? ^loreover, to chastity, brethren, are suited and are
known first of all divine modesty, and the sacred meditation
of the divine precepts, and a soul inclined to faith, and a
mind attuned to the sacredness of relifrion : then carefulness
that nothing in itself should be elaborated beyond measure,
or extended beyond propriety ; that nothing should be made
a show of, nothing artfully coloured ; that there should be
nothing to pander to the excitement or the renewal of wiles.
She is not a modest woman who strives to stir up the fancy
of another, even although her bodily chastity be preserved.
Away with such as do not adorn, but prostitute their beauty.
For anxiety about beauty is not only the wisdom of an evil
mind, but belongs to deformity. Let the bodily nature be
i This passage is allowed by all to be corrupt. If we were to punc-
tuate differently, to insert " nisi " before " consummata," and change
" longe est " into " non deesset," we get the following sense : " There-
fore we should always meditate, brethren, on chastity, as 'circumstances
teach us, that it may be more easy for us. It depends on no arts ; for
what is it but perfected will, which, if it were not checked, would
certainly not fail to arise ? And it is our own will, too : therefore it
has not to be acquired, but we have to cherish what is already our own."
262 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
free, nor let any sort of force be intruded upon God's works.
She is always wretclied who is not satisfied to be such as she
is. Wherefore is the colour of hair changed ? Why are the
edges of the eyes darkened ? Why is the face moulded by
art into a different form ? Finally, why is the looking-glass
consulted, unless from fear lest a woman should be herself ?
Moreover, the dress of a modest woman should be modest ; a
believer should not be conscious of adultery even in the mix-
ture of colours. To wear gold in one's garments is as if it
were desirable to corrupt one's garments. What do rigid
metals do among the delicate threads of the woven textures,
except to press upon the enervated shoulders, and unhappily
to show the extravagance of a boastful soul ? Why are the
necks oppressed and hidden by outlandish stones, the prices
of which, without workmanship, exceed the entire fortune of
many a one % It is not the woman that is adorned, but the
woman's vices that are manifested. What, when the fingers
laden with so much gold can neither close nor open, is there
any advantage sought for, or is it merely to show the empty
parade of one's estate ? It is a marvellous thing that women,
tender in all things else, in bearing the burden of their vices
are stronger than men.
13. But to return to what I began with : chastity is ever
to be cultivated by men and women ; it is to be kept with all
watchfulness within its bounds. The bodily nature is quickly
endangered in the body, when the flesh, which is always fall-
ing, carries it away with itself. Because under the pretext
of a nature which is always urging men to desires whereby
the ruins of a decayed race are restored, deceiving with the
enticement of pleasure, it does not lead its offspring to the
continence of legitimate intercourse, but hurls them into
crime. Therefore, in opposition to these fleshly snares, by
which the devil both obtrudes himself as a companion and
makes himself a leader, we must struggle with every kind of
strength. Let the aid of Christ be appropriated, accord-
ing to the apostle, and let the mind be withdrawn as much
as possible from the association of the body ; let consent be
withheld from the body ; let vices be always chastised, that
OF THE DISCIPLINE OF CHASTITY. 2G3
tliey may be hated ; let that misshapen and degraded shame
wliich belongs to sm be kept before our eyes. Repentance
itself, with all its struggles, is a discreditable testimony to
sins committed. Let not curiosity be indulged in scanning
other people's countenances. Let one's speech be brief, and
one's laughter moderate, for laughter is the sign of an easy
and a negligent disposition ; and let all contact, even that
which is becoming, be avoided. Let no indulgence be per-
mitted to the body, when bodily vice is to be avoided. Let
it be considered how honourable it is to have conquered
dishonour, how disgraceful to have been conquered by dis-
honour.
14. It must be said, moreover, that adultery is not plea-
sure, but mutual contempt ; nor can it delight, because it
kills both the soul and modesty. Let the soul restrain the
provocations of the flesh; let it bridle the impulses of the
body. For it has received this power, that the limbs should
be subservient to its command ; and as a lawful and accom-
plished charioteer, it should turn about the fleshly impulses
when they lift themselves above the allowed limits of the
body, by the reins of the heavenly precepts, lest that chariot
of the body, carried away beyond its limits, should hurry
into its own peril the charioteer himself as well as it. But
in the midst of these things, nay, before these things, in
opposition to disturbances and all vices, help must be sought
for from the divine camp ; for God alone, who has conde-
scended to make men, is powerful also to afford sufficient
help to men. I have composed a few words, because I did
not propose to write a volume, but to send you an address.
Look ye to the Scriptures ; seek out for yourselves from
those precepts greater illustrations of this matter. Beloved
brethren, farewell.
EXHOETATION TO EEPENTANCE.
fHAT all sins may be forgiven him who has turned
to God with his whole heart.
In the eighty-eighth Psalm : " If his children
forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments,
and keep not my commandments, I will visit their iniquities
w^ith a rod, and their sins with stripes ; nevertheless my
loving-kindness will I not scatter away from them."^
Also in Isaiah : " Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of
Israel, When thou shalt turn and mourn, then thou shalt be
saved, and shalt know where thou wast."^
Also in the same place : " Woe unto you, children of de-
sertion, saith the Lord ! ye have made counsel not by me, and
my covenant not by my Spirit, to add sin to sin." ^
Also in Jeremiah : '^ Withdraw thy foot from a rough
way, and thy face from thirst. But she said, I will be com-
forted, I am willing ; for she loved strangers, and went after
them."*
Also in Isaiah : " Be ye converted, because ye devise a
deep and wicked counsel."^
Also in the same place : " I am He, I am He that blotteth
out thy iniquities, and will not remember them ; but do thou
remember them, and let us be judged together ; do thou first
tell thine unrio;hteousnesses."*^
Also in the same : '^ Seek the Lord ; and when ye shall
have found Him, call upon Him. But when He has drawn
near to you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the un-
1 Ps. Ixxxix. oO. '^ Isa. xxx. 15, LXX. » jga. xxx. 1, LXX.
4 Jer. ii. 25, LXX. ^ Isa. xxxi. 6, LXX. « Isa. xliii. 25, LXX.
264
EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE. 265
righteous man his thoughts ; and let him be converted to the
Lord, and mercy shall be prepared for him, because He does
not much^ forgive your sins."^
Also in the same : " Remember these things, O Jacob and
Israel, because thou art my servant. I have called thee my
servant ; and thou, Israel, forget me not. Lo, I have washed
away thy unrighteousnesses as ... , and thy sins as a rain-
cloud. Be converted to me, and I will redeem thee."*
Also in the same : " Have these things in mind, and groan.
Repent, ye that have been seduced ; be converted in heart
unto me, and have in mind the former ages, because I am
God."*
Also in the same : " For a very little season I have for-
saken thee, and with great mercy I will pity thee. In a very
little wrath I turned away my face from thee ; in everlasting
mercy I will pity thee." ^
Also in the same : '^ Thus said the Most High, who
dwelleth on high, for ever Holy in the holies, His name is
the Lord, the Most High, resting m the holy places, and
giving calmness of mind to the faint-hearted, and giving life
to those that are broken-hearted : I am not angry with you
for ever, neither will I be avenged in all things on you :
for my Spirit shall go forth from me, and I have made all
inspiration; and on account of a very little sin I have
grieved him, and have turned away my face from him ; and
he has suffered the vile man, and has gone away sadly in
his ways. I have seen his ways, and have healed him, and I
have comforted him, and I have given to him the true con-
solation, and peace upon peace to those who are afar off, and
to those that are near. And the Lord said, I have healed
them; but the unrighteous, as a troubled sea, are thus
tossed about and cannot rest. There is no joy to the wicked,
saith the Lord." ^
Also in Jeremiah : " Shall a bride forget her adornment,
1 Non multiim remittit — probably a misprint for " permiiltum."
2 Isa. Iv. 6, 7, LXX. "- Isa. xliv. 21, 22, LXX.
* Isa. xlvi. 8, LXX. ^ jga. liv. 7, 8, LXX.
^ Isa. Ivii. 15 ct seq., LXX.
266 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYFPJAN.
or ^ a virgin the girdle of her breast ? But my people has
forgotten my days,^ whereof there is no number." ^
Also in the same : " For a decree, I will speak upon the
nation or upon the kingdom, or I will take them away and
destroy them. And if the nation should be converted from
its evils, I will repent of the ills which ^ I have thought to do
unto them. And I will speak the decree upon the nation or
the people, that I should rebuild it and plant it ; and they
will do evil before me, that they should not hearken to my
voice, and I will repent of the good things which I spoke
of doing to them." ^
Also in the same : " Return to me, O dwelling of Israel,
saith the Lord, and I will not harden my face upon you ;
because I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not be
angry against you for ever." *^
Also in the same : " Be converted, ye children that have
departed, saith the Lord ; because I will rule over you, and
will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will
bring you into Sion : and I will give you shepherds after my
heart, and they shall feed you, feeding you with discipline." ''
Also in the same: "Be converted, ye children who are
turning, and I will heal your affliction." ^
Also in the same : '^ Wash thine heart from wickedness,
O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be healed : how long shall
there be in thee thoughts of thy sorrows V ^
Also in the same : " Thus saith the Lord, Does not he that
falleth arise? or he that turns away, shall he not be turned
back? Because this people hath turned itself away by a
shameless vision, and they have persisted in their presump-
tion, and would not be converted." ^^
Also in the same : " There is no man that repenteth of his
^ It is taken for granted that the "ut" of the original is a misprint
for " aut."
2 Otherwise, " has forgotten me days without number."
3 Jer. ii. 32, LXX.
^ Here also the emendation of "quae" for "quod" is obviously
necessary.
5 Jer. xviii. 7. « Jer. iii. 12, LXX. ' Jer. iii. 14, LXX.
8 Jer. iii. 22, LXX. '-^ Jer. iv. 1-4, LXX. ^o Jer. viii. 4, LXX.
EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE. 267
iniquity, saying, What have I done ? The runner has failed
from his course, as the sweating horse in his neighing." ^
Also in the same : " Therefore let every one of you turn
from his evil way, and make your desires better. And they
said. We will be comforted, because we will go after your ^
inventions, and every one of us will do the sins which please
his own heart." ^
Also in the same : " Pour down as a torrent tears, day
and night give thyself no rest, let not the pupil of thine eye
be silent." *
Also in the same : " Let us search out our ways, and be
turned to the Lord. Let us purge our hearts with our
hands, and let us look unto the Lord who dwelleth in the
heavens. We have sinned, and we have provoked Thee,
and Thou hast not been propitiated." ^
Also in the same: "And the Lord said to me in the
days of Josias the king, Thou hast seen what the dwelling of
the house,^ the house of Israel, has done to me. It has gone
away upon every lofty mountain, and has gone under every
shady'' tree, and has committed fornication there ; and I said,
after she had committed all these fornications. Return unto
me, and she has not returned." ^
Also in the same : " The Lord will not reject for ever ; and
when He has made low, He will have pity according to the
multitude of His mercy. Because He will not bring low from
His whole heart, neither will He reject the children of men." ^
Also in Ezekiel : " And the righteous shall not be able to
be saved in the day of transgression. When I shall say to
the righteous. Thou shalt surely live ; but ^° he will trust to
his own righteousness, and will do iniquity: all his right-
eousnesses shall not be remembered; in his iniquity which he
^ Jer. viii. 6, LXX. 2 Otherwise " our." 3 Jer. xviii. 12, LXX.
* Lam. ii. 18, LXX. « Lam. iii. 40.
^ There is evident confusion here, and no place can be foimJ for the
word " vocem."
"^ It has been taken for granted that " numerosum " is a misprint for
*' nemorosum."
« Jer. iii. 6, LXX. » Lain. iii. 31, LXX.
10 TrombelHus suggests " if " instead of " but."
268 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
has done, in that he shall die. And when I shall say to the
wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and he turns himself from
his sin, and doeth righteousness and judgment, and restoreth
to the debtor his pledge, and giveth back his robbery, and
walketh in the precepts of life, 'that he may do no iniquity,
he shall surely live, and shall not die ; none of his sins
which he hath sinned shall be stirred up against him : because
he hath done justice and judgment, he shall live in them." ^
Also in the same : " I am the Lord, because I bring low
the high tree, and exalt the low tree, and dry up the green
tree, and cause the dry tree to flourish." ^
Also in the same : '' And thou, son of man, say unto the
house of Israel, Even as ye have spoken, saying. Our errors
and our iniquities are in us, and we waste away in them,
and how shall we live ? Say unto them, I live, saith the
Lord : if I will the death of a sinner, only let him turn from
his way, and he shall live." ^
Also in the same : " I the Lord have built up the ruined
places, and have planted the wasted places." *
Also in the same : " And the wicked man, if he turn him-
self from all his iniquities that he has done, and keep all my
commandments, and do judgment, and justice, and mercy,
shall surely live, and shall not die. None of his sins which
he has committed shall be in remembrance ; in his righteous-
ness which he hath done he shall live. Do I willingly desire
the death of the unrighteous man, saith Adonai the Lord,
rather than that he should turn him from his evil way, and
that he should live ?" ^
Also in the same : " Be ye converted, and turn you from
all your wickednesses, and they shall not be to you for a
punishment. Cast away from you all your iniquities which ye
have wickedly committed against me, and make to yourselves
a new heart and a new spirit ; and why will ye die, O house
of Israel? For I desire not the death of him that dieth,
saith Adonai the Lord." ^
1 Ezek. xxxiii. 12, etc., LXX. ^ gzek. xvii. 24, LXX.
3 Ezek. xxxiii. 10, LXX. ■* Ezek. xxxvi. 30, LXX.
* Ezek. xviii. 21, LXX. ^^ Ezek. xviii. 30, LXX.
EXHORTATION TO BEPENTANCE. 2G9
Also in Daniel : '^ And after tlie end of the days, I Na-
buchodonosor lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my sense
returned to me, and I praised the Most High, and blessed
the King of heaven, and praised Him that liveth for ever ;
because His power is eternal. His kingdom is for genera-
tions,^ and all who inhabit the earth are as nothing." ^
Also in Micah : " Alas for me, O my soul, because truth
has perished from the earth, and among all there is none
that correcteth; all judge in blood. Every one treadeth
down his neighbour with tribulation; they prepare their
hands for evil." ^
Also in the same : " Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy, because I have fallen, but I shall arise; because
altliouo;h I shall sit in darkness, the Lord will mve me lisht :
I will bear the Lord's anger, because I have sinned against
Him, until He justify my cause." ^
Also in Zephaniah : " Come ye together and pray, O
undisciplined people; before ye be made as a flower that
passeth away, before the anger of the Lord come upon you,
before the day of the Lord's fury come upon you, seek ye
the Lord, all ye humble ones of the earth ; do judgment
and seek justice, and seek for gentleness ; and answer ye to
Him, that ye may be protected in the day of the Lord's
anger." ^
Also in Zechariah : " Be ye converted unto me, and I will
be turned unto you." ^
Also in Plosea : " Be thou converted, O Israel, to the Lord
thy God, because thou art weakened by thine iniquities.
Take many with you, and be converted to the Lord your
God ; worship Him, and say. Thou art mighty to put away
our sins ; that ye may not receive iniquity, but that ye may
receive ffood thinirs." ^
Also in Ecclesiasticus : ^' Be thou turned to the Lord, and
forsake thy sins, and exceedingly hate cursing, and know
righteousness and God's judgments, and stand in the lot of
1 "In generatione." 2 d^q. iy. 34. 3 ;^jic. vii. 1, 2, 3, LXX.
^ Mic. vii. 8, LXX. 5 zeph. ii. 1, LXX.
^ Zcch. i. 3. ^" Hos. xiv. 2.
270 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN.
the propitiation of the most High : and go into the portion
of hfe with the Hving, and those that make confession. Delay
not in the error of the wicked. Confession perisheth from
the dead man, as if it were nothing. Living and sound,
thou shalt confess to the Lord, and thou shalt glory in His
mercies ; for great is the mercy of the Lord, and His pro-
pitiation unto such as turn unto Him." ^
Also in the same : " How good is it for a true heart to
show forth repentance ! For thus shalt thou escape voluntary
sin." '
Also in the Acts of the Apostles : " But Peter saith unto
him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou thinkest to
be able to obtain the grace of God by money. Thou hast
no part nor lot in this faith, for thy heart is not right with
God. Therefore repent of this thy wickedness, and pray the
Lord, if haply the thought of thy heart may be forgiven
thee. For I see that thou art in the bond of iniquity, and in
the bitterness of gall." ^
Also in the second Epistle of the [blessed ^] Paul to the
Corinthians : " For the sorrow which is according to God
worketh a stedfast repentance unto salvation, but the sorrow
of the world worketh death." ^
Also in the same place of this very matter : " But if ye
have forgiven anything to any one, I also forgive him ; for I
also forgave what I have forgiven for your sakes in the
person of Christ, that we may not be circumvented by Satan^
for we are not ignorant of his wiles." ^
Also in the same : ^' But I fear lest perchance, when I
come to you, God may again humble me among you, and I
shall bewail many of those who have sinned before, and have
not repented, for that they have committed fornication and
lasciviousness." ^"
Also in the same : " I told you before, and foretell you as
I sit present ; and absent now from those who before have
1 Eccliis. xvii. 26. ^ Ecclus. xx. 3. ^ Acts viii. 20, etc.
^ The original has only " ben," which TrombcUius reasonably assumes
to be meant for "benedicti."
5 2 Cor. vii. 10. ^ 2 Cor. ii. 10. ^ 2 Cor. xii. 21.
EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE. 271
sinned, and to all others ; as, if I shall come again, I will not
spare." ^
Also in the second to Timothy : " But shun profane
novelties of words, for they are of much advantage to im-
piety. And their word creeps as a cancer : of whom is
Hymenseus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth,
saying that the resurrection has already happened, and have
subverted the faith of certain ones. But the foundation of
God stahdeth firm, having this seal, God knoweth them that
are His. And, Every one who nameth the name of the Lord
shall depart from all iniquity. But in a great house there
are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and
of clay ; and some indeed for honour, and some for con-
tempt. Therefore if any one shall amend ^ himself from these
things, he shall be a vessel sanctified for honour, and useful
for the Lord, prepared for every good work. INIoreover, flee
youthful lusts : but follow after righteousness, faith, charity,
peace, with them that call upon the Lord from a pure heart.
But avoid questions that are foolish and without learning,
knowing that they beget strifes. And the servant of the
Lord ought not to strive ; but to be gentle, docile to all men,
patient with modesty, correcting those who resist, lest at any
time God may give them repentance to the acknowledgment
of the truth, and recover themselves from the snares of the
devil, by whom they are held captive at his will." ^
Also in the Apocalypse : ^' Remember whence thou hast
fallen, and repent ; but if not, I will come to thee quickly,
and remove thy candlestick out of its place." ^
1 2 Cor. xiii. 2.
2 " Emendaverit," probably a mistake for " emimdaverit," " shall
purge," as in the Vulg. ; scil. ItcKaQxp'/i.
8 2 Tim. ii. 16. ' * Ecv. ii. 5.
THE PASSION OF THE HOLY MAETIES
PEEPETUA AND FELICITAS.
CYP. — VOL. II.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
ERPETIJA and Felicitas suffered martyrdom in
the reign of Septimius Sever us, about the year
202 A.D. TertuUian mentions Perpetua ; and a
further clue to the date is given in the allusion
to the birth-day of " Geta the Csesar," the son of Septimius
Severus. There is, tlierefore, good reason for rejecting the
opinion held by some, that they suffered under Valerian and.
Gallienus. Some think that they suffered at Tuburbium in
^lauritania ; but the more general opinion is, that Carthage
was the scene of their martyrdom.
The Acta, detailing the sufferings of Perpetua and Feli-
citas, has been held by all critics to be a genuine document
of antiquity. But much difference exists as to who was the
compiler. In the writing itself, Perpetua and Saturus are
mentioned as having written certain portions of it ; and there
is no reason to doubt the statement. Who the writer of the
remaining portion was, is not known. Some have assigned
the work to TertuUian ; some have maintained that, whoever
the writer was, he was a Montanist ; and some have tried to
show that both martyrs and narrator were Montanists. The
narrator must have been a contemporary ; according to man}-
critics, he was an eye-witness of the sufferings of the martyrs.
An.d he must havevn-itten the narrative shortly after the events.
Dean Milman says, " There appear strong indications that
the acts of these African martyrs are translated from the
Greek ; at least it is difficult otherwise to account for the
frequent untranslated Greek words and idioms in the text"
{Hist, of Clivistianity^ vol. i. ch. viii.).
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas was edited by Petrus
Possinus, Rome 1663; by Henr. Yalesius, Paris 1664; and
the Bollandists. The best and Litest edition is by Ruissart,
whose text is adopted in Gallandi's and Migne's collections
of the Fathers.
THE PASSION OF THE HOLY MAETYES
PEEPETUA AND EELICITAS.
P K E F A C E.
F ancient illustrations of faltli which both testify
to God's grace and tend to man's edification are
collected In writing, so that by the perusal of
them, as if by the reproduction of the facts, as
well God may be honoured, as man may be strengthened ;
why should not new instances be also collected, that shall
be equally suitable for both purposes, — if only on the ground
that these modern examples will one day become ancient and
available for posterity, although in their present time they are
esteemed of less authority, by reason of the presumed venera-
tion for antiquity? But let men look to it, if they judge the
power of the one Holy Spirit to be one, according to the
times and seasons ; since some things of later date must be
esteemed of more account, as being nearer to the very last
times, in accordance with the exuberance of grace manifested
to the final periods determined for the world. For " in the
last days, salth the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon
all flesh ; and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy.
And upon my servants and my handmaidens will I pour out
of my Spirit ; and your young men shall see visions, and
your old men shall dream dreams." ^ And thus we — who
both acknowledge and reverence, even as we do the pro-
phecies, modern visions as equally promised to us, and
consider the other powers of the Holy Spirit as an agency
of the church for which also He was sent, administering all
1 Joel ii. 28, 29.
276
PASSION OF PERPETUA AND FELICITAS. 277
drifts in all, even as the Lord distributed to everv one — as
well needfully collect them in writing, as commemorate them
in reading to God's glory ; that so no weakness or despond-
ency of faith may suppose that the divine grace abode only
among the ancients, whether in respect of the condescension
that raised up martyrs, or that gave revelations ; since God
always carries into effect what He has promised, for a testi-
mony to unbelievers, to believers for a benefit. And we
therefore, what we have heard and handled, declare also to
3'ou, brethren and little children, that as well you who were
concerned in these matters may be reminded of them again
to the glory of the Lord, as that you who know them by re-
port may have communion with the blessed martyrs, and
through them with the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
and honour, for ever and ever. Amen.
CHAPTER L
Argument. — When the saints icere apprehended, St. Perpetua
successfully resisted her father s p>leadingj tvas hap)tized loith
the others, was thimst into a filthy dungeon ; and, being
anxious about her infant, by a vision granted to her of a
ladder raised to heaven, and of the ascent of St. Saturus
and herself, and of a small loaf of bread offered to them, she
understood that her martyrdom woidd take place very shoi^tly.
1. The young catechumens, Revocatus and his fellow-
servant Felicitas, Saturninus and Secundulus, were appre-
hended. And among them also was Vivia Perpetua,
respectably born, liberally educated, a married matron,
having a father and mother and two brothers, one of whom,
like herself, was a catechumen, and a son an infant at the
breast. She herself was about twenty-two years of age.
From this point onward she shall herself narrate the whole
course of her martyrdom, as she left it described by her own
hand and with her own mind.
2. " While," says she, " we were still with the persecutors.
278 THE PASSION OF
and my father, for the sake of his affection for me, was per-
sisting in seeking to tm^n me away, and to cast me down
[from the faith], — ^ Father,' said I, ' do you see, let us say,
this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?''
And he said, ' I see it to be so/ And I replied to him, ^ Can
it be called by any other name than what it is ? ' And he
said, ' No.' ' Neither can I call myself anything else than
what I am, a Christian.' Then my father, provoked at this
saying, threw himself upon me, as if he would tear my eyes
out. But he only distressed me, and went away overcome
by the devil's arguments. Then, in a few days after I had
been without my father, I gave thanks to the Lord ; and his
absence became a source of consolation ^ to me. In that
same interval of a few days we were baptized, and to me the
Spirit prescribed that in the water [of baptism] nothing else
was to be sought for than bodily endurance.^ After a few
days we are taken into the dungeon, and I was very much
afraid, because I had never felt such darkness. O terrible
day ! 0 the fierce heat of the shock of the soldiery, because
of the crowds ! I was very unusually distressed by my anxiety
for my infant. There were present there Tertius and Pom-
ponius, the blessed deacons who ministered to us, and had
arranged by means of a gratuity that we might be refreshed
by being sent out for a few hours into a pleasanter part of
the prison. Then going out of the dungeon, all attended
to their own wants.^ I suckled my child, which was now
enfeebled with hunger. In my anxiety for it, I addressed
my mother and comforted my brother, and commended to
their care my son. I was languishing because I had seen
them languishing on my account. Such solicitude I suffered
for many days, and I obtained leave for my infant to remain
in the dungeon with me ; and forthwith I grew strong, and
was relieved from distress and anxiety about my infant;
and the dungeon became to me as it were a palace, so that I
preferred being there to being elsewhere.
1 " Kefrigeravit," Graece dviTrccvasu, scil. "requiem dedit."
- i.e. the grace of martyrdom.
^ Sibi vacabant.
PEJRPETUA AND FELICITAS. 279
3. " Then my brother said to me, ' My dear sister, you are
ah'eady in a position of great dignity, and are such that you
may ask for a vision, and that it may be made known to you
whether this [trial] is to result in a passion or an escape.'^
And I, who knew that I was privileged to converse with the
Lord, whose kindnesses I had found to be so great, boldly
promised him, and said, ' To-morrow I will tell you/ And
I asked, and this was what was shown me. I saw a golden
ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven, and
very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one ;
and on the sides of the ladder was fixed every kind of iron
weapon. There were there swords, lances, hooks, daggers ;
so that if any one went up carelessly, or not looking upwards,
he would be torn to pieces, and his flesh would cleave to the
iron weapons. And under the ladder itself was couching a
dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who
ascended, and frightened them from the ascent. And
Saturus went up first, who had subsequently delivered him-
self up freely on our account, not having been present at
the time that we were taken prisoners. And he attained
the top of the ladder, and turned towards me, and said to
me, ' Perpetua, I am waiting for ^ you ; but be careful that
the dragon do not bite you.' And I said, ' In the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.' And from
under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he slowly lifted up
his head ; and as I trod upon the first step, I trod upon his
head. And I went up, and I saw an immense extent of
garden, and in the midst of the garden a white-haired man
sitting in the dress of a shepherd, of large stature, milking
sheep ;^ and standing around were many thousand white-robed
ones. And he raised his head, and looked upon me, and
said to me, ^ Thou art welcome, daughter.' And he called
me, and from the cheese as he was milking he gave me
as it were a little cake, and I received it with folded hands ;
1 Commeatus.
2 " Sustineo," Grgece v~oyAvu, scih " exspecto."
•^ This was an ordinary mode of picturing our Lord in the oratories
and on the sacred vessels of those days.
280 THE PASSION OF
and I ate It, and all who stood around said Amen. And at
the sound of their voices I was awakened, still tasting a
sweetness which I cannot describe. And I immediatelj
related this to my brother, and we understood that it was to
be a passion, and we ceased henceforth to have any hope in
this world.
CHAPTER II.
Akgument. — Perpetua, tvJien besieged by her fatlier, comforts
liim. When led ivith others to the tribunal, she avows her-
self a Christian, and is condemned ivith the rest to the
wild beasts. She frays for her brother Dinocrates, ivho
was dead, ivhom in a vision she ijerceives to be afflicted,
and to be released from the i^cciii-s of purgatory,
1. "After a few daj^s there prevailed a report that we should
be heard. And then my father came to me from the city,
worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might
cast me down, saying, * Have pity, my daughter, on my
grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be
called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought
you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to
all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men.
Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother
and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able
to live after you. Lay aside your courage, and do not bring
us all to destruction ; for none of us will speak in freedom
if you should suffer anything.' These things said my father
in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at
my feet; and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady.
And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone
of all my family would not rejoice over my passion. And
I comforted him, saying, ^ On that scaffold ^ whatever God
wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our
1 " Catasta," a raised platform on which the martyrs were placed
either for trial or torture.
PERPETUA AND FELICITAS. 281
own power, but in that of God/ And he departed from me
in sorrow.
2. "Anotlier day, while we were at dinner, we were suddenly
taken away to be heard, and we arrived at the town-hall.
At once the rumour spread through the neighbourhood of
the public place, and an immense number of people were
gathered together. We mount the platform. The rest were
interrogated, and confessed. Then they came to me, and my
father immediately appeared with my boy, and withdrew me
from the step, and said in a supplicating tone, ' Have pity on
your babe.' And Hilarianus the procurator, wdio had just
received the power of life and death in the place of the
proconsul Minucius Timinianus, who was deceased, said,
' Spare the grey hairs of your father, spare the infancy of
your boy, offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperors.'
And I replied, ^I will not do so.' Hilarianus said, ^ Are you
a Christian ? ' And I replied, ^ I am a Christian.' And as
my father stood there to cast me down [from the faith], he
was ordered by Hilarianus to be throw^n down, and w^as
beaten with rods. And my father's misfortune grieved
me as if I myself had been beaten, I so grieved for his
wretched old age. The procurator then delivers judgment
on all of us, and condemns us to the wild beasts, and we
went down cheerfully to the dungeon. Then, because my
child had been used to receive suck from me, and to stay
with me in the prison, I send Pomponius the deacon to my
father to ask for the infant, but my father would not give it
him. And even as God -willed it, the child no longer desired
the breast, nor did my breasts cause me uneasiness, lest I
should be tormented by care for my babe and by the pain of
my breasts at once.
3. "After a few days, whilst w^e were all praying, on a
sudden, in the middle of our prayer, there came to me a
word, and I named Dinocrates ; and I was amazed that that
name had never come into my mind until then, and I was
grieved as I remembered his misfortune. And I felt myself
immediately to be worthy, and to be called on to ask on his
behalf. And for him I began earnestly to make supplica-
282 THE PASSION OF
tion, and to cry with groaning to the Lord. Without delay,
on that very night, this was shown to me in a vision.^ I saw
Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there
were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with
a filthy countenance and pallid colour, and the wound on
his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had
been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age, who died
miserably with disease — his face being so eaten out with
cancer, that his death caused repugnance to all men. For
him I had made my prayer, and between him and me
there was a large interval,^ so that neither of us could
approach to the other. And moreover, in the same place
where Dinocrates was, there was a pool full of water, having
its brink higher than was the stature of the boy ; and Dino-
crates raised himself up as if to drink. And I was grieved
that, although that pool held water, still, on account of the
height of its brink, he could not drink. And I was aroused,
and knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted
that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I
prayed for him every day until we passed over into the
prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show.
Then was the birth-day of Geta Csesar, and I made my
prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping
that he might be granted to me.
4. " Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters,^
this was shown to me. I saw that that place which I had
formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright ; and Dino-
crates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment.
And where there had been a wound, I saw a scar ; and that
pool which I had before seen, [I saw now] with its margin
lowered even to the boy's navel. And one drew water from
the pool incessantly, and upon its brink was a goblet filled
with water ; and Dinocrates drew near and began to drink
from it, and the goblet did not fail. And when he was
satisfied, he went away from the water to play joyously, after
the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood
that he was translated from the place of punishment.
1 "Oromate." ^ "Diadema," or rather "diastema." ^ "Nervo."
PERPETUA AND FELICITAS, 283
CHAPTER III.
Argument. — Perpetua is again tempted hy her father. Her
third vision, wherein she is led aiuay to struggle against an
Egyptian for a reivard ; she fights, conquers, and receives
the reward.
1. "Again, after a few days, Piidens, a soldier, an assistant
overseer^ of the prison, who began to regard ns in great
esteem, perceiving that the great power of God was in us,
admitted many brethren to see ns, that both we and they
might be mutually refreshed. And when the day of the
exhibition drew near, my father, worn out with suffering,
came in to me, and began to tear out his beard, and to throw
himself on the earth, and to cast himself down on his face,
and to reproach his years, and to utter such words as might
move all creation. I grieved for his unhappy old age.
2. " The day before that on which we were to fight, I saw
in a vision that Pomponius the deacon came hither to the
gate of the prison, and knocked vehemently. I went out to
him, and opened the gate for him ; and he was clothed in
a richly ornamented white robe, and he had on manifold
* calliculse.' ^ And he said to me, ' Perpetua, we are wait-
ing for you; come!' And he held his hand to me, and
we began to go through rough and winding places. Scarcely
at length had we arrived breathless at the amphitheatre, when
he led me into the middle of the arena, and said to me, * Do
not fear, I am here with you, and I am labouring with you ; '
and he departed. And I gazed upon an immense assembly
in astonishment. And because I knew that I was given to
the wild beasts, I marvelled that the wild beasts were not let
loose upon me. Then there came forth against me a certain
1 Optio.
2 It seems uncertain what may be the meaning of this word. It is
variously supposed to signify little round ornaments either of cloth or
metal attached to the soldier's dress, or the small bells on the priestly
robe. Some also read the word " gallicuhT!," small sandals.
284 THE PASSION OF
Egyptian, horrible in appearance, with his backers, to fight
with me. And there came to me, as my helpers and en-
couragers, handsome youths ; and I was stripped, and became
a man. Then my helpers began to rub me with oil, as is
the custom for contest ; and I beheld that Egyptian on the
other hand rolling in the dust.* And a certain man came
forth, of wondrous height, so that he even overtopped the
top of the amphitheatre ; and he wore a loose tunic and a
purple robe between two bands over the middle of the breast;
and he had on ' calliculse ' of varied form, made of gold
and silver ; and he carried a rod, as if he were a trainer of
gladiators, and a green branch upon which were apples of
gold. And he called for silence, and said, ' This Egyptian,
if he should overcome this woman, shall kill her with the
sword ; and if she shall conquer him, she shall receive this
branch.' Then he departed. And we drew near to one
another, and began to deal out blows. He sought to lay
hold of my feet, while I struck at his face with my heels ;
and I was lifted up in the air, and began thus to kick at him
as if spurning the earth. But when I saw that there was
some delay, I joined my hands so as to twine my fingers
with one another; and I took hold upon his head, and he
fell on his face, and I trod upon his head. And the people
began to shout, and my backers to exult. And I drew near
to the trainer and took the branch ; and he kissed me, and
said to me, ' Daughter, peace be with you : ' and I began to
go gloriously to the Sanavivarian gate.^ Then I aw^oke, and
perceived that I was not to fight with beasts, but against
the devil. Still I knew that the victory was awaiting me.
This, so far, I have completed several days before the ex-
hibition ; but wdiat passed at the exhibition itself let who will
write."
^ " Afa" is the Greek word «^'^, " a grip ;" lience used of the yellow
sand sprinkled over wrestlers, to enable them to grasp one another.
2 This was the way by which the victims spared by the popular clc-
meiicy escaped from the amphitheatre.
PERPETUA AND FELICITAS. 285
CHAPTER IV.
Argument. — St. Saturns {in a vision granted to him) and
St. Perpetua being carried by angels into the great lights
behold the martyrs; and being brought to the throne of
God, are received ivith a kiss. They reconcile Optatus the
bishop and Aspasius the presbyter,
1. Moreover, also, the blessed Saturus related this his
vision, which he himself committed to writing : — " We had
suffered," says he, " and we were gone forth from the flesh,
and we were beginning to be borne by four angels into the
east ; and their hands touched us not. And we floated not
supine, looking upwards, but as if ascending a gentle slope.
And being set free, we at length saw the first boundless
light ; and I said, ' Perpetua ' (for she w^as at my side), ^ this
is what the Lord promised to us ; we have received the pro-
mise.' And while we are borne by those same four angels,
there appears to us a vast space which was like a pleasure-
garden, having rose-trees and every kind of flower. And
the height of the trees was after the measure of a cypress,
and their leaves were falling^ incessantly. Moreover, there
in the pleasure-garden four other angels appeared, brighter
than the previous ones, who, when they saw us, gave us
honour, and said to the rest of the angels, ' Here tliey are !
Here they are !' with admiration. And those four angels
who bore us, being greatly afraid, put us down ; and we
passed over on foot the space of a furlong in a broad path.
There we found Jocundus, and Saturninus, and Artaxius,
who having suffered the same persecution w^ere burnt alive ;
and Quintus, who also, himself a martyr, had departed in the
prison. And we asked of tlicm where the rest were. And
the angels said to us, ' Come first, enter and greet your Lord.'
2. ''And we came near to a place, the walls of which
were such as if they were built of light; and before the
^"Cadcbant;" but "ardebaut" — "were burning" — seems a more
probable reading.
286 THE PASSION OF
gate of that place stood four angels, who clothed those who
entered with white robes. And being clothed, we entered
and saw the boundless light, and heard the united voice of
some who said without ceasing, ^Holy! Holy! Holy !'^
And in the midst of that place we saw as it were a hoary
man sitting, having snow-white hair, and with a youthful
countenance; and his feet we saw not. And on his right
hand and on his left were four-and-twenty elders, and
behind them a great many others were standing. We
entered with great wonder, and stood before the throne ; and
the four angels raised us up, and we kissed Him, and He
passed His hand over our face. And the rest of the elders
said to us, 'Let us stand;' and we stood and made peace.
And the elders said to us, ' Go and play.' And I said,
' Perpetua, you have what you wish.' And she said to me,
' Thanks be to God, that joyous as I was in the flesh, I am
now more joyous here.'
3. " And we went forth, and saw before the entrance
Optatus the bishop at the right hand, and Aspasius the pres-
byter, a teacher,^ at the left hand, separate and sad ; and they
cast themselves at our feet, and said to us, ' Kestore peace
between us, because you have gone forth and have left us
thus.' And we said to them, ' Art not thou our father, and
thou our presbyter, that you should cast yourselves at our
feet f And we prostrated om'selves, and we embraced them :
and Perpetua began" to speak with them, and we drew them
apart in the pleasure-garden under a rose-tree. And while
we were speaking with them, the angels said unto them, ' Let
them alone, that they may refresh themselves f and if you have
any dissensions between you, forgive one another.' And they
drove them away. And they said to Optatus, ' Eebuke thy
people, because they assemble to you as if returning from
the circus, and contending about factious matters.' And
then it seemed to us as if they w^ould shut the doors. And
1 "Agios."
2 A presbyter, tliat is, whose office was to teacli, as distinct from otLer
presbyters. See Cyprian, Epistles, vol. i. Ep. xxiii. p. 68, note 1, transl.
2 More probably, " rest and refresh yourselves."
PERPETUA AND FELICITAS. 287
in that place we began to recognise many brethren, and.
moreover martyrs. We were all nourished with an inde-
scribable odour, which satisfied us. Then I joyously awoke."
CHAPTER V.
Argument. — St. Secundulus dies in the prison. St. Felicitas
is pregnant, hut with many prayers she brings forth in the
eighth month without suffering. The courage of St. Per-
petua and of St. Saturus is unbroken.
1. The above were the more eminent visions of the blessed
martyrs Saturus and Perpetua themselves, which they them-
selves committed to writing. But God called Secundulus,
while he was yet in the prison, by an earlier exit from the
world, not without favom-, so as to give a respite to the
beasts. Nevertheless, even if his soul did not acknowledge
cause for thankfulness, assuredly his flesh did.
2. But respecting Felicitas (for to her also the Lord's
favour approached in the same way), when she had already
gone eight months with child (for she had been pregnant
when she was apprehended), as the day of the exhibition was
di'awing near, she was in great grief lest on account of her
pregnancy she should be delayed, — because pregnant women
are not allowed to be publicly punished, — and lest she should
shed her sacred and guiltless blood among some who had been
wicked subsequently. Moreover, also, her fellow-martyrs
were painfully saddened lest they should leave so excellent a
friend, and as it were companion, alone in the path of the
same hope. Therefore, joining together their united cry, they
poured forth their prayer to the Lord three days before the
exhibition. Immediately after their prayer her pains came
upon her ; and when, with the difficulty natural to an eight
months' delivery, in the labour of bringing forth she was sor-
rowing, some one of the servants of the Cataractarii^ said to
^ " The gaolers," so called from the " cataracta," or prison-gate, which
they guarded.
288 THE PASSION OF
her, " You who are in such suffering now, what will you do
when you are thrown to the beasts, which you despised when
you refused to sacrifice?" And she replied, "Now it is I
that suffer what I suffer ; but then there will be another in
me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer
for Him." Thus she brought forth a little girl, which a
certain sister brought up as her daughter.
3. Since then the Holy Spirit permitted, and by permit-
ting willed, that the proceedings of that exhibition should be
committed to writing, although w^e are unworthy to complete
the description of so great a glory ; yet we obey as it were the
command of the most blessed Perpetua, nay her sacred trust,
and add one more testimony concerning her constancy and
her loftiness of mind. When they were being treated with
more severity by the tribune, because, from the intimations
of certain deceitful men, he feared lest they should be with-
drawn from the prison by some sort of magic incantations,
Perpetua answered to his face, and said, " Why do you not
at least permit us to be refreshed, being as w^e are objection-
able to the most noble Caesar, and having to fight on his
birth-day ? Or is it not your glory if w^e are brought for-
ward fatter on that occasion ? " The tribune shuddered and
blushed, and commanded that they should be kept wdth more
humanity, so that permission was given to their brethren
and others to go in and be refreshed with them ; even the
keeper of the prison trusting them now himself.
4. Moreover, on the day before, when in that last meal,
which they call the free meal, they were partaking as far as
they could, not of a free supper, but of an agape ; with the
same firmness they were uttering such words as these to the
people, denouncing [against them] the judgment of the Lord,
bearing witness to the felicity of their passion, laughing at
the curiosity of the people who came together ; while Saturus
said, " To-morrow is not enough for you, for you to behold
with pleasure that which you hate. Friends to-day, enemies
to-morrow. Yet note our faces diligently, that you may
recognise them on that day of judgment." Thus all departed
thence astonished, and from these things many believed.
A
PEBPETUA AND FELICITAS. 289
CHAPTER VI.
Argument. — From the 2^rison tliei/ are led forth loitli joy into
the amphitlieatre, especially Perpetua and Felicitas ; all
refuse to put on profane garments ; they are scourged^ they
are thrown to the %dld leasts. Saturus twice is unhurt.
St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas are throiun down ; they
are called bach to the Sanavivarian gate. St. Saturus
wounded hy a leopard, exhorts the soldier ; they hiss one
another J they are slain ivith the sword.
1. The clay of their victory shone forth, and they pro-
ceeded from the prison into the amphitlieatre, as if to an
assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenances ; if perchance
shrinking, it was with joy, and not with fear. Perpetua
followed with placid look, and with step and gate as a matron
of Christ, beloved of God ; casting down the lustre of her
eyes from the gaze of all. Moreover, Felicitas rejoicing that
she had safely brought forth, so that she might fight with the
wild beasts ; from the blood and from the midwife to the
gladiator, to wash after childbirth w^ith a second baptism.
And when they were brought to the gate, and were being
constrained to put on the clothing — the men, that of the
priests of Saturn, and the women, that of those who were
consecrated to Ceres — that noble-minded woman resisted even
to the end with constancy. For she said, " We have come
thus far of our own accord, for this reason, that our liberty
might not be restrained. For this reason we have yielded
our minds, that we might not do any such thing as this : we
have agreed on this with you." Injustice acknowledged the
justice ; the tribune yielded to their being brought as simplj'
as they were. Perpetua sang psalms, already treading under
foot the head of the Eo:yptian ; Revocatus, and Satur-
ninus, and Saturus uttered threateninf^s aijainst the sazino;
people about this martyrdom. When they came within sight
of Hilarianus, by gesture and nod, they began to say to
Hilarianus, " Thou judgest us," say they, ^^ but God will
CYP. — VOL. II. T
290 THE PASSION OF
judge thee." At this the people, exasperated, demanded that
they should be tormented with scourges as they passed along
the rank of the venatores} And they indeed rejoiced that
they should have incurred any one of their Lord's passions.
2. But He who had said, " Ask, and ye shall receive," ^
gave to them when they asked, that death which each one had
wished for. For when at any time they had been discoursing
among themselves about their wish in respect of their martyr-
dom, Saturninus indeed had professed that he wished that
he might be thrown to all the beasts ; doubtless that he might
wear a more glorious crown. Therefore in the beginning
of the exhibition, he and Revocatus made trial of the leopard,
and moreover upon the scaffold they were harassed by the
bear. Saturus, however, held nothing in greater abomination
than a bear ; but he imagined that he would be put an end
to with one bite of a leopard. Therefore, when a wild boar
was supplied, it was the huntsman rather who had supplied
that boar who was gored by that same beast, and died the
day after the shows. Saturus only was drawn out; and
when he had been bound on the floor near to a bear, the
bear would not come forth from his den. And so Saturus
for the second time is recalled unhurt.
3. Moreover, for the young women the devil prepared a
very fierce cow, provided especially for that purpose contrary
to custom, rivalling their sex also in that of the beasts. And
so, stripped and clothed with nets, they were led forth. The
populace shuddered as they saw one young woman of delicate
frame, and another with breasts still dropping from her
recent childbirth. So, being recalled, they are unbound.^
Perpetua is first led in. She was tossed, and fell on her
loins ; and when she saw her tunic torn from her side, she
drew it over her as a veil for her middle, rather mindful of
her modesty than her suffering. Then she was called for
^ A row of men drawn up to scourge them as they passed along, — a
punishment probably similar to what is called " running the gauntlet."
2 John xvi. 24.
3 Ita revocatae discinguntur. Dean Milman prefers reading this,
" Thus recalled, they are clad in loose robes."
PEBPETUA AND FELICITAS. 291
again, and bound up her dishevelled hair ; for it was not be-
coming for a martyr to suffer with dishevelled hair, lest she
should appear to be moui'ning in her glory. So she rose up ;
and when she saw Felicitas crushed, she approached and gave
her her hand, and lifted her up. And both of them stood
together ; and the brutality of the populace being appeased,
they wxre recalled to the Sanavivarian gate. Then Perpetua
was received by a certain one who was still a catechumen,
Rusticus by name, who kept close to her; and she, as if
aroused from sleep, so deeply had she been in the Spirit and
in an ecstasy, began to look round her, and to say to the
amazement of all, *^ I cannot tell when we are to be led out
to that cow." And when she had heard what had already
happened, she did not believe it until she had perceived
certain signs of injury in her body and in her dress, and
had recognised the catechumen. Afterwards causing that
catechumen and her brother to approach, she addressed them,
saying, " Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, all of
you, and be not offended at my sufferings."
4. The same Saturus at the other entrance exhorted the
soldier Pudens, saying, " Assuredly here I am, as I have
promised and foretold, for up to this moment I have felt no
beast. And now believe with your whole heart. Lo, I am
going forth to that beast, and I shall be destroyed with one
bite of the leopard." And immediately at the conclusion of
the exhibition he was thrown to the leopard ; and with one
bite of his he was bathed wdth such a quantity of blood, that
the people shouted out to him as he was returning, the testi-
mony of his second baptism, " Saved and washed, saved and
washed." ^ Manifestly he was assuredly saved who had been
glorified in such a spectacle. Then to the soldier Pudens he
said, " Farewell, and be mindful of my faith ; and let not
these things disturb, but confirm you." And at the same
time he asked for a little ring from his finger, and returned
it to him bathed in his wound, leaving to him an inherited
token and the memory of his blood. And then lifeless he
is cast down with the rest, to be slaughtered in the usual
^ A cry in mockery of what was known as the effect of Christian baptism.
292 PASSION OF PERPETVA AND FELICITAS.
place. And when tlie populace called for them into the
midst, that as the sword penetrated into their body they
might make their eyes partners in the murder, they rose up
of their own accord, and transferred themselves whither the
people wished ; but they first kissed one another, that they
might consummate their martyrdom with the kiss of peace.
The rest indeed, immoveable and in silence, received the
sword-thrust; much more Saturus, who also had first ascended
the ladder, and first gave up his spirit, for he also was waiting
for Perpetua. But Perpetua, that she might taste some
pain, being pierced between the ribs, cried out loudly, and
she herself placed the wavering right hand of the youthful
gladiator to her throat. Possibly such a woman could not
have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she
was feared by the impure spirit.
O most brave and blessed martyrs ! O truly called and
chosen unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ ! whom who-
ever magnifies, and honours, and adores, assuredly ought to
read these examples for the edification of the church, not less
than the ancient ones, so that new virtues also may testify
that one and the same Holy Spirit is always operating even
until now, and God the Father Omnipotent, and His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, whose is the glory and infinite power
for ever and ever. Amen,
THE WRITINGS OF NOVATIAN.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
HE biography of Novatian belongs to the ecclesias-
tical history of the third century. He was, or is
reputed to have been, the founder of a sect
which claimed for itself the name of Puritan
(;^a^apo/) ; and he is also said to be the first false Pope
(Pseudo-Papa). For a long time he was in determined
opposition to Cornelius, bishop of Pome, in regard to the
admission of the lapsed and penitent into the church ; but
the facts of the controversy and much of our information
in regard to Novatian are to be got only from his enemies,
the Poman bishop and his adherents. Accordingly, some
have believed all the accusations that have been brought
against him, while others have been inclined to doubt them
all.i
It is not known where Novatian was born. Some have
appealed to Philostorgius ^ in behalf of the opinion that he
was a Phrygian ; but others maintain that, supposing this
to be a statement of the historian, it is a mere conjecture
of his, based on the character of Novatian's teaching. It
is also stated by Cyprian, that he was a Stoic before he
passed over to the Christian church ; but this also has been
doubted. While amongst the catechumens, he was seized
by a violent disease, attributed to demoniac agency; and
being near death, he received baptism. He was ordained
presbyter by Fabian, bishop of Pome, against the wishes
of the rest of the clergy, who objected thereto his having
received clinic baptism. The subsequent circumstances of his
schism and his contest with CorneHus, are stated at leno;th
with no friendly spirit in a letter to Antonianus by Cyprian.^
^ See the last portion of Section Second of Neander's Church History.
^ Hist. Eccl. lib. viii. c. 15. The text of Yalcsius has Ovxtou^ not
Novatus or Novatian.
^ Vol. i. Ep. li. p. 133, transl.
'295
296 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
Socrates^ states that he suffered martyrdom ; but his authority,
amid the silence of all others, is not sufficient to guarantee
the fact.
Novatlan composed many works. The following are
extant : —
I. De Trinitate, formerly attributed by some to Tertullian,
by others to Cyprian ; but now on all hands allowed to be
the work of Novatian, to whom Jerome expressly assigns
it.^ It was written after the heresy of Sabellius, which
appeared 256 a.d.
II. De Cihis Judaicis : at first also attributed by some to
Tertullian or Cyprian ; but now assigned to Novatian on
the testimony of Jerome. It was written during the time
of the Decian persecution, about 250 a.d.
III. Novatian was the author of the letter addressed by
the Eoman clergy to Cyprian, contained in vol. i. of the
Writings of Cyprian (Ante-Nicene Chr. Lib.), Ep. xxx.
p. 85 ; as Cyprian himself states. See p. 135, c. 5, of the
same volume. Some have also attributed to him Ep. xxix.
without any authority.
Jerome attributes to him writings on Circumcision, on
the Sabbath, on the Passover, on the Priesthood, on Prayer,
on Attains, on the Present Crisis, and Letters.
The best editions of Novatian are by Welchman, Oxford
1724 ; and by Jackson, London 1728.
1 Hist. Eccl lib. iv. c. 28. ^ x>e vlrls Illaslrlhus, c. 70.
I
A TEEATISE OF NOVATIAN.
A ROMAN PRESBYTER.
CONCEKNING THE TKINITY.
ARGUMENT.
Novatian's treatise concerning the Trinity is divided into thirty-one
chapters. He first of all considers those words of the Rule of Truth or
Faith (that we call the Creed), which bid us believe on God the Father
and Lord Almighty, the absolutely perfect Creator of all things, from
chapter first to the eighth, wherein among the other divine attributes
he moreover ascribes to Him, partly from reason and partly from the
Holy Scriptures, immensity, eternity, miity, goodness, immutability,
immortality, spirituality ; and adds that neither passions nor members
can be attributed to God, and that these things are only asserted of God
in Scripture anthropopathically. From the ninth chapter to the twenty-
eighth he enters upon the diffuse explanation also of those words of our
creed which commend to us faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the
Lord our God, the Christ promised in the Old Testament, and proves by
the authority of the old and new covenant that He is very man and
very God. In chapter eighteenth he refutes the error of the Sabellians,
and by the authority of the sacred writings he establishes the distinction
of the Father and of the Son, and replies to the objections of the above-
named heresiarchs and others. In the twenty-ninth chapter lie treats of
faith in the Holy Spirit, saying that finally the authority of the faith
admonishes us, after the Father and the Son, to believe also on the Holy
Spirit, whose operations he recounts and proves from the Scriptures. He
then labours to associate the unity of God with the matters previously
contended for, and at lecgth sets forth the sum of the doctrines above
explained.
297
1
298 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
CHAPTER I.
Argument. — Novatian, witJi the vieiv of treating of the Triniti/,
sets forth from the Rule of faith that we should first of
all believe in God the Father and Lord Omnipotent^ the
absolute Founder of all things. The works of creation are
beautifidly described. Man s free-icill is asserted; God^s
mercy in i?iflicting penalty on man is shoivn ; the condition
after death of the souls of the righteous and unrighteous is
determined.
HE Rule of truth requires that we should first
of all things believe on God the Father and
Lord Omnipotent; that is, the absolutely per-
fect Founder of all things, who has suspended
the heavens in loft}^ sublimity, has established the earth
with its lower mass, has diffused the seas with their
fluent moisture, and has distributed all these things, both
adorned and supplied with their appropriate and fitting
instruments. For in the solid vault of heaven He has both
awakened the light-bringing Sunrisings; He has filled up
the white globe of the moon in its monthly •■• waxings as a
solace for the night ; He, moreover, kindles the starry rays
with the varied splendours of glistening light ; and He has
willed all these things in their legitimate tracks to circle the
entire compass of the world, so as to cause days, months,
years, signs, and seasons, and benefits of other kinds for the
human race. On the earth, moreover. He has lifted up the
loftiest mountains to a peak, He has thrown down valleys
into the depths, He has smoothly levelled the plains, He
has ordained the animal herds usefully for the various
services of men. He has also established the oak trees of
the woods for the future benefit of human uses. He has
developed the harvests into food. He has unlocked the
mouths of the springs, and has poured them into the flowing
^ "Mensurnis," or otherwise " menstruis."
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 299
rivers. And after these tilings, lest he should not also provide
for the very delights of the eyes, He has clothed all things
with the various colours of the flowers for the pleasure of the
beholders. Even in the sea itself, moreover, although it was
in itself marvellous both for its extent and its utility. He has
made manifold creatures, sometimes of moderate, sometimes
of vast bodily size, testifying by the variety of His appoint-
ment to the intelligence of the Ai'tificer. And, not content
with these things, lest perchance the roaring and rushing
waters should seize upon a foreign element at the expense of
its human possessor. He has enclosed its limits with shores ;
so that when the raving billow and the foaming water should
come from its deep bosom, it should return again unto itself,
and not transgress its conceded bounds, but keep its pre-
scribed laws, so that man might the rather be careful to
observe the divine laws, even as the elements themselves
observed them. And after these things He also placed man
at the head of the world, and man, too, made in the image of
God, to wdiom He imparted mind, and reason, and foresight,
that he might imitate God ; and although the first elements
of his body were earthly, yet the substance was inspired by a
heavenly and divine breathing. And wdien He had given
him all things for his service. He willed that he alone should
be free. And lest, again, an unbounded freedom should fall
into peril, He laid down a command, in which man was taught
that there was no evil in the fruit of the tree ; but he was
forwarned that evil would arise if perchance he should exer-
cise his free will, in the contempt of the law that was given.
For, on the one hand, it had behoved him to be free, lest
the image of God should unfittingly be in bondage ; and on
the other, the law was to be added, so that an unbridled
liberty might not break forth even to a contempt of the
GiA^er : so that he might receive as a consequence both
worthy rewards and a deserved punishment, having in his
own pow^r that wdiich he might choose to do, by the ten-
dency of his mind in either direction : whence, therefore,
by envy, mortality comes back upon him ; seeing that,
although he might escape it by obedience, he rushes into
300 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
it by hurrying to be God under the influence of perverse
counsel. Still, nevertheless, God indulgently tempered his
punishment by cursing, not so much himself, as his labours
upon earth. And, moreover, what is required does not come
without man's knowledge ; but He shows forth man's hope
of future discovery ^ and salvation in Christ. And that he
is prevented from touching of the wood of the tree of life,
is not caused by the malignant poison of envy, but lest,
living for ever without Christ's previous pardon of his sins,
he should always bear about with him for his punishment an
immortality of guilt. Nevertheless also, in higher regions —
that is, above even the firmament itself — regions which are
not now discernible by our eyes — He previously ordained
angels. He arranged spiritual powers. He put in command
thrones and powers, and founded many other infinite spaces
of heavens, and unbounded works of His sacraments; so that
this world, immense as it is, might almost appear rather as
the latest, than the only work of corporeal things. And
truly,^ what lies beneath the earth is not itself void of dis-
tributed and arranged powers. For there is a place whither
the souls of the just and the unjust are taken, conscious
of the anticipated dooms of future judgment; so that w^e
might behold the overflowing greatness of God's works in
all directions, not shut up within the bosom of this world,
however capacious as we have said, but might also be able
to conceive of them beneath both the abysses and the depths
of the world itself ; and thus considering the greatness of
the works, we might worthily admire the Artificer of such
a structure.
1 " Inventionis." " Redemptionis " is a reasonable emendation.
2 Or probably, "Neither indeed is," etc.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 301
CHAPTER 11.
Argument. — God is above all tilings, Himself containing all
things, immense, eternal, transcending the mind of man ;
inexplicable in discourse, loftier than all sublimity.
And over all these things He Himself, containing all things,
having nothing vacant beyond Himself, has left room for
no superior God, such as some people conceive. Since,
indeed, He Himself has included all things in the bosom of
perfect greatness and power, He is always intent upon His
own work, and pervading all things, and moving all things,
and quickening all things, and beholding all things, and so
linking together discordant materials into the concord of all
elements, that out of these unlike principles one world is so
established by a conspiring union, that it can by no force be
dissolved, save when He alone who made it commands it to
be dissolved, for the purpose of bestowing other and greater
things upon us. For we read that He contains all things,
and therefore that there could have been nothing beyond
Himself ; because, since He has not any beginning, so con-
sequently He is not conscious of an ending ; unless per-
chance— and far from us be the thought — He at some time
began to be, and is not above all things, but as He began
to be after something else, He would be beneath that which
was before Himself, and would so be found to be of less
power, in that He is designated as subsequent even in time
itself. For this reason, therefore. He is always unbounded,
because nothing is greater than Him ; always eternal, because
nothing is more ancient than Him. For that which is with-
out beginning can be preceded by none, in that He has no
time. He is on that account immortal, that He docs not
come to an end by any ending of His completeness. And
since everything that is without beginning is without law.
He excludes the mode of time by feeling Himself debtor to
none. Concerning Him, therefore, and concerning those
things which are of Himself, and are in Him, neither can
the mind of man worthily conceive what they are, how great
302 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
they are, and what they are like ; nor does the eloquence
of human discourse set forth a power that approaches the
level of His majesty. For to conceive and to speak of His
majesty, as well all eloquence is with reason mute, as all
mind poor : for He is greater than mind itself ; nor can
it be conceived how great He is, seeing that, if He could
be conceived. He would be smaller than the human mind
wherein He could be conceived. He is greater, moreover,
than all discourse, nor can. He be declared ; for if He
could be declared. He would be less than human discourse,
whereby being declared. He can both be encompassed and
contained. For whatever could be thought concerning Him
must be less than Himself ; and whatever could be declared
must be less than Him, when compared in respect of Him-
self. Moreover, we can in some degree be conscious of Him
in silence, but we cannot in discourse unfold Him as He is.
For should you call Him Lights you would be speaking of
His creature rather than of Himself — ^you would not declare
Him; or should you call Him Strength, you would rather
be speaking of and bringing out His power than speaking
of Himself ; or should you call Him Majesty , you would
rather be describing His honour than Himself. And why
should I make a long business of going through His attri-
butes one by one ? I will at once unfold the whole. What-
ever in any respect you might declare of Him, you would
rather be unfolding some condition and power of His than
Himself. For what can you fittingly either say or think con-
cerning Him who is greater than all discourses and thoughts ?
Except that in one manner (and how can we do this, —
how can we by possibility conceive how we can grasp
these very things?), we shall mentally grasp what God
is, if we shall consider that He is that which cannot be
understood either in quality or quantity, nor, indeed, can
come even into the thought itself. For if the keenness
of our eyes grows dull on looking at the sun, so that the
gaze, overcome by the brightness of the rays that meet it, can-
not look upon the orb itself, the keenness of our mental per-
ception suffers the same thing in all our thinking about God ;
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 303
and in proportion as we give our endeavours more directly
to consider God, so much the more the mind itself is blinded
by the light of its own thought. For what (to repeat once
more) can you worthily say of Him, who is loftier than all
sublimity, and higher than all height, and deeper than all
depth, and clearer than all light, and brighter than all bright-
ness, more brilliant than all splendour, stronger than all
strength, more powerful ^ than all power, and more mighty
than all might, and greater than all majesty, and more potent
than all potency, and richer than all riches, more w^ise than
all wisdom, and more benignant than all kindness, better than
all goodness, juster than all justice, more merciful than all
clemency ? For all kinds of virtues must needs be less than
Himself, who is both God and Parent of all virtues, so that
it may truly be said that God is that, which is such that
nothing can be compared to Him. For He is above all that
can be said. For He is a certain Mind generating and filling
all things, which, without any beginning or end of time, con-
trols, by the highest and most perfect reason, the naturally
linked causes of things, so as to result in benefit to all.
CHAPTEE III.
Argument. — That God is the Founder of all things, their
Lord and Parent, is proved from the Holy Scriptures.
Him, then, w^e acknowledge and know to be God, the Creator
of all things — Lord on account of His power, Parent on
account of His discipline — Him, I say, who " spake, and all
things were made;"^ He commanded, and all things went
forth : of whom it is ^vritten, " Thou hast made all things in
wisdom;"^ of whom Moses said, ^* God in heaven above,
and in the earth beneath;"^ who, according to Isaiah,
" hath meted out the heaven with a span, the earth with the
hollow of His hand;"^ "who looketh on the earth, and
maketh it tremble; who boundeth the circle of the earth,
1 Viritior. 2 pg^ cxlviii. 5. ^ pg. ciii. 24.
'^ Deut. iv. 39. ^ pg. ciii. 32.
304 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
and those tliat dwell in it like locusts ; who hath weighed
the mountains in a balance, and the groves in scales," ^ that
is, by the sure test of divine arrangement ; and lest its great-
ness, lying unequally, should easily fall into ruins if it were
not balanced with equal w^eights. He has poised this burden
of the earthly mass with equity. Who says by the prophet
"I am God, and there is none beside me."^ Who says by
the same prophet, " Because I will not give my majesty to
another,"^ that He may exclude all heathens and heretics
with their figments; proving that that is not God wdio is
made by the hand of the workman, nor that which is feigned
by the intellect of a heretic. For he is not God for whose
existence the workman must be asked. And He has added
hereto by the prophet, '' The heaven is my throne, and the
earth is my footstool : what house will ye build me, and
where is the place of my rest? "^ that He may show that He
whom the world does not contain is much less contained in
a temple ; and He says these things not for boastfulness of
Himself, but for our knowledge. For He does not desire
from us the glory of His magnitude ; but He wishes to
confer upon us, even as a father, a religious wisdom. And
He, wishing moreover to attract to gentleness our minds,
brutish, and swelling, and stubborn with cloddish ferocity,
says, " And upon whom shall my Spirit rest, save upon him
that is lowly, and quiet, and that trembleth at my words ?"^
— so that in some degree one may recognise how great God
is, in learning to fear Him by the Spirit given to him : Who,
similarly wishing still more to come into our knowledge, and
by -^vay of stirring up our minds to His worship, said, " I
am the Lord, who made the light and created the darkness ;"^
that w^e might deem not that some Nature, — what I know
not, — was the artificer of those vicissitudes whereby nights
and days are controlled, but might recognise God rather (as
is more true) as their Creator. And since by the gaze of our
eyes we cannot see Him, we rightly learn of Him from
the greatness, and the power, and the majesty of His works.
1 Isa. xl. 22, 12. 2 isa. xlv. 22. s jga. xlii. 8.
^ Isa. Ixvi. 1. ^ Isa. Ixvi. 2. ^ Isa. xlv. 7.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 305
" For the invisible things of Him," says the Apostle Paul,
" from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being
understood by those things which are made, even His eternal
power and godhead ;" ^ so that the human mind, learning hidden
things from those that are manifest, from the greatness of the
works which it should behold, might with the eyes of the
mind consider the greatness of the Architect. Of whom the
same apostle, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, in-
visible, the only God, be honour and glory." ^ For He has
gone beyond the contemplation of the eyes who has surpassed
the gi'eatness of thought. " For," it is said, " of Him, and
through Him, and in Him are all things."^ For all things are
by His command, because they are of Him ; and are ordered
by His word as being through Him ; and all things return to
His judgment ; as in Him expecting liberty when corruption
shall be done away, they appear to be recalled to Him,
CHAPTER IV.
Aegument. — Moreover, He is good, alivays the same, immiit-
ahle, one and only, infinite ; and His oiun name can never
he declared, and He is incorrwptihle and immortal.
Him alone the Lord rightly declares good, of whose goodness
the whole world is witness ; which world He would not have
ordained if He had not been good. For if " everything was
very good,"^ consequently, and reasonably, both those things
which were ordained have proved that He that ordained them
is good, and those things which are the work of a good Or-
dainer cannot be other than good ; wherefore every evil is a
departure from God. For it cannot happen that He should
be the originator or architect of any evil work, who claims to
Himself the name of " the perfect," both Parent and Judge,
especially when He is the avenger and judge of every evil
work; because, moreover, evil does not occur to man from
any other cause than by his departure from the good God.
Moreover, this very thing is specified in man, not because it
1 Rom. i. 20. 2 1 Y\m. i. 17. 3 Rom. xi. 33. * Gen. i. 31.
CYP. — VOL. II. U
306 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
was necessary, but because he liimself so willed it. Whence
it manifestly appeared also what was evil; and lest there
should seem to be envy in God, it was evident whence evil
had arisen. He, then, is always like to Himself ; nor does
He ever turn or change Himself into any forms, lest by
change He should appear to be mortal. For the change im-
plied in tm^ning from one thing to another is comprehended
as a portion of a certain death. Thus there is never in Him
any accession or increase of any part or honour, lest anything
should appear to have ever been wanting to His perfection,
nor is any loss sustained in Him, lest a degree of mortality
should appear to have been suffered by Him. But what He
is, He always is ; and who He is. He is always Himself ; and
what character He has, He always has.^ For as well increas-
ing argues beginning, as losses prove death and perishing.
And therefore he says, "I am God, I change not;"^ hold-
ing His condition always, in that what is not born cannot
suffer change. For whatever it be in Him which constitutes
Divinity, must necessarily exist always, maintaining itself by
its own powers, so that He should always be God. And
thus He says, '^I am that I am."^ For what He is has
this name, because it always maintains the same quality of
Himself. For change takes away the force of that name
that He is ; for whatever at any time is changed, is shown
to be mortal in that very particular which is changed. For
it ceases to be that which it had been, and consequently
begins to be what it was not; and therefore, reasonably,
there remains always in God His position, in that without
any loss arising from change. He is always like and equal
to Himself. And what is not born cannot be changed : for
only those things undergo change which are made, or which
are begotten; in that those things which had not been at
one time, learn to be by coming into being, and therefore to
suffer change by being born. Moreover, those things which
neither have nativity nor maker, have excluded from them-
1 In other words, God is always the same in essence, in personality,
and in attributes.
2 MaL iii. 6. ^ Ex. iii. 14.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 307
selves the capacity of change, not having a beginning wherein
is cause of change. And thus He is declared to be one, having
no equal. For whatever can be God, must as God be of
necessity the Highest. But whatever is the Highest, must
certainly be in such sense the Highest as to be without any
equal. And thus that must needs be alone and one on which
nothing can be conferred, having no peer ; because there
cannot be two infinites, as the very nature of things dictates.
And that is infinite which neither has any sort of beginning nor
end. For whatever has occupied the whole excludes the be-
ginning of another. Because if He does not contain all which
is, whatever it is ; seeing that what is found in that whereby
it is contained is found to be less than that whereby it is con-
tained ; He will cease to be God ; being reduced into the power
of another [existence], in whose greatness He, being smaller,
shall have been included ; and therefore what contained Him
would then rather claim to be God. Whence it results that
God's own name also cannot be declared, because He cannot be
conceived. For that is contained in a name which is in any
way comprehended from the condition of His nature. For the
name is the signification of that thing which could be com-
prehended from a name. But when that which is treated
of is such that it cannot be worthily gathered into one form
by the very understanding itself, how shall it be set forth
fittingly in the one word of an appellation, seeing that as it
is beyond the intellect, it must also of necessity be above the
significancy of the appellation ? As with reason when He
applies and prefers from certain reasons and occasions His
name of God, we know that it is not so much the legitimate
propriety of the appellation that is set forth, as a certain sig-
nificancy determined for it, to which, while men betake them-
selves, they seem to be able thereby to obtain God's mercy.
He is therefore also both immortal and incorruptible, neither
conscious of any kind of loss nor ending. For because He
is incorruptible, He is therefore immortal ; and because He
is immortal. He is certainly also incorruptible, — each being
involved by turns in the other, with itself and in itself, by a
mutual connection, and prolonged by a vicarious con catena-
308 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
tion to the condition of eternity, as well immortality arising
from incorruption, as incorruption coming from immortality.
CHAPTER V.
Argument. — If we regard the anger, and indignation^ and
hatred of God described in the sacred pages, we must
rememher that they are not to he understood as hearing the
character of human vices,
MoEEOVER, if we read of His wrath, and consider certain
descriptions of His indignation, and learn that hatred is
asserted of Him, yet we are not to understand these to be
asserted of Him in the sense in which they are human vices.
For all these things, although they may corrupt man, cannot
at all corrupt the divine power. For such passions as these
will rightly be said to be in men, and will not rightly be
judged to be in God. For man can be corrupted by these
things, because he can be corrupted; God cannot be cor-
rupted by them, because He cannot be corrupted. These
things, forsooth, have their force which they may exercise,
but only where a material capable of impression precedes
them, not where a substance that cannot be impressed pre-
cedes them. For that God is angry, arises from no vice in
Him, but He is so for our advantage. For He is merciful
even then when He threatens, because by these threats men
are recalled to rectitude. For, for those who want the
motive to a virtuous life fear is necessary, that they who
have forsaken reason may at least be moved by terror. And
thus all those, either angers of God or hatreds, or whatever
they are of this kind, being displayed for our medicine (as
the case teaches), have arisen of wisdom, not from vice, nor
do they originate from frailty ; wherefore also they cannot
avail for the corruption of God. For the diversity of the
materials in us of which we consist, is accustomed to arouse
the discord of anger which corrupts us ; but this, whether of
nature or of defect, cannot subsist in God, seeing that He is
CONCEimiNG THE TRINITY. 309
known to be constructed assuredly of no associations of bodily
parts. For he is simple and without any corporeal commixture,
being wholly of that essence, whatever it be, which He alone
knows constitutes His being, since He is called Spirit. And
thus those things which in men are faulty and corrupting, since
they arise from the corruptibility of the body, and matter itself,
in God cannot exert the force of corruptibility, since, as we
have said, they have come, not of vice, but of reason.
CHAPTER VI.
Argument. — And that, although Scripture often changes the
divine aj)2:>earance into a human form, yet the measure of
the divine majesty is not included zcithin these lineaments
of our bodily nature.
AxD although the heavenly Scripture often turns the divine
appearance into a human form, — as when it says, "The
eyes of the Lord are over the righteous;"^ or wdien it says,
"Tlie Lord God smelled the smell of a good savour;"^ or
when there are given to Moses the tables " written with the
finger of God ;"^ or when the people of the children of Israel
arc set free from the land of Egypt "' with a mighty hand
and with a stretched out arm;"'^ or when it says, "The
mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things;"^ or when
the earth Is set forth as " God's footstool ; " ^ or when it
says, " Incline thine ear, and hear," ' — we who say that the
law is spiritual do not Include within these lineaments of our
bodily nature any mode or figure of the divine majesty,
but diffuse that character of unbounded magnitude (so to
speak) over Its plains without any limit. For it is written,
" If I shall ascend into heaven. Thou art there ; if I shall
descend into hell. Thou art there also ; and if I shall take my
wings, and go away across the sea, there Thy hand shall lay
1 Ps. xxxiv. 15. 2 Qej^. y^\i 21. s y.x. xxxi. 18.
** Ps. cxxxvi. 12. ■5 Isa. i. 1^0. ^ Isa. Ixvi. 1.
^ 2 Chrou. xix. IG.
310 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
hold of me, and Thy riglit hand shall hold me." ^ For we
recognise the plan of the divine Scripture according to the
proportion of its arrangement. For the prophet then was
still speaking about God in parables according to the period
of the faith, not as God was, but as the people were able to
receive Him. And thus, that such things as these should be
said about God, must be imputed not to God, but rather to
the people. Thus the people are permitted to erect a taber-
nacle, and yet God is not contained within the enclosure of
a tabernacle. Thus a temple is reared, and yet God is not
at all bounded within the restraints of a temple. It is not
therefore God who is limited, but the perception of the
people is limited ; nor is God straitened, but the understand-
ing of the reason of the people is held to be straitened.
Finally, in the Gospel the Lord said, " The hour shall come
wdien neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall ye
worship the Father ;"^ and gave the reasons, saying, " God is
a Spirit ; and those therefore who worship, must worship in
spirit and in truth." ^ Thus the divine agencies are there
[sc. in the Old Testament] exhibited by means of members ;
it is not the appearance of God nor the bodily lineaments that
are described. For when the eyes are spoken of, it is implied
that He sees all things ; and when the ear, it is set forth that
He hears all things ; and when the finger, a certain energy of
His will is opened up ; and when the nostrils, His recognition
of prayers is shown forth as of odours ; and when the hand, it
is proved that He is the author of every creature ; and when
the arm, it is announced that no nature can withstand the
power of His arm ; and when the feet, it is unfolded that He
fills all things, and that there is not any place where God is not.
For neither members nor the offices of members are needful
to Him to whose sole judgment, even unexpressed, all things
serve and are present. For why should He require eyes who
is Himself the light ? or why should He ask for feet who is
everywhere? or wdiy should He wish to go wdien there is
nowhere where He can go beyond Himself ? or why shouldj
He seek for hands whose will is, even when silent, the archi-
1 Ps. cxxxix. 8, 9, 10. - Jolm iv. 21. » johu \\\ 24.
CONCEBNING THE TRINITY. 311
tect for the foundation of all things? He needs no ears
who knows the wills that are even unexpressed ; or for what
reason should He need a tongue whose thought is a command?
These members assuredly were necessary to men, but not to
God, because man's design would be ineffectual if the body
did not fulfil the thought. Moreover, they are not needful
to God, whose will the works attend not so much without any
effort, as that the works themselves proceed simultaneously
with the will. Moreover, He Himself is all eye, because He
all sees ; and all ear, because He all hears ; and all hand,
because He all works ; and all foot, because He all is every-
where. For He is the same, whatever it is. He is all equal,
and all everywhere. For He has not in Him any diversity
in Himself, being simple. For those are the things which
are reduced to diversity of members, which arise from birth
and go to dissolution. But things which are not concrete
cannot be conscious of these things.^ And what is immortal,
whatever it is, that very thing is one and simple, and for ever.
And thus because it is one it cannot be dissolved; since what-
ever is that very thing which is placed beyond the claim of
dissolution, it is freed from the laws of death.
CHAPTEE VII.
Argument. — Moreover^ that when God is called a Spirit,
Brightness, and Light, God is not sufficiently expressed
hy those appellations.
But when the Lord says that God is a Spirit, I think that
Christ spoke thus of the Father, as wishing that something
still more should be understood than merely that God is a
Spirit. For although, in His Gospel, He is reasoning for
the purpose of giving to men an increase of intelligence,
nevertheless He Himself speaks to men concerning God, in
such a way as they can as yet hear and receive; although, as
we have said. He is now endeavouring to give to His liearers
^ That is to say, "of birth and dissolution."
312 NOVATIAN THE BOMAN PBESBYTER
religious additions to their knowledge of God. For we find
it to be written that God is called Love, and yet from this
the 'substance of God is not declared to be Love; and that
He is called Light , while in this is not the substance of God.
But the whole that is thus said of God is as much as can be
said, so that reasonably also, when He is called a Spirit, it is
not all that He is which is so called ; but so that, while men's
mind by understanding makes progress even to the Spirit
itself, being already changed in spirit, it may conjecture
God to be something even greater through the Spirit. For
that which is, according to what it is, can neither be declared
by human discourse, nor received by human ears, nor gathered
by human perceptions. For if " the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him, neither eye hath seen, nor
ear hath heard, nor the heart of man, nor even his mind has
perceived ; " ^ what and how great is He Himself who pro-
mises these things, in understanding which both the mind
and nature of man have failed! Finally, if you receive
the Spirit as the substance of God, you will make God a
creature. For every spirit is a creature. And therefore,
then, God will be made. In which manner also, if, according
to Moses, you should receive God to hQ fire, in saying that He
is a creature, you will have declared what is ordained, you
will not have taught who is its ordainer. But these things
are rather used as figures than as being so in fact. For
as, in the Old Testament, God is for this reason called Fire,
that fear may be struck into the hearts of a sinful people,
by suggesting to them a Judge ; so in the New Testament
He is announced as Spirit, that, as the Eenewer and Creator
of those who are dead in their sins. He may be attested by
this goodness of mercy granted to those that believe.
CHAPTER VIIL
Argument. — It is this God, therefore, that the church has
known and adores ; and to Him the testimony of things as
1 1 Cor. ii. 9.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 313
well visible as invisible is given, both at all times and
in all fomis, by the nature which His 2or evidence rules and
governs.
This God, tlien, setting aside the fables and figments of
lieretics, the church knows and worships, to wdiom the uni-
versal and entire nature of things as well visible as invisible
gives witness ; whom angels adore, stars wonder at, seas bless,
lands revere, and all things under the earth look up to ; whom
the wdiole mind of man is conscious of, even if it does not
express [its consciousness] ; at whose command all things are
set in motion, springs gush forth, rivers flow, waves arise,
all creatures bring forth their young, wdnds are compelled to
blow, showers descend, seas are stirred up, all things every-
where diffuse their fruitfulness ; Who ordained, peculiar to
the protoplasts of eternal life, a certain beautiful paradise in
the east; He planted the tree of life, and similarly placed
near it another tree of the knowledge of good and evil, gave
a command, and decreed a judgment against sin ; He pre-
served the most righteous Noe from the perils of the deluge,
for the merit of his innocence and faith ; He translated
Enoch ; He elected Abraham into the society of His friend-
ship ; He protected Isaac ; He increased Jacob ; He gave
Moses for a leader unto the people ; He delivered the groan-
ing children of Israel from the yoke of slavery; He wrote the
law; He brought the offspring of our fatliers into the land of
promise ; He instructed the prophets by His Spirit, and by
all of them He promised His Son Christ ; and at the time
at which He had covenanted that He would give Him, He
sent Him, and through Him He desired to come into our
knowledge, and shed forth upon us the liberal stores of His
mercy, by conferring His abundant Spirit on the poor and
abject. And, because He of His own free-will is both liberal
and kind, lest the whole of this globe, being turned away
from the streams of His grace, should wither. He willed the
apostles, as founders of our family, to be sent by His Son
into the whole world, that the condition of the human race
might be conscious of its Founder; and if it should choose to
314 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
follow Him, might have One whom even in its supplications it
might now call Father instead of God. And His providence
has had or has its course among men, not only individually,
but also among cities themselves, and states whose destruc-
tions have been announced by the words of prophets ; yea,
even through the whole world itself; whose end, whose
miseries, and wastings, and sufferings on account of unbelief
He has allotted. And lest moreover any one should think
that such an indefatigable providence of God does not reach
to even the very least things, " One of two sparrows," says
the Lord, " shall not fall without the will of the Father ;
but even the very hairs of your head are all numbered."^
And His care and providence did not permit even the clothes
of the Israelites to be worn out, nor even the vilest shoes on
their feet to be wasted ; nor, moreover, finally, the very
garments of the captive young men to be burnt. And this
is not without reason ; for if He embraces all things, and
contains all things (and all things, and the whole, consist
of individuals), His care will consequently extend even to
every individual thing, since His providence reaches to the
whole, whatever it is. Hence it is that He also sitteth above
the cherubim ; that is. He presides over the variety of His
works, the living creatures which hold the control over the
rest being subjected to His throne : a crystal covering being
thrown over all things ; that is, the heaven covering all things,
which at the command of God had been consolidated into a fir-
mament from the fluent material of the waters, that the strong
hardness that divides the midst of the waters that covered the
earth before, might sustain as if on its back the weight of
the superincumbent water, its strength being establislied by
the frost. And, moreover, wheels lie below — that is to say, the
seasons — whereby all the members of the world are always
being rolled onwards ; such feet being added by which those
things do not stand still for ever, but pass onward. And, more-
over, throughout all their limbs they are studded with eyes ;
for the works of God must be contemplated with an ever
watchful inspection : in the heart of which things, a fire of
1 Matt. X. 29, 30.
CONCERNING THE THIN IT Y. 315
embers is in the midst, eitlier because tins world of ours is
hastening to the fiery day of judgment ; or because all the
works of God are fiery, and are not darksome, but flourish ; ^
or, moreover, lest, because those things had arisen from
earthly beginnings, they should naturally be inactive, from
the rigidity of their origin, the hot nature of an interior
spirit was added to all things ; and that this nature con-
creted with the cold bodies might minister ^ for the purpose
of life equal measures for all. This, therefore, according to
David, is God's chariot. " For the chariot of God," says
he, "is multiplied ten thousand times ;"^ that is, it is innu-
merable, infinite, immense. For, under the yoke of the
natural law given to all things, some things are restrained, as
if withheld by reins ; others, as if stimulated, are urged on
with relaxed reins. For the world, which is that chariot of
God ^vith all things, both the angels themselves and the stars
guide ; and their movements, although various, yet bound by
certain laws, we watch them guiding by the bounds of a time
prescribed to themselves ; so that rightly we also are now
disposed to exclaim with the apostle, as he admires both the
Architect and His works : " Oh the depth of the riches of
the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how inscrutable are His
judgments, and His ways past finding out ! " * — and the rest.
CHAPTER IX.
Akgument. — Further, that the same rule of truth teaches us
to believe, after the Father, also in the Son of God, Jesus
Christ our Lord God, being the same that was promised in
the Old Testament, and manifested in the New,
The same rule of truth teaches us to believe, after the
Father, also on the Son of God, Christ Jesus, the Lord our
God, but the Son of God— of that God who is both one
1 "Yigent," or otherwise '• lucent."
2 " Ministraret " seems to be preferable to " monstraret."
3 Ps. Ixviii. 18. ■* Rom. xi. 33.
316 NOVATIAN TEE MOMAN PRESBYTER
and alone, to wit the Founder of all things, as already has
been expressed above. For this Jesus Christ, I will once
more say, the Son of this God, we read of as having been
promised in the Old Testament, and we observe to be mani-
fested in the New, fulfilling the shadows and figures of all
the sacraments, w^ith the presence of the truth embodied.
For as well the ancient prophecies as the Gospels testify
Him to be the son of Abraham and the son of David.
Genesis itself anticipates Him, when it says: " To thee will I
give it, and to thy seed." ^ He is spoken of when it shows
how a man wrestled with Jacob ; He too, when it says :
"There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a leader
from between his thighs, until He shall come to whom it has
been promised ; and He shall be the expectation of the
nations." ^ He is spoken of by Moses when he says : " Pro-
vide another wdiom thou mayest send." ^ He is again spoken
of by the same, when he testifies, saying : " A Prophet will
God raise up to you from your brethren ; listen to Him as if
to me." ^ It is He, too, that he speaks of when he says : " Ye
shall see your life hanging in doubt night and day, and ye
shall not believe Him." ^ Him, too, Isaiah alludes to: " There
shall go forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower
shall grow up from his root." ^ The same also when he says :
" Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son." ^" Him he
refers to when he enumerates the healings that were to pro-
ceed from Him, saying : " Then shall the eyes of the blind
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear : then shall
the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb
shall be eloquent." ^ Him also, when he sets forth the
virtue of patience, saying : " His voice shall not be heard
in the streets ; a bruised reed shall He not destroy, and
the smoking flax shall He not quench." ^ Him, too, when
he described His gospel : " And I will ordain for you an
everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David." ''^
1 Gen. xvii. 8. ^ Gen. xlix. 10. » Ex. iv. 13.
^ Deut. xviii. 15. ^ Deut. xxviii. (j(j. ^ Isa. xi. I.
7 Isa. vii. 13. « Isa. xxxv. 3-C. ^ Isa. xlii. 2, 3.
10 Isa. Iv. 3.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 317
Him, too, when he foretells that the nations should believe
on Him : ^'Behold, I have given Him for a Chief and a Com-
mander to the nations. Nations that knew not Thee shall
call upon Thee, and peoples that knew Thee not shall flee
unto Thee." ^ It is the same that he refers to when, con-
cerning His passion, he exclaims, saying: "As a sheep He
is led to the slaughter; and as a lamb before his shearer
is dumb, so He opened not His mouth in His humility."^
Him, moreover, when he described the blows and stripes of
His scourgings : " By His bruises we were healed." ^ Or His
humiliation : " And we saw Him, and He had neither form
nor comeliness, a man in suffering, and who knoweth how to
bear infirmity." ^ Or that the people would not believe on
Him: "All day long I have spread out my hands unto a
people that believeth not." ^ Or that He would rise again
from the dead : " And in that day there shall be a root of
Jesse, and one who shall rise to reign over the nations ; on
Him shall the nations hope, and His rest shall be honour." ^
Or when he speaks of the time of the resurrection : " We
shall find Him, as it were, prepared in the morning." ^ Or
that He should sit at the right hand of the Father : " The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until
I shall place Thine enemies as the stool of Thy feet." ^ Or
when He is set forth as possessor of all things : " Ask of me,
and I w^ill give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and
the boundaries of the earth for Thy possession." ^ Or when
He is shown as Judge of all : " O God, give the King Thy
judgment, and Thy righteousness to the King's Son." ^^ And
I shall not in this place pursue the subject further : the things
which are announced of Christ are known to all heretics,
but are even better known to those who hold the truth.
1 Isa. Iv. 4, 5, 2 isa. liii. 7. 3 iga. Hii. 5.
^ Isa. liii. 2. « Isa. Ixv. 2. ^ Isa. xi. 10.
^ Hos. vi. 3. ■ 8 Ps. ex. 1, 2. » Ps. ii. 8.
10 Ps. Ixxii. 1.
318 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
CHAPTER X.
Argument. — That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and truly
man, as opposed to the fancies of heretics , who deny that
He took upo7i Him true flesh.
But of tliis I remind [my reader], that Christ was not to
be expected in tlie gospel in any other wise than as He was
promised before by the Creator, in the Scriptm-es of the Old
Testament ; especially as the things that were predicted of
Him were fulfilled, and those things that were fulfilled had
been predicted. As with reason I might truly and con-
stantly say to that fanciful — I know not what — of those
heretics who reject the authority of the Old Testament, as
to a Christ feigned and coloured up from old wives' fables,
" Who art thou ? Whence art thou I By whom art thou
sent? Wherefore hast thou now chosen to come? Why
such as thou art ? Or how hast thou been able to come ?
Or wherefore hast thou not gone to thine own, except that
thou hast proved that thou hast none of thine own, by
coming to those of another? What hast thou to do with
the Creator's world? What hast thou to do with the
Creator's man ? What hast thou to do with the image of a
body from which thou takest away the hope of resurrection ?
Why comest thou to another man's servant, and desirest
thou to solicit another man's son ? Why dost thou strive to
take me away from the Lord ? Why dost thou compel me
to blaspheme, and to be impious to my Father ? Or what
shall I gain from thee in the resurrection, if I do not receive
myself when I lose my body ? If thou wishest to save, thou
shouldest have made a man to whom to give salvation. If
thou desirest to snatch from sin, thou shouldest have granted
to me previously that I should not fall into sin. But what
approbation of law dost thou carry about with thee ? What
testimony of the prophetic word hast thou ? Or what sub-
stantial good can I promise myself from thee, when I see
that thou hast come in a phantasm and not in a bodily sub-
CONCERNING TEE TRINITY, 319
stance? What, then, hast thou to do with the form of a
body, if thou hatest a body ? Nay, thou wilt be refuted as
to the hatred of bearing about the substance of a body,
since thou hast been wilHng even to take up its form.
For thou oughtest to have hated the imitation of a body,
if thou hatedst the reality; because, if thou art something
else, thou oughtest to have come as something else, lest thou
shouldest be called the Son of the Creator if thou hadst
even the likeness of flesh and body. Assuredly, if thou
hatedst being born because thou hatedst the Creator's
marriage union, thou oughtest to refuse even the likeness of
a man who is born by the marriage of the Creator. Neither,
therefore, do we acknowledge that that is a Christ of the
heretics who was (as it is said) in appearance and not in
reality; for of those things which he did, he could have
done nothing real, if he himself was a phantasm, and not
reality. Nor him who wore nothing of our body in himself,
seeing he received nothing from Mary ; neither did he come
to us, since he appeared as a vision, not in our substance.
Nor [do we acknowledge] that [to be Christ] who chose an
ethereal or starry flesh, as some heretics have pretended.
Nor can we perceive any salvation of ours in him, if we do
not even recognise the substance of our body [in him] ; nor,
in short, any other who may have worn any other kind of
fabulous body of heretical device. For all such fables as
these are confuted as well by the nativity as by the death
itself of our Lord. For John says : " The Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us ; " ^ so that, reasonably, our body
should be in Him, because indeed the Word took on Plim
our flesh. And for this reason blood flowed forth from His
hands and feet, and from His very side, so that He might
be proved to be a sharer in our body by dying according to
the laws of our dissolution. And that He was raised again in
the same bodily substance in which He died, is proved by the
wounds of that veiy body, and thus He showed the laws of our
resurrection in His flesh, in that He restored the same body
in His resurrection which He had from us. For a law of
1 Jolm i. 14.
320 A'OVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
resurrection is established, in that Christ is raised up in the
substance of the body as an example for the rest ; because,
when it is written that " flesh and blood do not inherit the
kingdom of God," ^ it is not the substance of the flesh
that is condemned, which was built up by the divine hands
that it should not perish, but only the guilt of the flesh is
rightly rebuked, which by the voluntary daring of man
rebelled against the claims of divine law. Because in bap-
tism and in the dissolution of death the flesh is raised up
and returns to salvation, by being recalled to the condition
of innocency when the mortality of guilt is put away.
CHAPTER XL
Argument. — And indeed that Christ teas not only man, hut
God also ; that even as He luas the Son of many so also
He ivas the Son of God,
But lest, from the fact of asserting that our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the Creator, was manifested in the
substance of the true body, we should seem either to have
given assent to other heretics, who in this place maintain that
He is man only and alone, and therefore desire to prove that
He was a man bare and solitary ; and lest we should seem to
have afforded them any ground for objecting, w^e do not so
express [the truth] concerning the substance of His body,
as to say that He is only and alone man, but so as to
maintain, by the association of the divinity of the Word in
that very materiality, that He was also God according to the
Scriptures. For there is a great risk of saying that the
Saviour of the human race, the Lord of all, and the Chief
of the world, to whom all things w^ere delivered, and all
things were granted by His Father, by whom all things
were ordained, all things w^ere created, all things were
arranged, the King of all ages and times, the Prince of
all the angels, before whom there is none but the Father,
1 1 Cor. xvi. 50.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 321
was only man, and denying to Him divine authority In these
things. For this contempt of the heretics will recoil also
upon God the Father, if God the Father could not beget
God the Son. But, moreover, no blindness of the heretics
shall prescribe to the truth. Nor, because they maintain one
thing in Christ and do not maintain another, they see one
side of Christ and do not see another, shall there be taken
away from us that which they do not see for the sake of that
which they do. For they regard the weaknesses In Him as
if they were a man's weaknesses, but they do not count the
powers as if they were a God's powers. They keep in mind
the infirmities of the flesh, they exclude the powers of the
divinity ; when if this argument from the infirnritles of
Christ is of avail to the result of proving Him to be man
from His Infirmities, the argument of divinity in Him
gathered from His powers avails to the result also of assert-
ing Him to be God from His works. For If His suiferlngs
show In Him human frailty, why may not His works assert
in Him divine power? For If this should not avail to assert
Him to be God from His powers, neither can His sufferings
avail to show Him to be man also from them. For whatever
principle be adopted on one or the other side, will be found
to be maintained [_scil. In Its alternative]. For there will be a
risk that He should not be shown to be man from His suffer-
ings. If He could not also be approved as God by His powers.
We must not then lean to one side and evade the other side,
because any one who should exclude one portion of the truth
will never hold the perfect truth. For Scripture as much
announces Christ as also God, as It announces God Him-
self as man. It has as much described Jesus Christ to
be man, as moreover it has also described Christ the Lord
to be God. Because it does not set forth Him to be the
Son of God onl}', but also the Son of man ; nor does it only
say, the Son of man, but it has also been accustomed to
speak of Him as the Son of God. So that being of both,
He is both, lest If He should be one only. He could not be
the other. For as nature itself has prescribed that he must
be believed to be a man who is of man, so the same nature
CYP. — VOL. IT. X
322 NOVATIAJSr THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
prescribes also that He must be believed to be God who is of
God ; but if he should not also be God when he is of God,
no more should he be man although he should be of man.
And thus both doctrines would be endangered in one and the
other way, by one being convicted to have lost belief in [the
assertion of] the other. Let them, therefore, who read that
Jesus Christ the Son of man is man, read also that this same
Jesus is called also God and the Son of God. For in the
manner that as man He is of Abraham, so also as God He is
before Abraham himself. And in the same manner as He
is as man the '^ Son of David," ^ so as God He is proclaimed
David's Lord. And in the same manner as He was made as
man " under the law,"^ so as God He is declared to be " Lord
of the Sabbath."^ And in the same manner as He suffers,
as man, the condemnation, so as God He is found to have all
judgment of the quick and dead. And in the same manner
as He is born as man subsequent to the world, so as God He
is manifested to have been before the world. And in the
same way as He was begotten as man of the seed of David,
so also the world is said to have been ordained by Him as
God. And in the same way as He was as man after many,
so as God He was before all. And in the same manner as
He was as man inferior to others, so as God He was greater
than all. And in the same manner as He ascended as man
into heaven, so as God He had first descended thence. And
in the same manner as He goes as man to the Father, so as
the Son in obedience to the Father He shall descend thence.
So if imperfections in Him prove human frailty, majesties in
Him affirm divine power. For the risk is, in reading of both,
to believe not both, but one of the two. Wherefore as both
are read of in Christ, let both be believed ; that so finally the
faith may be true, being also complete. For if of two prin-
ciples one gives way in the faith, and the other, and that
indeed which is of least importance, be taken up for belief,
the rule of truth is thrown into confusion ; and that boldness
will not confer salvation, but instead of salvation will effect
a great risk of death from the overthrow of the faith.
^ Matt, xxiii. 42 et seq. ^ q^\^ {^^ 4^ 3 Luke vi. 5.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 323
CHAPTER XII.
Argument. — That Christ is God, is proved hy the authority
of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Why, then, should we hesitate to say what Scripture does
not shrink from declaring ? Why shall the truth of faith
hesitate in that wherein the authority of Scripture has never
hesitated? For, behold, Hosea the prophet says in the
person of the Father : " I will not now save them by bow,
nor by horses, nor by horsemen; but I Avill save them by
the Lord their God." ^ If God says that He saves by God,
still God does not save except by Christ. Why, then, should
man hesitate to call Christ God, when he observes that He
is declared to be God by the Father according to the Scrip-
tures? Yea, if God the Father does not save except by
God, no one can be saved by God the Father unless he shall
have confessed Christ to be God, in whom and by whom
the Father promises that He will give him salvation : so that,
reasonably, whoever acknowledges Him to be God, may find
salvation in Christ God; whoever does not acknowledge Him
to be God, would lose salvation which he could not find else-
where than in Christ God. For in the same way as Isaiah
says, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
ye shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, interpreted, God
with us ; " ^ so Christ Himself says, " Lo, I am with you,
even to the consummation of the world." ^ Therefore He
is " God with us;" yea, and much rather. He is [God] in us.
Christ is with us, therefore it is He whose name is God with
us, because He also is with us ; or is He not with us ? How
then does He say that He is with us ? He, then, is with us.
But because He is with us He was called Emmanuel, that
is, God with us. God, therefore, because He is with us,
was called God with us. The same prophet says : " Be ye
strengthened, ye relaxed hands, and ye feeble knees; be
consoled, ye that are cowardly in heart ; be strong ; fear not.
^ Hos. i. 7. - Isa, vii. 14. ^ Matt, xxviii. 20.
324 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
Lo, our God shall return judgment ; He himself shall come,
and shall save you: then shall the eyes of the blind be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear ; then shall the
lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall
be eloquent." ^ Since the prophet says that at God's
advent these should be the signs which come to pass; let
men acknowledge either that Christ is the Son of God, at
whose advent and by whom these wonders of healings were
performed; or, overcome by the truth of Christ's divinity,
let them rush into the other heresy, and refusing to confess
Christ to be the Son of God, and God, let them declare Him
to be the Father. For, being bound by the words of the
prophets, they can no longer deny Christ to be God. What,
then, do they reply when those signs are said to be about
to take place on the advent of God, which were manifested
on the advent of Christ? In what way do they receive Christ
as God ? For now they cannot deny Him to be God. As
God the Father, or as God the Son ? If as the Son, why
do they deny that the Son of God is God % If as the Father,
why do they not follow those who appear to maintain blas-
phemies of that kind ? unless because in this contest against
them concerning the truth, this is in the meantime sufficient
for us, that, being convinced in any kind of way, they should
confess Christ to be God, seeing they have even wished
to deny that He is God. He says by Habakkuk the prophet :
" God shall come from the south, and the Holy One from
the dark and dense mountain." ^ Whom do they wish to
represent as coming from the south? If they say that it
is the Almighty God the Father, then God the Father comes
from a place, from which place, moreover. He is thus ex-
cluded, and He is bounded within the straitnesses of some
abode ; and thus by such as these, as we have said, the sacri-
legious heresy of Sabellius is embodied. Since Christ is
believed to be not the Son, but the Father ; since by them He
is asserted to be in strictness a bare man, in a new manner,
by those, again, Christ is proved to be God the Father
Almighty. But if in Bethlehem, the region of which local
^ Isa. XXXV. 3, etc. 2 jia]t>. iii. 3.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 325
division looks towards the southern portion of heaven, Christ
is born, who by the Scriptures is also said to be God, this
God is rightly described as coming from the south, because
He was foreseen as about to come from Bethlehem. Let
them, then, choose of the two alternatives, the one that they
prefer, that He who came from the south is the Son, or the
Father; for God is said to be about to come from the south.
If the Son, why do they shrink from calling Him Christ
and God? For the Scripture says that God shall come.
If the Father, why do they shrink from being associated
with the boldness of Sabellius, who says that Christ is the
Father? unless because, whether they call Him Father or
Son, from his heresy, however unwillingly, they must needs
withdraw if they are accustomed to say that Christ is merely
man ; when compelled by the facts themselves, they are
on the eve of exalting Him as God, whether in wishing to
call Him Father or in wishing to call Him Son.
CHAPTER XIII.
Argument. — That the same truth is proved from the sacred
writings of the New Covenant.
And thus also John, describing the nativity of Christ, says :
" The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we
saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." ^ For, moreover, *' His
name is called the Word of God," ^ and not without reason.
" My heart has emitted a good word ; " ^ which w^ord He
subsequently calls by the name of the King inferentially,
" I will tell my works to the King." ^ For " by Him were
made all the works, and without Him was nothing made." ^
" Whether," says the apostle, " they be thrones, or domina-
tions, or powers, or mights, visible things and invisible, all
things subsist by Him." ^ Moreover, this is that Word
1 John i. 14. ' Rev. xix. 13. ^ Ts. xlv. 1.
* Ps. xlv. 1. ^ John i. 3. ^ Coh i. 16.
326 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PEESBYTEE
which " came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
For the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him
not." ^ Moreover, this Word " was in the beginning with
God, and God was the Word."^ Who then can doubt,
when in the last clause it is said, " The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us," that Christ, whose is the nativity, and
because He was made flesh, is man ; and because He is tlie
Word of God, who can shrink from declaring without
hesitation that He is God, especially when he considers the
evangelical Scriptare, that it has associated both of these
substantial natures into one concord of the nativity of
Christ ? For He it is who " as a bridegroom goeth forth from
his bride-chamber; He exulted as a giant to run his way.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and His return
unto the ends of it." ^ Because, even to the highest, " not
any one hath ascended into heaven save He who came down
from heaven,. the Son of man who is in heaven." "^ Repeat-
ing this same thing. He says : " Father, glorify me with that
glory wherewith I was with Thee before the world was." ^
And if this Word came down from heaven as a bridegroom
to the flesh, that by the assumption of flesh He might ascend
thither as the Son of man, whence the Son of God had
descended as the Word, reasonably, while by the mutual
connection both flesh wears the Word of God, and the Son
of God assumes the frailty of the flesh ; when the flesh being
espoused ascending thither, whence without the flesh it had
descended, it at length receives that glory which in being
shown to have had before the foundation of the world, it
is most manifestly proved to be God. And, nevertheless,
while the world itself is said to have been founded after
Him, it is found to have been created by Him ; by that very
divinity in Him whereby the world was made, both His
glory and His authority are proved. ^Moreover, if, whereas it
is the property of none but God to know the secrets of the
heart, Christ beholds the secrets of the heart ; and if, whereas
it belongs to none but God to remit sins, the same Christ
1 John i. 10, 11. - John i. 1. 3 -p&. xix. 6, 7.
^ John iii. 13. ^ John xvii, 5.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 827
remits sins ; and if, whereas it is the portion of no man to
come from heaven, He descended by coming from heaven ;
and if, whereas this word can be true of no man, " I and the
Father are one," ^ Christ alone declared this word out of the
consciousness of His divinity; and if, finally, the Apostle
Thomas, instructed in all the proofs and conditions of
Christ's divinity, says in reply to Christ, "My Lord and
my God ; " - and if, besides, the Apostle Paul says, " Whose
are the fathers, and of whom Christ came according to the
flesh, who is over all, God blessed for evermore," " writing
in his epistles ; and if the same apostle declares that he was
ordained " an apostle not by men, nor of man, but by Jesus
Christ ; " ^ and if the same contends that he learned the
gospel not from men or by man, but received it from
Jesus Christ, reasonably Christ is God. Therefore, in this
respect, one of two things must needs be established. For
since it is evident that all things were made by Christ,
He is either before all things, since all things were by Him,
and so He is justly God ; or because He is man He is sub-
sequent to all things, and justly nothing was made by Him.
But we cannot say that nothing was made by Him, when we
observe it written that all things were made by Him. He
is not therefore subsequent to all things ; that is. He is not
man only, who is subsequent to all things, but God also,
since God is prior to all things. For He is before all things,
because all things are by Him, while if He were only man,
nothing would be by Him ; or if all things were by Him,
He would not be man only, because if he were only man,
all things would not be by Him ; nay, nothing would be by
Him. What, then, do they reply ? That nothing is by Him,
so that He is man only ? How then are all things by Him ?
Therefore He is not man only, but God also, since all things
are by Him ; so that we reasonably ought to understand that
Christ is not man only, who is subsequent to all things, but
God also, since by Him all things were made. For liow can
you say that He is man only, when you see Him also in the
1 John X. 30. - Jolni xx. 2S.
3 Uom. ix. 5. •* Gal. i. 1 and 12.
328 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
flesh, unless because when both aspects are considered, both
truths are rightly believed ?
CHAPTER XIV.
Argument. — The author prosecutes the same argument.
And yet the heretic still shrinks from urging that Christ
is God, whom he perceives to be proved God by so many
words as well as facts. If Christ is only man, how, when He
came into this world, did He come unto His own, since a
man could have made no world ? If Christ was only man,
how is the world said to have been made by Him, when the
world was not by man, but man was ordained after the world ?
If Christ was only man, how was it that Christ was not only
of the seed of David ; but He was the Word made flesh and
dwelt among us ? For although the Protoplast was not born of
seed, yet neither was the Protoplast formed of the conjunction
of the Word and the flesh. For He is not the Word made
flesh, nor dwelt in us. If Christ vv^as only man, how does
He " who cometh from heaven testify what He hath seen
and heard," ^ when it is plain that man cannot come from
heaven, because he cannot be born there ? If Christ be only
man, how are " visible things and invisible, thrones, powers,
and dominions," said to be created by Him and in Him ; when
the heavenly powers could not have been made by man,
since they must needs have been prior to man ? If Christ
is only man, how is He present wherever He is called
upon ; when it is not the nature of man, but of God, that
it can be present in every place ? If Christ is only man,
why is a man invoked in prayers as a Mediator, when the
invocation of a man to afford salvation is condemned as in-
effectual ? If Christ is only man, why is hope rested upon
Him, when hope in man is declared to be accursed? If
Christ is only man, why may not Clu'ist be denied without
destruction of the soul, when it is said that a sin committed
1 Jolm iii. 31.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 329
against man may be forgiven ? If Christ Is only man, how
comes John the Baptist to testify and say, " He who comcth
after me has become before me, because He was prior to
me ;"^ when, if Christ were only man, being born after John,
He could not be before John, unless because He preceded
him. In that He Is God ? If Christ Is only man, how Is it
that " what things the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise," ^ when man cannot do works like to the heavenly
operations of God ? If Christ Is only man, how Is it that
" even as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to
the Son to have life in Himself," ^ when man cannot have life
in him after the example of God the Father, because he Is
not glorious in eternity, but made with the materials of
mortality ? If Christ is only man, how does He say, " I am
the bread of eternal life which came down from heaven," *
when man can neither be the bread of life, he himself being
mortal, nor could he have come down from heaven, since no
perishable material Is established In heaven ? If Christ is
only man, how does He say that *' no man hath seen God
at any time, save He which is of God ; He hath seen God ? " ^
Because If Christ is only man, He could not see God, because
no man has seen God ; but if, being of God, He has seen
God, He wishes It to be understood that He is more than
man. In that He has seen God. If Christ is only man, why
does He say, " What if ye shall see the Son of man ascend-
ing thither where He was before ? " ^ But He ascended into
heaven, therefore He was there, in that He returned thither
where He was before. But if He was sent from heaven by
the Father, He certainly Is not man only ; for man, as we
have said, could not come from heaven. Therefore as man
He was not there before, but ascended thither where He was
not. But the Word of God descended which was there, —
the Word of God, I say, and God by whom all things
were made, and without whom nothing was made. It was
not therefore man that thus came thence from heaven, but
the Word of God ; that is, God descended thence.
1 John i. 15. 2 John ^^ 19^ 3 John v. 2G.
* John vi. 51. 5 j^hn vi. 46. ^ John vi. 62.
330 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
CHAPTER XV.i
Argument. — Again he proves from the Gospel that Christ
is God.
If Christ is only man, how is it that He says, " Though I
bear record of myself, yet my record is true : because I know
whence I came, and whither I go ; ye know not whence I
came, and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh ? " ^ Behold,
also He says, that He shall return thither whence He bears
witness that He came before, as being sent, — to wit, from
heaven. He came down therefore from whence He camic,
in the same manner as He goes thither from whence He
descended. Whence if Christ were only man, he would not
have come thence, and therefore would not depart thither,
because he would not have come thence. Moreover, by
coming thence, whence as man He could not have come, He
shows Himself to have come as God. For the Jews, ignorant
and untaught in the matter of this very descent of His, made
these heretics their successors, seeing that to them it is said,
^' Ye know not whence I come, and whither I go : ye judge
after the flesh." As much they as the Jews, holding that
the carnal birth of Christ was the only one, believed that
Christ was nothing else than man ; not considering this point,
that as man could not come from heaven, so as that he might
return thither. He who descended thence must be God, seeing
that man could not come thence. If Christ is only man,
how does He say, " Ye are from below, I am from above ;
3^e are of this world, I am not of this world ? " ^ But there-
fore if every man is of this world, and Christ is for that
reason in this world, is He only man ? God forbid ! But
consider what He says : " I am not of this world." Does He
then speak falsely when He says " of this world," if He is
only man 1 Or if He does not speak falsely. He is not of
this world ; He is therefore not man only, because He is not.
^ According to Pamelius, eh. xxiii.
2 John viii. 14, 15. ^ John viii. 23.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 331
of tins world. But that it sliould not be a secret who He
was, He declared whence He was : " I," said He, " am from
above," that is, fx'om heaven, whence man cannot come, for
he was not made in heaven. He is God, therefore, who is
from above, and therefore He is not of this world ; although,
moreover, in a certain manner He is of this world : wherefore
Christ is not God only, but man also. As reasonably in the
way in which He is not of this world according to the divinity
of the Word, so He is of this world according to the frailty
of the body that He has taken upon Him. For man is joined
with God, and God is linked with man. But on that account
this Christ here laid more stress on the one aspect of
His sole divinity, because the Jewish blindness contem-
plated in Christ the aspect alone of the flesh ; and thence
in the present passage He passed over in silence the frailty
of the body, which is of the world, and spoke of His divinity
alone, which is not of the world : so that in proportion as they
had inclined to believe Him to be only man, in that proportion
Christ might draw them to consider His divinity, so as to
believe Him to be God, desirous to overcome their incredulity
concerning His divinity by omitting in the meantime any
mention of His human condition, and by setting before them
His divinity alone. If Christ is man only, how does He say,
'^ I proceeded forth and came from God," ^ when it is evident
that man was made by God, and did not proceed forth from
Him ? But in the way in which as man He proceeded not
from God, thus the Word of God proceeded, of whom it is
said, "My heart hath uttered forth a good Word;"^ which,
because it is from God, is with reason also with God. And
this, too, since it was not uttered without effect, reasonably
makes all things : " For all things were made by Him, and
without Him was notliing made."^ But this Word whereby
all things were made [is God]. "And God," says he, "was
the Word."* Therefore God proceeded from God, in that
the Word which proceeded is God, who proceeded forth from
God, If Christ is only man, how does He say, " If any man
1 John viii. 42. 2 pg, xlv. 1.
3 John i. 3. * John i. 1.
332 NOVATIAJSr THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
shall keep my word, lie shall not see death for ever?"^ Not
to see death for ever! what is this but immortality? But
immortality is the associate of divinity, because both the
divinity is immortal, and immortality is the fruit of divinity.
For every man is mortal ; and immortality cannot be from
that which is mortal. Therefore from Christ, as a mortal
man, immortality cannot arise. " But," says He, " whosoever
keepeth my word, shall not see death for ever;" therefore
the word of Christ affords immortality, and by immortality
affords divinity. But although it is not possible to maintain
that one who is himself mortal can make another immortal,
yet this word of Christ not only sets forth, but affords immor-
tality : certainly He is not man only who gives immortality,
which if He were only man He could not give ; but by giving
divinity by immortality. He proves Himself to be God by
offering divinity, w^hich if He were not God He could not
give. If Christ w^as only man, how did He say, '^ Before
Abraham was, I am ?"^ For no man can be before Him from
whom he himself is ; nor can it be that any one should have
been prior to him of w^iom he himself has taken his origin.
And yet Christ, although He is born of Abraham, says that
He is before Abraham. Either, therefore. He says what is
not true, and deceives, if He was not before Abraham, seeing
that He was of Abraham ; or He does not deceive, if He is
also God, and was before Abraham. And if this were not
so, it follows that, being of Abraham, He could not be before
Abraham. If Christ was only man, how does He say, '^ And
I know them, and my sheep follow me ; and I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish?"^ And yet, since
every man is bound by the laws of mortality, and therefore
is unable to keep himself for ever, much more will he be
unable to keep another for ever. But Christ promises to
give salvation for ever, which if He does not give, He is a
deceiver ; if He gives, He is God. But He does not deceive,
for He gives what He promises. Therefore He is God who
proffers eternal salvation, wdiich man, being unable to keep
himself [for ever], cannot be able to give to another. If
1 John viii. 51. ^ JqIj^ ^111. 68. ^ John x. 27, 28.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 333
Christ is only man, what is that which He says, " I and the
Father are one ?"^ For how can it be that " I and the Father
are one," if He is not both God and the Son? — who may there-
fore be called one, seeing that He is of Himself, being both
His Son, and being born of Him, being declared to have
proceeded from Him, by which He is also God,; which when
the Jews thought to be hateful, and believed to be blasphe-
mous, for that He had shown Himself in these discourses to
be God, and therefore rushed at once to stoning, and set to
work passionately to hurl stones. He strongly refuted His
adversaries by the example and witness of the Scriptures.
" If," said He, " He called them gods to whom the words of
God were given, and the Scriptures cannot be broken, ye
say of Him whom the Father sanctified, and sent into this
world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of
God."^ By which words He did not deny Himself to be
God, but rather He confirmed the assertion that He was
God. For because, undoubtedly, they are said to be gods
unto whom the words of God were given, much more is He
God who is found to be superior to all these. And never-
theless He refuted the calumny of blasphemy in a fitting
manner with lawful management.^ For He wishes that He
should be thus understood to be God, as the Son of God, and
He would not wish to be understood to be the Father Him-
self. Thus He said that He was sent, and showed them
that He had manifested many good works from the Father ;
whence He desired that He should not be understood to be the
Father, but the Son. And in the latter portion of His de-
fence He made mention of the Son, not the Father, when He
said, '' Ye say. Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son
of God." Thus, as far as pertains to the guilt of blasphemy.
He calls Himself the Son, not the Father ; but as pertain-
ing to His divinity, by saying, " I and the Father are one,"
He proved that He was the Son of God. He is God, there-
fore, but God in such a manner as to be the Son, not the
Father.
1 John X. 30. 2 joiin x. 35, 3G.
• " Dispositione," soil. oIkouo,uix. — Jackson.
334 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
CHAPTER XVI.^
Akgument. — Again from the Gospel He proves Christ
to he God.
If Christ was only man, how is it that He Himself says,
" And every one that believeth in me shall not die for ever-
more ? "^ And yet he who believes in man by himself alone is
called accursed; but he who believes on Christ is not accursed,
but is said not to die for evermore. Whence, if on the one hand
He is man only, as the heretics will have it, how shall not any-
body who believes in Him die eternally, since he who trusts in
man is held to be accursed ? Or on the other, if he is not ac-
cursed, but rather, as it is read, destined for the attainment
of everlasting life, Christ is not man only, but God also, in
whom he who believes both lays aside all risk of curse, and
attains to the fruit of righteousness. If Christ was only
man, how does He say that the Paraclete " shall take of His,
those things which He shall declare ? " ^ For neither does the
Paraclete receive anything from man, but the Paraclete offers
knowledge to man ; nor does the Paraclete learn things future
from man, but instructs man concerning futurity. Therefore
either the Paraclete has not received from Christ, as man,
what He should declare, since man could give nothing to the
Paraclete, seeing that from Him man himself ought to receive,
and Christ in the present instance is both mistaken and de-
ceives, in saying that the Paraclete shall receive from Him,
being a man, the things which He may declare ; or He does
not deceive us (as in fact He does not), and the Paraclete
has received from Christ what He may declare. But if He
has received from Christ what He may declare to us, Christ
is greater than the Paraclete, because the Paraclete would
not receive from Christ unless He were less than Christ.
But the Paraclete being less than Christ, moreover, by this
very fact proves Christ to be God, from whom He has
received what He declares : so that the testimony of Christ's
1 Accordino: to Pamelius, cli. xxiv. ^ John xi. 26. ^ Jolm xvi. 14.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 335
divinity is immense, in the Paraclete being found to be
less than Christ, and taking from Him what He gives to
others; seeing that if Christ were only man, Christ would
receive from the Paraclete what He should say, not the
Paraclete receive from Christ what He should declare. If
Christ was only man, wherefore did He lay down for us
such a rule of believing as that in which He said, " And
this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only and
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent ? " ^ Had
He not wished that He also should be understood to be God,
why did He add, " And Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent," except because He wished to be received as God also ?
Because if He had not wished to be understood to be God,
He would have added, " And the man Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent ; " but, in fact. He neither added this, nor
did Christ deliver Himself to us as man only, but associated
Himself with God, as He wished to be understood by this
conjunction to be God also, as He is. We must therefore
believe, according to the rule prescribed, on the Lord, the one
true God, and consequently on Him whom He has sent, Jesus
Christ, who by no means, as we have said, would have linked
Himself to the Father had He not wished to be understood
to be God also : for He would have separated Himself from
Him had He not wished to be understood to be God. He
w^ould have placed Himself among men only, had He known
Himself to be only man ; nor would He have linked Him-
self with God had He not known Himself to be God also.
But in this case He is silent about His being man, be-
cause no one doubts His being man, and with reason links
Himself to God, that He might establish the formula of
His divinity for those who should believe. If Christ was
only man, how does He say, " And now glorify me with the
glory which I had with Thee before the world was?" ^ If,
before the world was. He had glory with God, and maintained
His glory with the Father, He existed before the world, for
He would not have had the glory unless He Himself had
existed before, so as to be able to keep the glory. For no one
1 John xvii. 3. ^ Jolm xvii. 5.
336 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
could possess anything, unless he himself should first be in
existence to keep anything. But now Christ has the glory
before the foundation of the world ; therefore He Himself
was before the foundation of the world. For unless He were
before the foundation of the world, He could not have glory
before the foundation of the world, since He Himself was
not in existence. But indeed man could not have glory
before the foundation of the world, seeing that he was after
the world; but Christ had — therefore He was before the
world. Therefore He was not man only, seeing that He was
before the world. He is therefore God, because He was
before the world, and held His glory before the world.
Neither let this be explained by predestination, since this is
not so expressed, or let them add this who think so; but
woe is denounced to them who add to, even as to those who
take away from, that which is written. Therefore that may
not be said, which may not be added. And thus, predestina-
tion being set aside, seeing it is not so laid down, Christ was
in substance before the foundation of the world. For He is
"the Word by which all things were made, and without
which nothing was made." Because even if He is said to
be glorious in predestination, and that this predestination
was before the foundation of the world, let order be main-
tained, and before Him a considerable number of men
was destined to glory. For in respect of that destina-
tion, Christ will be perceived to be less than others if He
is designated subsequent to them. For if this glory was in
predestination, Christ received that predestination to glory
last of all ; for prior to Him Adam will be seen to have
been predestinated, and Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and
Abraham, and many others. For since with God the order
of all, both persons and things, is arranged, many will be said
to have been predestinated before this predestination of Christ
to glory. And on these terms Christ is discovered to be
inferior to other men, although He is really found to be
better and greater, and more ancient than the angels them-
selves. Either, then, let all these things be set on one side,
that Christ's divinity may be destroyed ; or if these things
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 337
cannot be set aside, let His proper divinity be attributed to
Christ by the heretics.
CHAPTER XVIL*
Argument. — It is, moreover, proved hy Moses in the beginning
of the Holy Scriptures,
"What if Moses pursues this same rule of truth, and delivers
to us in the beginning of his sacred writings, this principle
by which we may learn that all things were created and
founded by the Son of God, that is, by the Word of God ?
For He says the same that John and the rest say ; nay, both
John and the others are perceived to have received from him
what they say. For if John says, " All things were made
by Him, and without Him was nothing made," ^ the prophet
too says, " I tell my works to the King." * Moses, moreover,
introduces God commanding that there should be light at the
first, that the heaven should be established, that the waters
should be gathered into one place, that the dry land should
appear, that the fruit should be brought forth according to its
seed, that the animals should be produced, that lights should
be established in heaven, and stars. He shows that none
other was then present to God — by whom these w^orks were
commanded that they should be made — than He by whom
all things were made, and without whom nothing was made.
And if He is the Word of God — " for my heart has uttered
forth a good Word " — He shows that in the beginning the
Word was, and that this Word was with the Father, and
besides that the Word was God, and that all things were
made by Him. Moreover, this " Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us,""^ — to wit, Christ the Son of God; whom both
on receiving subsequently as man according to the flesh, and
seeing before the foundation of the world to be the Word of
God, and God, we reasonably, according to the instruction
^ According to Pamelius, ch. xxv. ^ John i. 3.
" Ps. xlv. 1. ■♦ John i. 14.
CYP. — VOL. II. Y
338 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
of the Old and New Testament, believe and hold to be as
well God as man, Christ Jesus. What if the same Moses
introduces God saying, " Let us make man after onr image
and likeness ; " ^ and below, " And God made man ; in the
image of God made He him, male and female made He
them?" ^ If, as we have already shown, it is the Son of God
by whom all things were made, certainly it was the Son of
God by whom also man was ordained, on whose account all
things were made. Moreover, when God commands that man
should be made, He is said to be God who makes man ; but
the Son of God makes man, that is to say, the Word of God,
"by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing
was made." And this Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us: therefore Christ is God; therefore man was made
by Christ as by the Son of God. But God made man in the
image of God ; He is therefore God who made man in the
image of God ; therefore Christ is God ; so that with reason
neither does the testimony of the Old Testament waver con-
cerning the person of Christ, being supported by the mani-
festation of the New Testament; nor is the power of the
New Testament detracted from, while its truth is resting on
the roots of the same Old Testament. Whence they who
presume Christ the Son of God and man to be only man,
and not God also, do so in opposition to both Old and New
Testaments, in that they corrupt the authority and the truth
both of the Old and New Testaments. What if the same
Moses everywhere introduces God the Father infinite and
without end, not as being enclosed in any place, but as one
who includes every place ; nor as one who is in a place, but
rather one in whom every place is, containing all things and
embracing all things, so that with reason He can neither
descend nor ascend, because He Himself both contains and
fills all things, and yet nevertheless introduces God descend-
ing to consider the tower which the sons of men were build-
ing, asking and saying, " Come;" and then, " Let us go down
and there confound their tongues, that each one may not
understand the words of his neio'hbour." ® Whom do thev
CD i/
1 Gen. i. 2G. 2 Qg^^ ^ 27. ^ Qen. xi. 7.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 339
pretend here to have been the God who descended to that
tower, and asking to visit those men at that time ? God the
Father ? Then thus He is enclosed in a place ; and how does
He embrace all things ? Or does He say that it is an angel
descending with angels, and saying, "Come;" and subse-
quently, "Let us go down and there confound their tongues ?"
And yet in Deuteronomy we observe that God told these
things, and that God said, where it is written, "When
He scattered abroad the children of Adam, He determined
the bounds of the nations according to the number of the
angels of God." ^ Neither, therefore, did the Father descend,
as the subject itself indicates ; nor did an angel command
these things, as the fact shows. Tlien it remains that He
must have descended, of whom the Apostle Paul says, " He
who descended is the same who ascended above all the
heavens, that He might fill all things," ^ that is, the Son of
God, the Word of God. But the Word of God was made
flesh, and dwelt among us. This must be Christ. Therefore
Christ must be declared to be God.
CHAPTEE XVIII.3
Argument. — Moreover also, from the fact that He who icas
seen of Abraham is called God; ivhich cannot be under-
stood of the Father, whom no man hath seen at any time ;
hut of the Son in the likeness of an angel.
Behold, the same Moses tells us in another place that
" God was seen of Abraham." * And yet the same Moses
hears from God, that " no man can see God and live." ^ If
God cannot be seen, how was God seen ? Or if He was
seen, how is it that He cannot be seen? For John also
says, "No man hath seen God at any time;"^ and the
Apostle Paul, " Whom no man hath seen, nor can see." "^
1 Dent, xxxii. 8. 2 gpij jy iq.
^ According to Pamelius, ch. xxvi. ** Ccn xii. 7.
^ Ex. xxxiii. 20. « 1 John iv. 12. "^ 1 Tiin. vi. 16.
340 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
But certainly the Scripture does not lie; therefore, truly,
God was seen. Whence it may be understood that it was not
the Father who was seen, seeing that He never was seen ;
but the Son, who has both been accustomed to descend, and
to be seen because He has descended. For He is the image
of the invisible God, as the imperfection and frailty of the
human condition was accustomed sometimes even then to see
God the Father in the image of God, that is, in the Son of
God. For gradually and by progression human frailty was
to be strengthened by the image to that glory of being able
one day to see God the Father. For the things that are
great are dangerous if they are [seen on a] sudden. For
even the sudden light of the sun after darkness, with its
too great splendour, will not make manifest the light of day
to unaccustomed eyes, but will rather strike them with
blindness.
And lest this should occur to the injuiy of human eyes,
the darkness is broken up and scattered by degrees ; and the
rising of that luminary, mounting by small and unnoticed
increments, gently accustoms men's eyes to bear its full orb
by the [gradual] increase of its rays. Thus, therefore, Christ
also — that is, the image of God, and the Son of God — is
looked upon by men, inasmuch as He could be seen. And
thus the weakness and imperfection of the human destiny is
nourished, led up, and educated by Him ; so that, being ac-
customed to look upon the Son, it may one day be able to see
God the Father Himself also as He is, that it may not be
stricken by His sudden and intolerable brightness, and be
hindered from being able to see God the Father, whom it has
always desired. Wherefore it is the Son who is seen ; but
the Son of God is the Word of God : and the Word of God
was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and this is Christ.
What in the world is the reason that we should hesitate to
call Him God, who in so many ways is acknowledged to be
proved God ? And if, moreover, the angel meets with Hagar,
Sarah's maid, driven from her home as well as turned away,
near the fountain of water in the way to Shur ; asks and learns
the reason of her flight, and after tliat offers her advice that
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 341
she should humble lierself ; and, moreover, gives her the hope
of the name of mother, and pledges and promises that from
lier womb there should be a numerous seed, and tliat she
should have Ishmael to be born from her ; and with other
things unfolds the place of his habitation, and describes his
mode of life; yet Scripture sets forth this angel as both
Lord and God (for He would not have promised the bless-
ing of seed unless the angel had also been God). Let
them ask what the heretics can make of this present pas-
sage. Was that the Father that was seen by Hagar or
not? For He is declared to be God. But far be it from
us to call God the Father an angel, lest He should be
subordinate to another whose angel He would be. But they
will say that it was an angel. How then shall He be
God if He was an angel? — since this name is nowhere
-conceded to angels, except that on either side the truth
compels us into this opinion, that we ought to understand
it to have been God the Son, who, because He is of God,
is rightly called God, because He is the Son of God ; be-
cause He is subjected to the Father, and the Announcer of
the Father's will, He is declared to be the Angel of Great
Counsel. Therefore, although this passage neither is suited
to the person of the Father, lest He should be called an
angel, nor to the person of an angel, lest he should be
called God ; yet it is suited to the person of Christ that He
sliould be both God because He is the Son of God, and
should be an angel because He is the Announcer of the
Father's mind. And the heretics ought to understand that
they are setting themselves against the Scriptures, in that,
while they say that they believe Christ to have been also an
iingel, they are unwilling to declare Him to have been also God,
when they read in the Old Testament that He often came to
visit the liuman race. To this, moreover, Moses added the
instance of God seen of Abraham at the oak of Mamre,
when he was sitting at the opening of his tent at noon-day ;
and nevertheless, although he had beheld three men, that
Jie called one of them Lord ; and when he had washed their
feet, he offers them bread baked on the ashes, with butter
342 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
and abundance of milk itself, and nrges them that, being
detained as guests, they would eat. And after this he hears
also that he should be a father, and learns that Sarah his
wife should bring forth a son by him ; and acknowledges con-
cerning the destruction of the people of Sodom, what they
deserve to suffer ; and learns that God had come down on
account of the cry of Sodom. In which place, if they will
have it that the Father was seen at that time to have been
received with hospitality in company with two angels, the
heretics have believed the Father to be visible; but if an
angel, although of the three angels one is called Lord, why,
although it is not usual, is an angel called God ? unless be-
cause, in order that His proper invisibility may be restored
to the Father, and the proper inferiority be remitted to the
angel, it was only God the Son, who also is God, who was seen
by Abraham, and was believed to have been received with
hospitality. For He anticipated sacramentally what He was
hereafter to become. He was made a guest of Abraham,
being about to be among the sons of Abraham. And his chil-
dren's feet, by way of proving what He was. He washed ; re-
turning in the children the claim of hospitality which formerly
the Father had put out to interest to Him. Whence also,
that there might be no doubt but that it was He who was the
guest of Abraham on the destruction of the people of Sodom,
it is declared: "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and
upon Gomorrha fire and brimstone from the Lord out of
heaven." ^ For thus also said the prophet in the person of
God : " I have overthrown you, as the Lord overturned
Sodom and Gomorrha."^ Therefore the Lord overturned
Sodom, that is, God overturned Sodom; but in the over-
turning of Sodom, the Lord rained fire from the Lord.
And this Lord was the God seen by Abraham; and this
God was the guest of Abraham, certainly seen because He
was also touched. But although the Father, being invisible,
was assuredly not at that time seen. He who was accustomed
to be touched and seen was seen and received to hospitality.
But this the Son of God, "The Lord rained from the
1 Gen. xix. 24. - Amos iv. 11.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 343
Lord upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire." And
this is the Word of God. And the Word of God was made
flesh, and dwelt among us ; and this is Christ. It was not
the Father, then, who was a guest with Abraham, but Christ.
Nor was it the Father who was seen then, but the Son ;
and Christ was seen. Rightly, therefore, Christ is both
Lord and God, who was not otherwise seen by Abraham,
except that as God the Word He was begotten of God the
Father before Abraham himself. Moreover, says the Scrip-
ture, the same Angel and God visits and consoles the same
Hagar when driven with her son from the dwelling of
Abraham. For when in the desert she had exposed the
infant, because the water had fallen short from the pitcher ;
and when the lad had cried out, and she had lifted up her
weeping and lamentation, " God heard,*' says the Scripture,
" the voice of the lad from the place where he w^as." ^
Having told that it was God who heard the voice of the
infant, it adds : '' And the an^el of the Lord called Hao-ar
herself out of heaven," saying that that was an angel whom
it had called God, and pronouncing Him to be Lord whom
it had set forth as an angel; which Angel and God moreover
promises to Hagar herself greater consolations, in saying,
" Fear not ; for I have heard the voice of the lad from the
place where he was. Arise, take up the lad, and hold him ;
for I will make of him a great nation." ^ Why does this
angel, if angel only, claim to himself this right of saying,
I will make of him a great nation, since assuredly this kind
of power belongs to God, and cannot belong to an angel?
Whence also He is confirmed to be God, since He is able to
do this ; because, by way of proving this very point, it is
immediately added by the Scripture : "And God opened her
eyes, and she saw a well of running water; and she went and
filled the bottle from the well, and gave to the lad : and God
was with the lad." ^ If, then, this God was with the Lord,
who opened the eyes of Hagar that she might see the well of
running water, and might draw the water on account of the
urgent need of [the lad's] thirst, and this God who calls her
^ Gen. xxi. 17, etc. - Gen. xxi. 18. ^ Gen. xxi. 20.
344 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
from heaven is called an angel when, in previously hearing the
voice of the lad crying, He was rather God ; is not under-
stood to be other than angel, in like manner as He was God
also. And since this cannot be applicable or fitting to the
Father, who is God only, but may be applicable to Christ,
who is declared to be not only God, but angel also, it
manifestly appears that it was not the Father who thus
spoke to Hagar, but rather Christ, since He is God ; and to
Him also is applied the name of angel, since He became the
" angel of great counsel." ^ And He is the angel, in that
He declares the bosom of the Father, as John sets forth.
For if John himself says, that He Himself who sets forth
the bosom of the Father, as the Word, became flesh in order
to declare the bosom of the Father, assuredly Christ is
not only man, but angel also ; and not only angel, but He
is shown by the Scriptures to be God also. And this is
believed to be the case by us ; so that, if we will not consent
to apprehend that it was Christ who then spoke to Hagar, we
must either make an angel God, or we must reckon God
the Father Almighty among the angels.
CHAPTER XIX.2
Argument. — That God also ajypeared to Jacob as an angel;
namely, the Son of God.
What if in another place also we read in like manner that
God was described as an angel? For when, to his wives
Leah and Rachel, Jacob complained of the injustice of their
father, and when he told them that he desired now to go
and return into his own land, he moreover interposed the
authority of his dream ; and at this time he says that the
angel of God had said to him in a dream, " Jacob, Jacob.
And I said," says he, " What is it ? Lift up thine eyes,
said He, and see, the he-goats and the rams leaping upon
1 Isa. ix. 6, LXX.
2 According to Pamelius, eh. xxvii.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 345
tlie sheep, and the she-goats are black and white, and many-
coloured, and grizzled, and speckled : for I have seen all
that Laban hath done to thee. I am God, who appeared
to thee in the place of God, where thou anointedst for me
there the standing stone, and there vowedst a vow unto me :
now therefore arise, and go forth from this land, and go
unto the land of thy nativity, and I will be with thee." ^ If
the Angel of God speaks thus to Jacob, and the Angel him-
self mentions and says, " I am God, who appeared unto thee
in the house of God," we see without any hesitation that
this is declared to be not only an angel, but God also ; because
He speaks of the vow directed to Himself by Jacob in the
place of God, and He does not say, in my place. It is then
the place of God, and He also is God. Moreover, it is
written simply in the place of God, for it is not said in the
place of the angel and God, but only of God ; and He who
promises those things is manifested to be both God and
Angel, so that reasonably there must be a distinction between
Him who is called God only, and Him who is declared to be
not God simply, but Angsl also. Whence if so great an
authority cannot here be regarded as belonging to any other
angel, that He should also avow Himself to be God, and
should bear witness that a vow was made to Him, except to
Christ alone, to whom not as angel only, but as to God,
a vow can be vowed ; it is manifest that it is not to be received
as the Father, but as the Son, God and Angel. IMoreover,
if this is Christ, as it is, he is in terrible risk who says that
Christ is either man or angel alone, withholding from Him
the power of the divine name, — an authority which He has
constantly received on the faith of the heavenly Scriptures,
which continually say that He is both Angel and God. To
all these things, moreover, is added this, that in like manner
as the divine Scripture has frequently declared Him both
Angel and God, so the same divine Scripture declares Him
also both man and God, expressing thereby what He should
be, and depicting even then in figure what He was to be in
the truth of His substance. " For," it says, " Jacob remained
» Gen. xxxi. 11-13.
346 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
alone ; and there wrestled witli liim a man even till daybreak.
And He saw that He did not prevail against him ; and He
touched the broad part of Jacob's thigh while He was
wrestling with him and he with Him, and said to him, Let
me gOj for the morning has dawned. And he said, I will
not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. And He said, What
is thy name ? And he said, Jacob. And He said to him,
Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall
be thy name ; because thou hast prevailed with God, and thou
art powerful with men." ^ And it adds, moreover : " And
Jacob called the name of that place the Vision of God : for
I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been
made safe. And the sun arose upon him. Afterwards he
crossed over the Vision of God, but he halted upon his
thigh." ^ A man, it says, wrestled with Jacob. If this was
a mere man, who is he ? Whence is he ? Wherefore does
he contend and wrestle with Jacob ? What had intervened ?
What had happened ? What was the cause of so great a
dispute as that, and so great a struggle ? Why, moreover,
is Jacob, who is found to be strong enough to hold the man
with whom he is wrestling, and asks for a blessing from Him
whom he is holding, asserted to have asked therefore, except
because this struggle was prefigured as that which should
be between Christ and the sons of Jacob, which is said to
be completed in the gospel ? For against this man Jacob's
people struggled, in which struggle Jacob's people was found
to be the more powerful, because against Christ it gained
the victory of its iniquity : at which time, on account of the
crime that it committed, hesitating and giving way, it began
most sorely to halt in the walk of its own faith and salvation ;
and although it was found the stronger, in respect of the
condemnation of Christ, it still needs His mercy, still needs
His blessing. But, moreover, the man who wrestled with
Jacob says, " Moreover, thy name shall no longer be called
Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name ; " and if Israel is the
man who sees God, the Lord was beautifully showing that
it was not only a man who was then wrestling with Jacob,
1 Gen. xxxii. 24-27. - Gen. xxxii. 30, 31.
I
CONCEEXING THE TRIMTY. 347
but God also. Certainly Jacob saw God, with whom he
wrestled, although he was holding the man in his own wrestle.
And in order that there might still be no hesitation, He
Himself laid down the interpretation by saying, " Because
thou hast prevailed with God, and art powerful with men."
For which reason the same Jacob, perceiving already the
force of the Sacrament, and apprehending the authority of
Him with whom he had wrestled, called the name of that
place in which he had wrestled the Vision of God. He,
moreover, superadded the reason for his interpretation being
offered of the Vision of God : " For I have seen," said he,
" God face to face, and my soul has been saved." Moreover,
he saw God, with whom he wrestled as with a man ; but still
indeed he held the man as a conqueror, though as an inferior
he asked a blessino; as from God. Thus he wrestled with
God and with man ; and thus truly was that struggle pre-
figured, and in the Gospel was fulfilled, between Christ and
the people of Jacob, wherein, although the people had the
mastery, yet it proved to be inferior by being shown to be
guilty. Who will hesitate to acknowledge that Christ, in
whom this type of a wrestle was fulfilled, was not man only,
but God also, since even that very type of a wrestle seems
to have proved Him man and God ? And yet, even after
this, the same divine Scripture justly does not cease to call
the Angel God, and to pronounce God the Angel. For
when this very Jacob was about to bless Manasseh and
Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, with his hands placed across
on tlie heads of the lads, he said, " The God which fed me
from my youth even unto this day, the Angel who delivered
me from all evils, bless these lads." ^ Even to such a point
does he afiirm the same Beino; to be an Ane^el, whom he liad
called God, as in the end of his discourse, to express the
person of whom he was speaking as one, when he said
" bless ^ these lads." For if he had meant the one to be
understood as God, and the other as an angel, he would
have comprised the two persons in the plural number ; but
now he defined the singular number of one person in the
^ Gen. xlviii. 14, 15. - Benedicat.
U8 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
blessing, whence lie meant it to be understood that the same
person is God and Angel. But yet He cannot be received
as God the Father ; but as God and Angel, as Christ He
can be received. And Him, as the author of this blessing,
Jacob also signified by placing his hands crossed upon the lads,
as if their father was Christ, and showing, from thus placing
his hands, the figure and future form of the passion. Let no
one, therefore, who does not shrink from speaking of Christ
as an Angel, thus shrink from pronouncing Him God also,
when he perceives that He Himself was invoked in the
blessing of these lads, by the sacrament of the passion, in-
timated in the type of the [crossed] hands, as both God and
Angel.
CHAPTER XX.1
Argument. — It is j^roved from the Scriptures that Christ icas
called an angel. But yet it is shown from other 2)ci^"ts of
holy Scripture that He is God also.
But if some heretic, obstinately struggling against the truth,
should persist in all these instances either in understand-
ing that Christ was properly an angel, or should contend
that He must be so understood, he must in this respect also
be subdued by the force of truth. For if, since all heavenly
things, earthly things, and things under the earth, are sub-
jected to Christ, even the angels themselves, with all other
creatures, as many as are subjected to Christ, are called gods,
rightly also Christ is God. And if any angel at all subjected
to Christ can be called God, and this, if it be said, is also
professed without blasphemy, certainly much more can this
be fitting for Christ, Himself the Son of God, for Him to be
pronounced God. For if an angel who is subjected to Christ
is exalted as God, much more, and more consistently, shall
Christ, to whom all angels are subjected, be said to be God.
For it is not suitable to nature, that what is conceded to the
^ According to Pamclius, eh. xv.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 349
Jesser should be denied to the greater. Thus, if an angel be
inferior to Christ, and yet an angel is called God, rather by
consequence is Christ said to be God, who is discovered to be
both greater and better, not than one, but than all angels.
And if " God standeth in the assembly of the gods, and in
the midst God distinguisheth between the gods," ^ and Christ
stood at various times in the synagogue, then Christ stood
in the synagogue as God, — judging, to wit, between the
gods, to whom He says, " How long do ye accept the persons
of men?" consequently, that is to say, charging the men of
the synagogue with not practising just judgments. Further,
if they who are reproved and blamed seem even for any
reason to attain this name without blasphemy, that they
should be called gods, assuredly much more shall He be
esteemed God, who not only is said to have stood as God in
the synagogue of the gods, but moreover is revealed by the-
same authority of the reading as distinguishing and judging
between gods. But if they who " fall like one of the princes "
are still called gods, much rather shall He be said to be God,
who not only does not fall like one of the princes, but even
overcomes both the author and prince of wickedness himself.
And what in the world is the reason, that although they say
that this name was given even to Moses, since it is said, " I
have made thee as a god to Pharaoh,"^ it should be denied to
Christ, who is declared to be ordained not to Pharaoh [only],
but to every creature, as both Lord and God ? And in the
former case indeed this name is given with reserve, in the
latter lavishly ; in the former by measure, in the latter above
all kind of measure : " For," it is said, " the Father giveth
not to the Son by measure, for the Father loveth the Son."*
In the former for the time, in the latter without reference ta
time ; for He received the power of the divine name, both
above all things and for all time. But if he who has re-
ceived the power of one man, in respect of this limited power
given him, still without hesitation attains that name of god,
how much more shall He who has power over Moses himself
as well be believed to have attained the authority of that name?
^ P3. Ixxxii. 1, 2, etc. 2 Ex^ ^-^^ j^ 3 joini jij. 3^^ 35^
350 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
CHAPTER XXI.i
x^RGUMENT. — That the same divine majesty is again
confirmed in Christ hy other Scriptures.
And indeed I could set forth the treatment of this subject
by all the heavenly Scriptures, and set in motion, so to speak,
a perfect forest [of argument] concerning that manifestation
of the divinity of Christ, except that I have not so much
undertaken to speak against this special form of heresy, as
to expound the rule of truth concerning the person of Christ.
Although, however, I must hasten to other matters, I do not
think that I must pass over this point, that in the Gospel the
Lord declared, by way of signifying His majesty, saying,
" Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up
again ;"^ or wdien, in another passage, and on another
subject. He declares, " I have power to lay down my life,
and again to take it up ; for this commandment I have re-
ceived of my Father."^ Now who is it who says that He
can lay down His hfe, or can Himself recover His life again,
because He has received it of His Father ? Or who says that
He can again resuscitate and rebuild the destroyed temple of
His body, except because He is the "Word who is from the
Father, who is with the Father, " by whom all things w^ere
made, and without whom nothing was made;"* the imitator
of His Father's -works and powers, " the image of the invisible
God;"^ "who came down from heaven;"^ who testified what
things He had seen and heard ; who " came not to do His
own will, but rather to do the will of the Father," ^ by whom
He had been sent for this very purpose, that being made the
"messenger of great counsel,"^ He might unfold to us the
laws of the heavenly mysteries ; and who as the Word made
flesh dwelt among us, of us this Christ is proved to be not
man only, because He w^as the son of man, but also God,
1 According to Pamelius, cli. xvi. ^ John ii. 19.
3 John X. 18. * John i. 3. « CoL i. 15.
c John iii. 31, 32. '' John iv. 38. » Tsa. ix. 6.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 351
because He is the Son of God? And if by the apostle
Christ is called '^ the first-born of every creature,"^ how
could He be the first-born of every creature, unless because
according to His divinity the Word proceeded from the
Father before every creature ? And unless the heretics re-
ceive it thus, they will be constrained to show that Christ
the man was the first-born of every creature; which they
will not be able to do. Either, therefore, He is before every
creature, that He may be the first-born of every creature, and
He is not man only, because man is after every creature ; or
He is man only, and He is after every creature. And how
is He the first-born of every creature, except because being
that Word which is before every creature ; and therefore, the
first-born of every creature, He becomes flesh and dwells in
us, that is, assumes that man's nature which is after every
creature, and so dwells with him and in him, in us, that
neither is humanity taken away from Christ, nor His divinity
denied ? For if He is only before every creature, humanity
is taken away from Him ; but if He is only man, the divinity
which is before every creature is interfered with. Both of
these, therefore, are leagued together in Christ, and both
are conjoined, and both are linked with one another. And
ricfhtlv, as there is in Him somethino; which excels the
creature, the agreement of the divinity and the humanity
seems to be pledged in Him : for which reason He who is
declared as made the "Mediator between God and man "^ is
revealed to have associated in Himself God and man. And
if the same apostle says of Christ, that " having put off the
flesh, He spoiled powers, they being openly triumphed over
in Himself,"^ he certainly did not without a meaning pro-
pound that the flesh was put off, unless because he wished it
to be understood that it was again put on also at the resur-
rection. Who, therefore, is He that thus put off and put on
[the flesh] ? Let the heretics seek out. For we know that
the Word of God was invested with the substance of flesh,
and that He again was divested of the same bodily material,
which again He took up in the resurrection and resumed as
1 Col. i. 15. 2 1 Tim. ii. 5. » Qq\^ -^i 15^
352 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
a garment. And yet Christ could neither have been divested
of nor invested with manhood, had He been only man : for
man is never either deprived of nor invested with himself.
For that must be something else, whatever it may be, which
by any other is either taken away or put on. Whence,
reasonably, it was the Word of God who put off the flesh,
and again in the resurrection put it on, since He put it off
because at His birth He had been invested with it. There-
fore in Christ it is God who is invested, and moreover must
be divested, because He who is invested must also likewise be
He who is divested ; whereas, as man, He is invested with
and divested of, as it were, a certain tunic of the compacted
body.^ And therefore by consequence He w^as, as we have
said, the Word of God, w^ho is revealed to be at one time
invested, at another time divested [of the flesh]. For this,
moreover, He before predicted in blessings : " He shall wash
His garment in wine, and His clothing in the blood of the
grape." ^ If the garment in Christ be the flesh, and the
clothing itself be the body, let it be asked who is He wdiose
body is clothing, and garment flesh ? For to us it is evident
that the flesh is the garment, and the body the clothing of
the Word ; and He washed His bodily substance, and purified
the material of the flesh in blood, that is, in wine, by His
passion, in the human character that He had undertaken.
Whence, if indeed He is washed. He is man, because the
garment which is washed is the flesh ; but He w^ho washes
is the AYord of God, who, in order that He might wash the
garment, was made the taker up of the garment. Rightly,
from that substance which is taken that it might be washed.
He is revealed as a man, even as from the authority of the
Word who washed it He is manifested to be God.
1 Perhaps the emendation liomine instead of liomo is right. " He
puts on and puts off humanity, as if it were a kind of tunic for a
compacted body."
2 Gen. xlix. 11.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 353
CHAPTER XXII.^
APtaU3lENT. — That the same divine majesty is in Christ, he
once more asserts by other Scriptures.
But why, although we appear to hasten to another branch
of the argument, should we pass over that passage in the
apostle : " Who, although He was in the form of God, did
not think it robbery that He should be equal with God ; but
emptied Himself, taking up the form of a servant, being
made in the likeness of men; and found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore also God hath highly
exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above
every name ; that in the name of Jesus every knee should
be bent, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth ; and every tongue should confess that
Jesus is Lord, in the glory of God the Father?" ^ "Who,
although He was in the form of God," he says. If Christ
had been only man, He would have been spoken of as in
"the image" of God, not "in the form" of God. For we
know that man was made after the image or likeness, not
after the form, of God. W^ho then is that angel who, as we
have said, was made in the form of God ? But neither do we
read of the form of God in angels, except because this one
is chief and royal above all — the Son of God, the Word of
God, the imitator of all His Father's works, in that He
Himself worketh even as His Father. He is (as we have
declared) in the form of God the Father. And He is
reasonably affirmed to be in the form of God, in that He
Himself, being above all things, and having the divine power
over every creature, is also God after the example of the
Father. Yet He obtained this from His own Father, that
He should be both God of all and should be Lord, and be
begotten and made known from Himself as God in the form
of God the Father. He then, altliouch He was in the form
of God, thought it not robbery that He should be equal with
^ According to Pamelius, ch. xvii. ^ Phil. ii. G-11.
' CYP. — VOL. II. Z
354 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
God. For although He remembered that He was God from
God the Father, He never either compared or associated
Himself with God the Father, mindful that He was from
His Father, and that He possessed that very thing that He
is, because the Father had given it Him. Thence, finally,
both before the assumption of the flesh, and moreover after
the assumption of the body, besides, after the resurrection
itself, He yielded all obedience to the Father, and still
yields it as ever. Whence it is proved that He thought
that [the assertion of] a certain divinity would be robbery,
to wit, that of equalling Himself with God the Father ;
but, on the other hand, obedient and subject to all His rule
and will, He even was contented to take on Him the form
of a servant (that is, to become man) ; and the substance
of flesh and body which, as it came to Him from the bondage
of His forefathers' sins according to His manhood. He under-
took by being born, at which time moreover He emptied
Himself, in that He did not refuse to take upon Him the
frailty incident to humanity. Because if He had been born
man only. He would not have been emptied in respect of
this ; for man, being born, is increased, not emptied : for
in beginning to be that which He could not possess, so long
as He did not exist, as we have said, He is not emptied, but
is rather increased and enriched. But if Christ is emptied
in being born, in taking the form of a servant, how is He
man only ? of whom it could more truly have been said that
He was enriched, not emptied, at the time that He was born,
except because the authority of the divine Word, reposing
for awhile in taking upon itself humanity, and not exercis-
ing itself with its real strength, casts itself down, and puts
itself off for the time, in bearing the humanity which it
has undertaken ? It empties itself in descending to injuries
and reproaches, in bearing abominations, in experiencing
things unworthy ; and yet of this humility there is present
at once an eminent reward. For He has "received a
name which is above every name," which assuredly we
understand to be none other than the name of God. For
since it belongs to God alone to be above all things, it follows
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 355
that the name wliich is that God's who is above all things,
is above every name; which name by consequence is certainly
His who, although He was in the form of God, thought it
not robbery for Him to be equal with God. For neither, if
Christ were not God, would every knee bend itself in His
name, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth ; nor would tilings visible and invisible, even
every creature of all things, be subjected or be placed under
man, when they might remember that they were before man.
AYhence, since Christ is said to be in the form of God, and
since it is shown that for His nativity according to the flesh
He emptied Himself; and since it is declared that He
received from the Father that name which is above every
name ; and since it is shown that in His name every knee of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth, bend and bow themselves; and this very thing is
asserted to be a furtherance of the glory of God the Father ;
consequently He is not man only, from the fact that He
became obedient to the Father, even to death, yea, the death
of the cross ; but, moreover, from the proclamation by these
higher matters of the divinity of Christ, Christ Jesus is
shown to be Lord and God, which the heretics will not have.
CHAPTEK XXIII.^
Argument. — And this is so manifest, that some heretics have
thought Him to he God the Father, others that lie was
only God without the flesh.
In this place I may be permitted also to collect arguments
from the side of other heretics. It is a substantial kind of
proof which is gathered even from an adversary, so as to
prove the truth even from the very enemies of truth. For
it is so far manifest that He is declared in the Scriptures
to be God, that many heretics, moved by the magnitude
and truth of this divinity, exaggerating His honours above
^ According to Pamelius, eh, xvili.
356 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
measure, have dared to announce or to think Him not the
Son, but God the Father Himself. And this, although it is
contrary to the truth of the Scriptures, is still a great and
excellent argument for the divinity of Christ, who is so far
God, except as Son of God, born of God, that very many
heretics (as we have said) have so accepted Him as God, as
to think that He must be pronounced not the Son, but the
Father. Therefore let it be considered whether He is God
[or not], since His authority has so affected some, that they
have thought Him, as we have already said above, God the
Father Himself, and have confessed the divinity in Christ
with such impetuosity and effusion — compelled to it by the
manifest divinity in Christ — that they thought that He whom
they read of as the Son, because they perceived Him to be
God, must be the Father. Moreover, other heretics have so
far embraced the manifest divinity of Christ, as to say that
He was without flesh, and to withdraw from Him the wdiole
humanity which He took upon Him, lest, by associating with
Him a human nativity, as they conceived it, they should
diminish in Him the power of the divine name. This, how-
ever, we do not approve ; but we quote it as an argument to
prove that Christ is God, to this extent, that some, taking
away the manhood, have thought Him God only, and some
have thought Him God the Father Himself; wdien reason
and the proportion of the heavenly Scriptures show Christ to
be God, but as the Son of God ; and the Son of man, having
been taken up, moreover, by God, that He must be believed
to be man also. Because if He came to man, that He might
be Mediator of God and men, it behoved Him to be wdth
man, and the Word to be made flesh, that in His own self
He might link together the agreement of earthly things
w4th heavenly things, by associating in Himself pledges of
both natures, and uniting God to man and man to God ; so
that reasonably the Son of God might be made by the
assumption of flesh the Son of man, and the Son of man by
the reception of the Word of God the Son of God. This
most profound and recondite sacrament, destined before the
worlds for the salvation of the human race, is found to be
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 357
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, both God and man, that
the human race might be placed within the reach of the
enjoyment of eternal salvation.
CHAPTER XXIV.^
Argument. — That these have therefore erred, hy thinking that
there icas no difference between the Son of God and the
Son of man ; because they have ill understood the Scriptni^e,
But the material of that heretical error has arisen, as I
judge, from this, that they think that there is no distinction
between the Son of God and the Son of man ; because if a
distinction were made, Jesus Christ would easily be proved
to be both man and God. For they will have it that the
self-same that is man, the Son of man, appears also as the
Son of God ; that man and flesh and that same frail sub-
stance may be said to be also the Son of God Himself.
Whence, since no distinction is discerned between the Son
of man and the Son of God, but the Son of man Himself
is asserted to be the Son of God, the same Christ and the
Son of God is asserted to be man only ; by which they
strive to exclude, " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us." ^ " And ye shall call His name Emmanuel ;
which is, interpreted, God with us." ^ For they propose and
put forward what is told in the Gospel of Luke, whence
tliey strive to maintain not wliat is the truth, but only what
they want it to be : " The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow^ thee; there-
fore also the holy tiling which is born of thee shall be
called the Son of God." "* If, then, say they, the angel of
God says to ^lary, " That holy thing which is born of
thee," the substance of flesh and body is of Mary ; but he
has set forth that this substance, that is, that holy thing
which is born of her, is the Son of God. ^Man, say they,
^ According to Pamelius, cli. xix. ^ John i. 14.
3 Matt. i. 23. •♦ Luke i. 35.
358 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
himself, and that bodily flesh; that which is called holy,
itself is the Son of God. That also when the Scripture says
that '^ holy thing," we should understand thereby Christ the
man, the Son of man ; and when it places before us the Son
of God, we ought to perceive, not man, but God. And yet
the divine Scripture easily convicts and discloses the frauds
and artifices of the heretics. For if it were thus only, " The
Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee ; therefore that holy thing which is
born of thee shall be called the Son of God," perchance
we should have had to strive against them in another sort,
and to have sought for other arguments, and to have taken
up other weapons, with which to overcome both their snares
and their wiles ; but since the Scripture itself, abounding in
heavenly fulness, divests itself of the calumnies of these
heretics, we easily depend upon that that is written, and over-
come those errors without any hesitation. For it said, not as
we have already stated, " Therefore the holy thing which shall
be born of thee ; " but added the conjunction, for it says,
" Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee," so as to make it plain that that holy thing which is born
of her — that is, that substance of flesh and body — is not the
Son of God primarily, but consequently, and in the secondary
place ; ^ but primarily, that the Son of God is the Word of
God, incarnate by that Spirit of whom the angel says,
" The Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee." For He is the legitimate
Son of God who is of God Plimself ; and He, while He
assumes that holy thing, and links to Himself the Son of
man, and draws Him and transfers Him to Himself, by His
connection and mingling of association becomes responsible
for and makes Him the Son of God, which by nature He was
not, so that the original cause ^ of that name Son of God is in
^ [" The miraculous generation is here represented as the natural,
but by no means as the only cause for which He who had no human
father was to receive the name of God's Son." — Oosteuzee, in loco, on
Luke.— Tr.]
2 Principalitas.
I
CONCERNING THE TPdNITY. 359
the Spirit of the Lord, who descended and came, and
that there is only the continuance of the name in the case
of the Son of nian;^ and by consequence He reasonably
became the Son of God, although originally He is not the
Son of God. And therefore the angel, seeing that arrange-
ment, and providing for that order of the sacrament, did
not confuse everything in such a way as to leave no trace
of a distinction, but established the distinction by saying,
" Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God ; " lest, had he not
arranged that distribution with his balances, but had left
the matter all mixed up in confusion, it had really afforded
occasion to heretics to declare that the Son of man, in that
He is man, is the same as the Son of God and man. But
now, explaining severally the ordinance and the reason of
so great a sacrament, he evidently set forth in saying,
" And that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God ; " the proof that the Son of God
descended, and that He, in taking up into Himself the Son
of man, consequently made Him the Son of God, because the
Son of God associated and joined Him to Himself. So that,
while the Son of man cleaves in His nativity to the Son of
God, by that very mingling He holds that as pledged and
derived which of His own nature He could not possess. And
thus by the word of the angel the distinction is made, against
the desire of the heretics, between the Son of God and man ;
yet with their association, by pressing them to understand
that Christ the Son of man is man, and also to receive the
Son of God and man the Son of God ; that is, the Word
of God as it is written as God ; and thus to acknowledge
that Christ Jesus the Lord, connected on both sides (so to
speak), is on both sides woven in and grown together, and
associated in the same agreement of both substances, by the
binding to one another of a mutual alliance — man and God
by the truth of the Scripture which declares this very thing.
^ The edition of Pamelius reads : ut sequela nominis iii Filio Dei et
hominis sit. Dei et was expelled by Welchmaii, whom we have fol-
lowed.
360 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
CHAPTER XXV.^
Akg-ument. — And that it does not follow thence, that because
Christ died it must also he received that God died ; for
Scripture sets forth that not only was Christ God, hut
man also.
Therefoke, say they, if Christ is not man only, but God
also — and Scripture tells us that He died for us, and was
raised again — then Scripture teaches us to believe that God
died; or if God does not die, and Christ is said to have
died, then Christ will not be God, because God cannot be
admitted to have died. If they ever could understand or
had understood what they read, they would never speak
after such a perilous fashion. But the folly of error is
always hasty in its descent, and it is no new thing if those
who have forsaken the lawful faith descend even to perilous
results. For if Scripture were to set forth that Christ is
God only, and that there was no association of human weak-
ness mingled in His nature, this intricate argument of theirs
might reasonably avail something. If Christ is God, and
Christ died, then' God died. But when Scripture determines,
as we have frequently shown, that He is not only God, but
man also, it follows that wdiat is immortal may be held to
have remained uncorrupted. For who cannot understand
that the divinity is impassible, although the human weakness
is liable to suffering ? When, therefore, Christ is understood
to be mingled and associated as well of that which God is,
as of that which man is — for " the Word was made flesli,
and dwelt in us " — who cannot easily apprehend of himself,
without any teacher and interpreter, that it was not that in
Christ that died which is God, but that in Him died which
is man ? For what if the divinity in Christ does not die,
but the substance of the flesh only is destroyed, when in
other men also, who are not flesh only, but flesh and soul,
the flesh indeed alone suffers the inroads of wasting and death,
^ According; to Pamelius, cb. xx.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 361
while the soul is seen to be uncorrupted, and beyond the
laws of destruction and death ? For this also our Lord
Himself said, exhorting us to martyrdom and to contempt of
all human power : *' Fear not those wdio slay the body, but
cannot kill the soul." ^ But if the immortal soul cannot be
killed or slain in any other, although the body and flesh by
itself can be slain, how much rather assuredly could not the
Word of God and God in Christ be put to death at all,
although the flesh alone and the body was slain ! For if in
any man whatever, the soul has tliis excellence of immortality
that it cannot be slain, much more has the nobility of the
Word of God this power of not being slain. For if the
power of men fails to slay the sacred power of God, and if
the cruelty of man fails to destroy the soul, much more
ought it to fail to slay the Word of God. For as the soul
itself, which was made by the Word of God, is not killed by
men, certainly much rather will it be believed that the Word
of God cannot be destroyed. And if the sanguinary cruelty
of men cannot do more against men than only to slay the
body, how much more certainly it will not have power
against Christ beyond in the same way slaying the body!
So that, while from these considerations it is gathered that
nothing but the human nature in Christ was put to death,
it appears that the Word in Him was not drawn down into
mortality. For if Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob — who, it
is admitted, were only men — are manifested to be alive (for
all they, says He, live unto God ; and death in them does not
destroy the soul, although it dissolves the bodies themselves :
for it could exercise its power on the bodies, it did not avail
to exercise it on the souls : for the one in them w^as mortal,
and therefore died; the other in them was immortal, and
therefore is understood not to have been extinguished : for
which reason they are aflirmed and said to live unto God),
much rather death in Christ could have power against the
material of His body alone, while against the divinity of the
Word it could not bring itself to bear. For the power of
death is broken when the authority of immortality intervenes.
1 Matt. X. 28.
162 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
CHAPTEE XXYI.i
Argument. — Moreover, against the Sahellians he 'proves that
the Father is one, the Son another.
But from this occasion of Christ being proved from the
sacred authority of the divine writings not man only, but
God also, other heretics, breaking forth, contrive to impair
the religious position in Christ ; by this very fact wishing to
show that Christ is God the Father, in that He is asserted
to be not man only, but also is declared to be God. For
thus say they. If it is asserted that God is one, and Christ is
God, then say they. If the Father and Christ be one God,
Christ will be called the Father. Wherein they are proved
to be in error, not knowing Christ, but following the sound
of a name ; for they are not willing that He should be the
second person after the Father, but the Father Himself.
And since these things are easily answered, few words shall
be said. For who does not acknowledge that the person of
the Son is second after the Father, when he reads that it was
said by the Father, consequently to the Son, " Let us make
man in our image and our likeness;"^ and that after this it
was related, "And God made man, in the image of God
made He him ? " Or when he holds in his hands : " The
Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha fire and brimstone
from the Lord from heaA-en?"^ Or when he reads [as hav-
ing been said] to Christ : " Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten Thee. Ask of me, and I will give Thee the
heathens for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for
Thy possession ? " ^ Or when also that beloved writer says :
^' The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand,
until I shall make Thine enemies the stool of Thy feet ? " ^ Or
wdien, unfolding the prophecies of Isaiah, he finds it written
thus: "Thus saith the Lord to Christ my Lord?"^ Or
1 According to Pamclius, cli. xxi. 2 Qen. i. 26.
3 Gen. xix. 24. * Ps. ii. 7, 8. « Ps. ex. 1.
^ Isa. xlv. 1. Some transcriber has written Kvpia for Kvpu., "the
Lord" for " Gyrus," and the mistake has been followed by the author.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 363
when he reads : " I came not down from heaven to do mine
own will, but the will of Him that sent me ? " ^ Or when
he finds it written : " Because He who sent me is greater
than I ? " ^ Or when he considers the passage : " I go to
my Father, and your Father ; to my God, and your God ? " ^
Or when he finds it placed side by side with others : "More-
over, in your law it is written that the witness of two is true.
I bear witness of myself, and tlie Father who sent me
beareth witness of me ? " ^ Or when the voice from heaven
is: "I have both glorified Him, and I will glorify Him
again ? " ^ Or when by Peter it is answered and said :
" Thou art the Son of the living God? " ^ Or when by the
Lord Himself the sacrament of this revelation is approved,
and He says: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, because
flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee, but my Father
which is in heaven ? " ^" Or when by Christ Himself it is
expressed : " Father, glorify me with that glory with which
I was with Thee before the world was made ? " ^ Or when
it was said by the same: "Father, I knew that Thou hearest
me always; but on account of those who stand around I
said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent me ? " ^
Or when the definition of the rule is established by Christ
Himself, and it is said : " And this is life eternal, that they
should know Thee, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee upon the
earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me ? " ^^
Or when, moreover, by the same it is asserted and said: "All
things are delivered to me by my Father ? " ^^ Or when the
session at the right hand of the Father is proved both by
apostles and prophets? And I should have enough to do
were I to endeavour to gather together all the passages what-
ever on this side; since the divine Scripture, not so much
of the Old as also of the New Testament, everywhere shows
Him to be born of the Father, by whom all things were
1 John vi. 38. 2 j^hj^ xiv. 28. » John xx. 17.
4 John viii. 17, 18. ^ John xii. 20. ^ I^Iatt. xvi. IG.
^ Matt. xvi. 17. ^ John xvii. 5. ® John xi. 12.
^^ John xvii. 3, 4. " Luke x. 22.
364 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
made, and without whom nothing was made, who always has
obeyed and obeys the Father; that He always has power
over all things, but as delivered, as granted, as by the Father
Himself permitted to Him. And what can be so evident
[by way of proof] that this is not the Father, but the Son ;
as that He is set forth as being obedient to God the Father,
unless, if He be believed to be the Father, Christ may be
said to be subjected to another God the Father ?
CHAPTER XXVII.1
Argument. — He skilfully replies to the passage^ " I and the
Father are one^'' which the heretics employed in defence of
their own opinion.
But since they frequently urge upon us the passage where
it is said, "I and the Father are one,"^ in this also we shall
overcome them with equal facility. For if, as the heretics
think, Christ were the Father, He ought to have said, " I
and the Father are one"^ [scil, person]. But when He says
I, and afterwards introduces the Father by saying, " I and
the Father," He severs and distinguishes the peculiarity of
His, that is, the Son's person, from the paternal authority,
not only in respect of the sound of the name, but moreover
in respect of the order of the distribution of power, since He
might have said, " I the Father," if He had had it in mind
that He Himself was the Father. And since He said " one '^
(^scil. thing), let the heretics understand that He did not say
*"' one " [scil. person]. For one placed in the neuter, inti-
mates the social concord, not the personal unity. He is said
to be one [neuter], not one [masculine], because the expres-
sion is not referred to the number, but it is declared with
reference to the association of another. Finally, He adds,
and says, " We are," not " I am," so as to show, by the fact
of His saying "I and the Father are," that they are two
^ According to Pamelius, ch. xxii.
2 John X. 30 ; scil. " unum," Gr. h.
^ Original, "unus."
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 365
persons. Moreover, that He says one [neuter], has reference
to the agreement, and to the identity of judgment, and to
the loving association itself, as reasonably the Father and
Son are one in agreement, in love, and in affection; and
because He is of the Father, whatsoever He is, He is the
Son ; the distinction however remaining, that He is not the
Father who is the Son, because He is not the Son who is the
Father. For He would not have added " We are,'' if He had
had it in His mind that He, the only and sole Father, had
become the Son. In fine, the Apostle Paul also apprehended
this agreement of unity, with the distinction of persons not-
withstanding ; for in writing to the Corinthians he said,
" I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
Therefore neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that
watereth, but God who gives the increase. Now he that
planteth and he that watereth are one." ^ And who does not
perceive that Apollos is one person and Paul another, and
that Apollos and Paul are not one and the same person?
Moreover, also, the offices mentioned of each one of them
are different ; for one is he who plants, and another he who
waters. The Apostle Paul, however, put forward these two
not as being one [person], but as being one ; so that although
Apollos indeed is one, and Paul another, so far as respects
the distinction of persons, yet as far as respects their agree-
ment both are one. For when two persons have one judg-
ment, one truth, one faith, one and the same religion, one
fear of God also, they are one even although they are two
persons : they are the same, in that they have the same mind.
Since those whom the consideration of person divides from
one another, these same acrain are broui^-lit together as one
by the consideration of religion. And although they are not
actually the self-same people, yet in feeling the same, they
are the same ; and although they are two, are still one, as
having an association in faith, even although they bear
diversity in persons. Besides, when at these words of the
Lord the Jewish ignorance had been aroused, so that hastily
they ran to take up stones, and said, '^ For a good work we
1 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7, 8 [scil h'].
366 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
stone thee not, but for blasphemy ; and because thou, being
a man, makest thyself God,"^ the Lord established the dis-
tinction, in giving them the principle on which He had either
said that He was God, or wished it to be understood, and
says, ^' Say ye of Him, whom the Father sanctified, and sent
into this world. Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I am the
Son of God?"^ Even here also He said that He had the
Father. He is therefore the Son, not the Father : for He
would have confessed that He was the Father had He con-
sidered Himself to be the Father ; and He declares that He
was sanctified by His Father. In receiving, then, sanctifica-
tion from the Father, He is inferior to the Father. Now,
consequently. He who is inferior to the Father, is [not the
Father], but the Son; for had He been the Father, He
would have given, and not received, sanctification. Now,
however, by declaring that He has received sanctification
from the Father, by the very fact of proving Himself to be
less than the Father, by receiving from Him sanctification,
He has shown that He is the Son, and not the Father.
Besides, He says that He is sent : so that by that obedience
wherewith the Lord Christ came, being sent. He might be
proved to be not the Father, but the Son, who assuredly
would have sent had He been the Father ; but being sent,
He was not the Father, lest the Father should be proved, in
being sent, to be subjected to another God. And still after
this He added what might dissolve all ambiguity, and quench
all the controversy of error : for He says, in the last portion
of His discourse, "Ye say. Thou blasphemest, because I
said I am the Son of God." Therefore if He plainly
testifies that He is the Son of God, and not the Father,
it is an instance of great temerity and excessive madness to
stir up a controversy of divinity and religion, contrary to the
testimony of the Lord Christ Himself, and to say that Christ
Jesus is the Father, when it is observed that He has proved
Himself to be, not the Father, but the Son.
1 John X. 33. 2 John ^. 36.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 3G7
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Argument. — He loroves also that the words, " He who sees me,
sees the Father also,^^ make nothing for the Sabellians.
Hereto also I will add that view wherein the heretic, while
he rejoices as if at the loss of some power of seeing special
truth and light, acknowledges the total blindness of his error.
For again and again, and frequently, he objects that it was
said, " Have I been so long time with you, and do ye not
know me, Philip? He who hath seen me, hath seen the
Father also."^ But let him learn what he does not under-
stand. Philip is reproved, and rightly, and deservedly indeed,
because he has said, " Lord, show us the Father, and it suf-
ficeth us."^ For when had he either heard from Christ, or
learnt that Christ was the Father ? although, on the other
hand, he had frequently heard, and had often learned, rather
that He was the Son, not that He was the Father. For what
the Lord said, " If ye have known me, ye have known my
Father also : and henceforth ye have known Him, and have
seen Him,"^ He said not as wishing to be understood Him-
self to be the Father, but [as meaning] that he who thoroughly,
and fully, and with all faith and all religiousness, drew near
to the Son of God, by all means shall attain, through the Son
Himself, in whom he thus believes, to the Father, and shall
see Him. " For no one," says He, " can come to the Father,
but by me."* And therefore he shall not only come to God
the Father, and shall know the Father Himself ; but, more-
over, he ought thus to hold, and so to presume in mind and
heart, that he has henceforth not only known, but seen the
Father. For often the divine Scripture announces tln'ngs
that are not yet done as being done, because thus they shall
be ; and things which by all means have to happen, it does
not predict as if they were future, but narrates as if they
were done. And thus, although Christ had not been born as
1 John xiv. 9. ^ John xiv, 8.
3 John xiv. 7. * John xiv. 6.
368 A'-OVATIAN THE BOMAN PRESBYTER
yet in tlie times of Isaiali the prophet, he said, " For unto
us a child is born;"^ and although Mary had not yet been
approached, he said, " And I approached unto the prophetess;
and she conceived, and bare a son."^ And when Christ had
not yet made known the mind of the Father, [the prophet]
said, *'And His name shall be called the Angel of Great
Counsel."^ And when He had not yet suffered, he declared,
" He is as a sheep led to the slaughter."* And although the
cross had never yet existed. He said, " All day long have I
stretched out my hands to an unbelieving people."^ And
although not yet had He been scornfully given to drink, the
Scripture says, " In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." ^
And although He had not yet been stripped, He said, " Upon
my vesture they did cast lots, and they numbered my bones :
they pierced my hands and my feet."^ For the divine
Scripture, foreseeing, speaks of things which it knows shall
be as being already done, and speaks of things as perfected
which it regards as future, but which shall come to pass
without any doubt. And thus the Lord in the present pas-
sage said, " Henceforth ye have known and have seen Him."
Now He said that the Father should be seen by whomsoever
had followed the Son, not as if the Son Himself should be
the Father seen, but that whosoever was willing to follow
Him, and be His disciple, should obtain the reward of being
able to see the Father. For He also is the image of God
the Father; so that it is added, moreover, to these things,
that "as the Father worketh, so also the Son worketh."^
And the Son is an imitator of all the Father's works, so that
every one may regard it just as if he saw the Father, when
he sees Him who always imitates the invisible Father in all
His works. But if Christ is the Father Himself, in what
manner does He immediately add, and say, " Whosoever
believeth in me, the works that I do he shall do also ; and
greater works than these shall he do ; because I go to my
Father?"^ And He further subjoins, ^'If ye love me, keep
1 Isa. ix. 6. ^ Isa. viii. 3. ^ Isa. ix. 6, LXX.
4 Isa. liii. 7. « Isa. Ixv. 2. c Ps. Ixix. 21.
7 Ps. xxii. 18, 17. » John v. 17. ^ John xiv. 12.
CONCERNING TEE TPdNITY. 369
my commandments ; and I will ask the Father, and He will
give you another Comforter."^ After which also He adds
this : "If any one loveth me, he shall keep my word : and my
Father will love Him ; and we will come unto him, and will
make our abode with him."^ Moreover, also. He added this
too : " But the Advocate, that Holy Spirit whom the Father
will send. He will teach you, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."^ He
utters, further, that passage when He shows Himself to be
the Son, and reasonably subjoins, and says, "If ye loved
me, ye would rejoice because I go unto the Father : for the
Father is greater than I."* But what [shall we say] when
He also continues in these words : " I am the true vine, and
my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that
beareth not fruit He taketh away ; and every branch that
beareth fruit He purgeth, that it may bring forth more
fruit ?"^ Still He persists, and adds : " As the Father hath
loved me, so also have I loved you : remain in my love. If
ye have kept my commandments, ye shall remain in my love ;
even as I have kept the Father's commandments, and remain
in His love."^ Further, He says in addition : " But I have
called you friends ; for all things which I have heard of my
Father I have made known unto you." ^ Moreover, He adds
to all this : " But all these things will they do unto you for
my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me."^
These things then, after the former, evidently attesting Him
to be not the Father but the Son, the Lord w^ould never have
added, if He had had it in mind, either that He was the
Father, or wished Himself to be understood as the Father,
except that He might declare this, that every man ought
henceforth to consider, in seeino; the imairc of God the
Father through the Son, that it was as if he saw the Father ;
since every one believing on the Son may be exercised in
the contemplation of the likeness, so that, being accustomed
to seeing the divinity in likeness, he may go forward, and
^ John xiv. 15, 16. - John xiv. 23. ^ John xiv. 26.
4 John xiv. 28. '* John xv. 1. *^ John xv. 9, 10.
'' John XV. 15. 8 John xv. 21.
CYP. — VOL. II. 2 A
S70 JSfOVATIAN THE BOM AN PRESBYTER
grow ieven to tlie perfect contemplation of God the Father
Almighty. And since he who has imbibed tliis truth into
his mind and soul, and has beHeved of all things that thus it
shall be, he shall even now see, as it were, in some measure the
Father whom he will see [eventually] ; and he may so regard
it, as if he actually held, what he knows for certain that he
shall one day hold. But if Christ Himself had been the
Father, why did He promise as future, a reward which He
had already granted and given ? For that He says, " Blessed
are they of a pure heart, for they shall see God,"^ it is
understood to promise the contemplation and vision of the
Father ; therefore He had not given this ; for why should He
promise if He had abeady given ? For He had given if He
was the Father : for He was seen, and He was touched.
But since, when Christ Himself is seen and touched. He still
promises, and says that he who is of a pure heart shall see
God, He proves by this very saying that He who was then
present was not the Father, seeing that He was seen, and
yet promised that whoever should be of a pure heart should
see the Father. It was therefore not the Father, but the
Son, who promised this, because He who was the Son pro-
mised that wdiich had yet to be seen ; and His promise would
have been superfluous unless He had been the Son. For
why did He promise to the pure in heart that they should
see the Father, if already they who were then present saw
Christ as the Father ? But because He was the Son, not the
Father, rightly also He was then seen as the Son, because
He was the image of God ; and the Father, because He is
invisible, is promised and pointed out as to be seen by the
pure in heart. Let it then be enough to have suggested
even these points against that heretic ; a few words about
many things. For a field which is indeed both w^ide and
expansive would be laid open if we should desire to discuss
that heretic more fully ; seeing that in these two particulars,
bereaved as it were of his eyes plucked out, he is altogether
overcome in the blindness of his doctrine.
1 Matt. V. 8.
CONCERNING THE THINITY. 371
CHAPTER XXIX.
Argument. — He next teaches us that the authority of the
faith enjoins, after the Father and the Son, to believe
also on the Holy Spirit, whose operations he enumerates
from Scripture.
Moreover, the order of reason, and the authority of the
faith in the disposition of the words and in the Scriptures
of the Lord, admonish us after these things to believe also
on the Holy Spirit, once promised to the church, and in the
appointed occasions of times given. For He was promised
by Joel the prophet, but given by Christ. "In the last
days," says the prophet, " I will pour out of my Spirit upon
my servants and my handmaids." ^ And the Lord said,
" Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose sins ye remit, they
shall be remitted ; and whose ye retain, they shall be re-
tained."^ But this Holy Spirit the Lord Christ calls at
one time " the Paraclete," at another pronounces to be the
" Spirit of truth." ^ And He is not new in the Gospel, nor
yet even newly given ; for it was He Himself who accused
the people in the prophets, and in the apostles gave them
the appeal to the Gentiles. For the former deserved to be
accused, because they had contemned the law ; and they of
the Gentiles who believe deserve to be aided by the defence
of the Spirit, because they earnestly desire to attain to the
Gospel law. Assuredly in the Spirit there are different kinds
of offices, because in the times there is a different order of occa-
sions ; and yet, on this account, He who discharges these offices
is not different, nor is He another in so acting, but He is one
and the same, distributing His offices according to the times,
and the occasions and impulses of things. Moreover, the
Apostle Paul says, " Having the same Spirit ; as it is written,
I believed, and therefore have I spoken ; we also believe, and
therefore speak." * He is therefore one and the same Spirit
1 Joel ii. 28 ; Acts ii. 17. 2 joim xx. 22, 23.
8 John xiv. 16, 17. "* 2 Cor. iv. 13.
372 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
■wlio was in the prophets and apostles, except that in the
former He was occasional, in the latter always. But in
the former not as being always in them, in the latter as
abiding always in them ; and in the former distributed with
reserve, in the latter all poured out; in the former given
sparingly, in the latter liberally bestowed ; not yet manifested
before the Lord's resurrection, but conferred after the resur-
rection. For, said He, " I will pray the Father, and He
will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you
for ever, even the Spirit of truth." ^ And, " When He, the
Advocate, shall come, whom I shall send unto you from my
Father, the Spirit of truth who proceedeth from my Father." ^
And, " If I go not away, that Advocate shall not come to
you ; but if I go away, I will send Him to you." ^ And,
" When the Spirit of truth shall come. He will direct you
into all the truth."* And because the Lord was about
to depart to the heavens. He gave the Paraclete out of
necessity to the disciples ; so as not to leave them in any
degree orphans, which was little desirable, and forsake them
without an advocate and some kind of protector. For this
is He wdio strengthened their hearts and minds, who marked
out the Gospel sacraments, who was in them the enlightener
of divine things ; and they being strengthened, feared, for the
sake of the Lord's name, neither dungeons nor chains, nay,
even trod under foot the very powers of the world and its
tortures, since they were henceforth armed and strengthened
by the same Spirit, having in themselves the gifts which
this same Spirit distributes, and appropriates to the church,
the spouse of Christ, as her ornaments. This is He who
places prophets in the church, instructs teachers, directs
tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works,
offers discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government,
suggests counsels, and orders and arranges whatever other
gifts there are of charismata; and thus makes the Lord's
church everywhere, and in all, perfected and completed.
This is He who, after the manner of a dove, when our Lord
1 John xiv. IG, 17. - John xv. 20.
3 John xvi. 7. * John xvi. 13.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 373
was baptized, came and abode upon Him, dwelling in Christ
full and entire, and not maimed in any measure or portion ;
but with His whole overflow copiously distributed and sent
forth, so that from Him others might receive some enjoyment
of His graces : the source of the entire Holy Spirit remaining
in Christ, so that from Him might be drawn streams of gifts
and works, while the Holy Spirit dwelt affluently in Christ.
For truly Isaiah, prophesying this, said : " And the Spirit
of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon Him, the
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and
piety ; and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill
Him." ^ This self-same thing also he said in the person of
the Lord Himself, in another place : " The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me. He has
sent me to preach the gospel to the poor." ^ Similarly
David : " Wherefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed
Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."" Of
Him the Apostle Paul says : " For he who hath not the
Spirit of Christ is none of His." ^ " And where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty." ^ He it is who effects with
water the second birth, as a certain seed of divine genera-
tion, and a consecration of a heavenly nativity, the pledge
of a promised inheritance, and as it were a kind of hand-
writing of eternal salvation ; who can make us God's temple,
and fit us for His house ; who solicits the divine hearing for
us wath groanings that cannot be uttered, filling the offices
of advocacy, and manifesting the duties of our defence, — an
inhabitant given for our bodies and an effector of their holi-
ness ; who, w^orking in us for eternity, can also produce our
bodies at the resurrection of immortality, accustoming them
to be associated in Himself with heavenly power, and to be
allied with the divine eternity of the Holy Spirit. For our
bodies are both trained in Him and by Him to advance to im-
mortality, by learning to govern themselves with moderation
according to His decrees. For this is He who " desireth
acrainst the flesh," because " the flesh resisteth against the
1 Isa. xi. 2, 3. 2 isa. ixi. 1. 3 pg. xlv. 7.
* Rom. viii. 9. «2 Cor. iii. 17.
374 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
Spii'it."^ This is He who restrains insatiable desires, controls
immoderate lusts, quenches unlawful fires, conquers reckless
impulses, repels drunkenness, checks avarice, drives away
luxurious revellings, links love, binds together affections,
keeps down sects, orders the rule of truth, overcomes heretics,
turns out the wicked, guards the gospel. Of this sajs the
same apostle : " We have not received the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit which is of God." ^ Concerning Him he
exultingly says : " And I think also that I have the Spirit of
God." ^ Of Him he says : " The Spirit of the prophets is
subject to the prophets." * Of Him also he tells : " Now
the Spirit speaketh plainly, that in the last times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits,
doctrines of demons, who speak lies in hypocrisy, having
their conscience cauterized." ^ Established in this Spirit,
^* none ever calleth Jesus anathema ; " ® no one has ever
denied Christ to be the Son of God, or has rejected God
the Creator ; no one utters any words of his own contrary
to the Scriptures ; no one ordains other and sacrilegious
decrees ; no one draws up different laws. Whosoever shall
blaspheme against Him, " hath not forgiveness, not only in
this world, but also not in the world to come." ^ This is He
who in the apostles gives testimony to Christ ; in the martyrs
shows forth the constant faithfulness of their religion ; in
virgins restrains the admirable continency of their sealed
chastity ; in others, guards the laws of the Lord's doctrine
incorrupt and uncontaminated ; destroys heretics, corrects
the perverse, condemns infidels, makes known pretenders ;
moreover, rebukes the wicked, keeps the church uncorrupt
and inviolate, in the sanctity of a perpetual virginity and
truth.
1 Gal. V. 17. 2 1 Cor. ii. 12. ^\ Cor. vii. 40.
4 1 Cor. xiv. 32. « 1 Tim. iv. 1. « i Cor. xii. 3.
7 Matt. xii. 32.
CONCERNING TEE TRINITY. 375
CHAPTER XXX.
Akgument. — In fine, for all that the said heretics have
gathered the oingin of their error from consideration of
the fact of its being written there is one God, although
we call Christ God, and the Father God, still that Scrip-
ture does not set forth two Gods, any more than two Lords
or tivo Teachers.
And now, indeed, concerning the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, let it be sufficient to have briefly said thus
much, and to have laid down these points concisely, without
carrying them out in a lengthened argument. For they could
be presented more diffusely and continued in a more expanded
disputation, since the whole of the Old and New Testaments
might be adduced in testimony that thus the true faith
stands. But because heretics, ever struggling against the
truth, are accustomed to prolong the controversy of pure
tradition and catholic faith, being offended against Christ —
that He is, moreover, asserted to be God by the Scriptures
also, and this is believed to be so by us — we must riglitly
contend (that every heretical calumny may be removed from
our faith) concerning the fact that Christ is God also, in
such a way as that it may not militate against the truth of
Scripture, nor yet against our faith, how there is declared to
be one God by the Scriptures, and it is held and believed by
us. For as well they who say that Jesus Christ Himself is
God the Father, as moreover they who would have Him to
be only man, have gathered thence [scil. from Scripture] the
sources and reasons of their error and perversity; because
when they perceived that it was written that " God is one,"
they thought that they could not otherwise hold such an
opinion than by supposing that it must be believed either
that Christ was man only, or really God the Father. And
they were accustomed in such a way to connect their sophis-
tries as to endeavour to justify their own error. And thus
they who say that Jesus Christ is the Father ai-gue as
follows : — If God is one, and Christ is God, Clnist is the
876 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
Father, since God is one. If Christ be not the Father, be-
cause Christ is God the Son, there appear to be two Gods
introduced, contrary to the Scriptures. And they who con-
tend that Christ is man only, conclude on the other hand
thus : — If the Father is one, and the Son another, but the
Father is God and Christ is God, then there is not one God,
but two Gods are at once introduced, the Father and the
Son ; and if God is one, by consequence Christ must be a
man, so that rightly the Father may be one God. Thus
indeed the Lord is, as it were, crucified between two thieves,
even as He was formerly placed ; and thus from either side
He receives the sacrilegious reproaches of such heretics as
these. But neither the Holy Scriptures nor we suggest to
them the reasons of their perdition and blindness, if they
either will not, or cannot, see what is evidently written in
the midst of the divine documents. For we both know, and
read, and believe, and maintain that God is one, who made
the heaven as well as the earth, since we neither know any
other, nor shall we at any time know such, seeing that there
is none. " I," says He, " am God, and there is none beside
me, righteous and a Saviour." ^ And in another place : " I
am the first and the last, and beside me there is no God who
is as I." ^ And, " Who hath meted out heaven with a span,
and the earth with a handful? Who has suspended the
mountains in a balance, and the woods on scales ? " ^ And
Hezekiah : " That all may know that Thou art God alone." *
Moreover, the Lord Himself: " Why askest thou me concern-
ing that which is good ? God alone is good." ^ Moreover,
the Apostle Paul says : " Who only hath immortality, and
dwelleth in the light that no man can approach unto, whom
no man hath seen, nor can see." ^ And in another place :
'' But a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." "^
But even as we hold, and read, and believe this, thus we
ought to pass over no portion of the heavenly Scriptures,
since indeed also we ought by no means to reject those
1 Isa. xliii. 11. ^ jga. xliv. 6, 7. » Isa. xl. 12.
* Isa. xxxvii. 20. ^ Matt. xix. 17. ^ 1 Tim. vi. 16.
7 Gal. iii. 20.
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 377
marks of Christ's divinity which are laid down in the
Scriptures, that we may not, by corrupting the authority of
the Scriptures, be held to have corrupted the integrity of our
holy faith. And let us therefore believe this, since it is
most faithful that Jesus Christ the Son of God is our Lord
and God ; because " in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The
same was in the beginning with God." ^ And, "The Word
was made flesh, and dwelt in us." ^ And, "My Lord and
my God." ^ And, " Whose are the fathers, and of whom ac-
cording to the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed
for evermore." * What, then, shall we say ? Does Scripture
set before us two Gods ? How, then, does it say that " God
is one? " Or is not Christ God also? How, then, is it said
to Christ, " My Lord and my God ? " Unless, therefore, we
hold all this with fitting veneration and lawful argument, we
shall reasonably be thought to have furnished a scandal to
the heretics, not assuredly by the fault of the heavenly
Scriptures, which never deceive ; but by the presumption of
human error, whereby they have chosen to be heretics. And
in the first place, we must turn the attack against them who
undertake to make against us the charge of saying that there
are two Gods. It is written, and they cannot deny it, that
" there is one Lord." ^ What, then, do they think of Christ ?
— that He is Lord, or that He is not Lord at all ? But they
do not doubt absolutely that He is Lord ; therefore, if their
reasoning be true, here are already two Lords. How, then,
is it true according to the Scriptures, there is one Lord?
And Christ is called the " one Master." ^ Nevertheless we
read that the Apostle Paul also is a master.'^ Tlien, accord-
ing to this, our Master is not one, for from these things we
conclude that there are two masters. How, then, according
to the Scriptures, is "one our Master, even Christ?" In the
Scriptures there is one " called good, even God;" but in the
same Scriptures Christ is also asserted to be good. There is
not, tlien, if they rightly conclude, one good, but even two
1 John i. ] , 2. 2 joiin j 14 3 joi^n ^x. 28. * Rom. ix. 5.
* Deut. vi. 4. 6 Matt, xxiii. 8-10. ^ lihxoKu-hoi.
378 NOVATIAJSr THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
good. How, then, according to the scriptural faith, is there
said to be only one good ? But if they do not think that it
can by any means interfere with the truth that there is one
Lord, that Christ also is Lord, nor vAili the truth that one is
our Master, that Paul also is our master, or with the truth
that one is good, that Christ also is called good ; on the
same reasoning, let them imderstand that, from the fact that
God is one, no obstruction arises to the truth that Christ also
is declared to be God.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Akgument. — But that Gody the Son of God, horn of God
the Father from everlasting, ivho icas always in the Father,
is the second person to the Father , who does nothing without
His Father s decree ; and that He is Lord, and the Angel
of God's great counsel, to whom the Father's godhead is
given by community of substance.
Thus God the Father, the Founder and Creator of all
things, who only knows no beginning, invisible, infinite, im-
mortal, eternal, is one God ; to whose greatness, or majesty,
or power, I would not say nothing can be preferred, but
nothing can be compared ; of whom, when He willed it, the
Son, the Word, was born, who is not received [as the Word
formed] in the sound of the stricken air, or in the tone of
voice forced from the lungs, but is acknoAvledged in the
substance of the power put forth by God, the mysteries of
whose sacred and divine nativity neither an apostle has
learnt, nor prophet has discovered, nor angel has known,
nor creature has apprehended. To the Son alone they are
known, who has known the secrets of the Father. He then,
since He was begotten of the Father, is always in the Father.
And I thus say always, that I may show Him not to be
unborn, but born. But He who is before all time must be
said to have been always in the Father ; for no time can be
assigned to Him who is before all time, xlnd He is always
in the Father, unless the Father be not always Father, only
CONCERNING THE TRINITY. 379
that the Father also precedes Him (in a certain sense), since
it is necessary (in some degree) that He should he before He
is Father. Because [in any wise] it is essential that He who
knows no beginning must go before Him who has a begin-
ning ; even as He is the less as knowing that He is in Him,
having an origin because He is born, and of like nature with
the Father in some measure by His nativity, although He has
a beginning in that He is born, inasmuch as He is born of that
Father who alone has no beginning. He, then, when the
Father willed it, proceeded from the Father, and He who
was in the Father came forth from the Father; and He who
was in the Father because He was of the Father, was sub-
sequently with the Father, because He came forth from the
Father, — that is to say, that divine substance whose name is
the Word, whereby all things were made, and without whom
nothing was made. For all things are after Him, because
they are by Him. And reasonably. He is before all things,
but after the Father, since all things were made by Him,
and He proceeded from Him of whose will all things were
made. Assuredly God proceeding from God, causing a person
second to the Father as being the Son, but not taking from
the Father that characteristic that He is one God. For if
He had not been born — compared with Him who was unborn,
an equality being manifested in both — He would make
two unborn beings, and thus would make two Gods. If
He had not been begotten — compared with Him who was
not begotten, and as being found equal — they not being
begotten, would have reasonably given two Gods, and thus
Christ would have been the cause of two Gods. Had He
been formed without beginning as the Father, and He Him-
self the beginning of all things as is the Father, this would
have made two beginnings, and consequently would have
shown to us two Gods also. Or if He also were not the Son,
but the Father begetting from Himself another Son, reason-
ably, as compared with the Father, and designated as great
as He, He would have cavised two Fathers, and thus also He
would have proved the existence of two Gods. Had He
been invisible, as compared with the Invisible, and declared
380 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
equal, He would have shown forth two Invisibles, and thus
also He would have proved them to be two Gods. If incom-
prehensible, if also whatever other attributes belong to the
Father, reasonably we say. He would have given rise to the
allegation of two Gods, as these people feign. But now,
whatever He is, He is not of Himself, because He is not
unborn ; but He is of the Father, because He is begotten,
whether as being the Word, whether as being the Power, or
as being the Wisdom, or as being the Light, or as being the
Son ; and whatever of these He is, in that He is not from any
other source, as we have already said before, than from the
Father, owing His origin to His Father, He could not make
a disagreement in the divinity by the number of two Gods,
since He gathered His beginning by being born of Him who
is one God. In which kind, being both as well only-begotten
as first-begotten of Him who has no beginning. He is the
only one, of all things both Source and Head. And there-
fore He declared that God is one, in that He proved Him
to be from no source nor beginning, but rather the begin-
ning and source of all things. Moreover, the Son does
nothing of His own will, nor does anything of His own
determination ; nor does He come from Himself, but obeys
all His Father's commands and precepts ; so that, although
birth proves Him to be a Son, yet obedience even to death
declares Him the minister of the will of His Father, of whom
He is. Thus making Himself obedient to His Father in all
things, although He also is God, yet He shows the one God
the Father by His obedience, from whom also He drew His
beginning. And thus He could not make two Gods, because
He did not make two beginnings, seeing that from Him who
has no beginning He received the source of His nativity before
all time. For since that is the bemnnine; to other creatures
which is unborn (which God the Father only is, being beyond
a beginning of whom He is who was born), while He who is
born of Him reasonably comes from Him who has no begin-
ning, proving that to be the beginning from which He Him-
self is, even although He is God who is born, yet He shows
Him to be one God whom He who was born proved to be
CONCERNING THE TRINITY, 381
witliout a beginning. He tlierefore is God, but begotten for
this special result, that He should be God. He is also the
Lord, but born for this very purpose of the Father, that He
might be Lord. He is also an angel, but He was destined
of the Father as an angel to announce the great counsel of
God. And His divinity is thus declared, that it may not
appear by any dissonance or inequality of divinity to have
caused two Gods. For all things being subjected to Him as
the Son by the Father, while He Himself, with those things
which are subjected to Him, is subjected to His Fatlier,
He is indeed proved to be Son of His Father; but He is
found to be both Lord and God of all else. Whence, while
all things put under Him are delivered to Him who is God,
and all things are subjected to Him, the Son refers all
that He has received to the Father, remits again to the
Father the whole authority of His divinity. The true and
eternal Father is manifested as the one God, from whom
alone this power of divinity is sent forth, and also given and
directed upon the Son, and is again returned by the com-
munion of substance to the Father. God indeed is shown as
the Son, to whom the divinity is beheld to be given and
extended. And still, nevertheless, the Father is proved to
be one God; while by degrees in reciprocal transfer that
majesty and divinity are again returned and reflected as sent
by the Son Himself to the Father, who had given them ; so
that reasonably God the Father is God of all, and the source
also of His Son Himself wliom He beo;ot as Lord. More-
over, the Son is God of all else, because God the Father put
before all Him whom He begot. Thus the Mediator of God
and men, Christ Jesus, having the power of every creature
subjected to Him by His own Father, inasmuch as He is
God ; with every creature subdued to Him, found at one
with His Fatlier God, has briefly proved God His Father to
be one and only and true God by abiding in that condition
that He moreover " icas hearcir ^
^ There is apparently some indistinct reference here to the passage in
Heb. V. 7, " and v/as heard in that He feared " — cIt^o r-^j iv'hxSiia;.
A LETTER OF NOVATIAN,
THE ROMAN PRESBYTER,
ON THE JEWISH MEATS.
CHAPTER I.
Akgument. — Novatian, a Roman presbyter, durmg his re-
tirement at the time of the Decian ijersecution, being urged
hy various letters from his brethren, had written tivo
earlier epistles against the Jews on the subjects of circum-
cision and the Sabbath, and now whites the present one
on the Jeivish meats,
LTHOUGH, most holy brethren, the day in which
I receive your letters and writings is most ardently
longed for by me, and to be reckoned among the
chief and happiest (for what else is there now to
make me more joyous?^), still I think that the day is to be
deemed not less notable, and among special days, wherein I
return to you similar communications, with the affection of
love that I owe you, and write you letters with a correspond-
ing interest. For nothing, most holy brethren, holds me
bound with such bonds, nothing stirs and arouses me with
such a stimulus of care and anxiety, as the fear lest you should
think that any disadvantage is suffered by you by reason of
my absence; and this I strive to remedy, in labouring to
show myself present with you by frequent letters. Although,
1 " Liberiorem," translated, according to a plausible emendation, as
" liilariorem."
382
NOV ATI AN ON THE JEWISH MEATS. 383
therefore, the duty which T owe, and the charge I have under-
taken, and the very ministerial office imposed upon me, re-
quire of me this necessity of writing letters, yet you still fur-
ther enhance it, by stirring me up to write through means of
your continual communications ; and inclined although I am
to those periodical expressions of love, you urge me the more
by showing that you stand fast continually in the gospel :
whence it results, that by my letters I am not so much
instructing you who are already informed, as inciting you
who are already prepared. For you, who not only hold the
gospel pure and purged from all stain of perverse doctrine,
but also energetically teach the same, seek not man for a
master, since you show yourselves by these very things to be
teachers. Therefore as you run, I exhort you ; and as you
Tvatch, I stir you up; and as you contend against "the
spiritual things of wickedness,"^ I address you; and as you
press "in your course to the prize of your calling in Christ,"^
I urge you on, — that, treading under foot and rejectmg as well
the sacrilegious calumnies of heretics as also the idle fables of
Jews, you may hold the sole word^ and teaching of Christ, so
as worthily to claim for yourselves the authority of His name.
But how perverse are the Jews, and remote from the under-
standing of their law, I have fully shown, as I believe, in two
former letters,* wherein it was absolutely proved that they
are ignorant of what is the true circumcision, and what the
true Sabbath ; and their ever increasing blindness is confuted
in this present epistle, wherein I have briefly discom'sed con-
cerning their meats, because that in them they consider that
they only are holy, and that all others are defiled.
1 Eph. vi. 12. 2 piiii iii. 14 3 Traditionem.
^ These letters are not extant, but they are mentioned by Jerome,
de vir. illustr. ch. Ixx.
384 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PBESBYTER
CHAPTER 11.
Akgument. — He first of all asserts that the laio is spiritual;
and thence, as mans first food was only the fruit of trees,
and the use of flesh was added, that the law that followed
subsequently — which, distinguishing between meats, granted
certain animals as clean, and interdicted certain others as
not clean — ivas to be understood spiritually^ especially as
all animals were declared " ve7y good,^ and even unclean
animals were reserved for offspring in Noalis ar\ al-
though they otherwise might have been got rid of if they
ought to have been destroyed on account of their uncleanness,
Therefoke, first of all, we must avail ourselves of that
passage, "that the law is spiritual;"^ and if they deny it
to be spiritual, they assuredly blaspheme ; if, avoiding blas-
phemy, they confess it to be spiritual, let them read it
spiritually. For divine things must be divinely received,
and must assuredly be maintained as holy. But a grave
fault is branded on those who attach earthly and human
doctrine to sacred and spiritual words; and this we must
beware of doing. Moreover, we may beware, if any things
enjoined by God be so treated as if they were assumed to
diminish His authority, lest, in calling some things impure
and unclean, their institution should dishonour their ordainer.
For in reprobating what He has made, He will appear to
have condemned His own works, Avhich He had approved as
good ; and He will be designated as seeming capricious in
both cases, as the heretics indeed would have it ; either in
having blessed things which were not clean, or in subse-
quently reprobating as not good, creatures which He had
blessed as both clean and good. And of this the enormity
and contradiction will remain for ever if that Jewish doctrine
is persisted in, which must be got rid of with all our ability ;
so that whatever is irregularly delivered by them, may be
taken away by us, and a suitable arrangement of His works,
^ Rom. vii. 14.
ON THE JEWISH MEATS. 385
and an appropriate and spiritual application of the divine
law, may be restored. But to begin from the beginning of
things, whence it behoves me to begin; the only food for the
first men was fruit and the produce of the trees. For after-
wards, man's sin transferred his need from the fruit-trees to
the produce of the earth, when the very attitude of his body
attested the condition of his conscience. For although
innocency raised men up towards the heavens to pluck their
food from the trees so long as they had a good conscience,
yet sin, when committed, bent men down to the earth and to
the ground to gather its grain. Moreover, afterwards the
use of flesh was added, the divine favour supplying for
human necessities the kinds of meats generally fitting for
suitable occasions. For while a more tender meat was needed
to nourish men who were both tender and unskilled, it was
still a food not prepared without toil, doubtless for their
advantage, lest they should again find a pleasure in sinning,
if the labour imposed upon sin did not exhort innocence.
And since now it was no more a paradise to be tended, but a
whole world to be cultivated, the more robust food of flesh is
offered to men, that for the advantage of culture somethino;
more might be added to the vigour of the human body. All
these things (as I have said) were by grace and by divine
arrangement : so that either the most vigorous food should
not be given in too small quantity for men's support, and
they should be enfeebled for labour; or that the more tender
meat should not be too abundant, so that, oppressed beyond
the measure of their strength, they should not be able to
bear it.^ But the law which followed subsequently ordained
the flesh foods with distinction : for some animals it ffave
and granted for use,^ as being clean ; some it interdicted as
not clean, and conveying pollution to those that eat them.
Moreover, it gave this character to those that were clean,
that those which chew the cud and di\^de the hoofs are clean ;
those are unclean which do neither one nor other of these
^ This sentence is very unintelligible, but it is the nearest approach
to a meaning that can be gathered from the original.
2 Or, as some read, " for eating," substituting " csum " for " iisiim."
CYP. — VOL. II. 2 B
386 NOV ATI AN TEE R02IAN PRESBYTER
tilings. So, in fishes also, the law said that those indeed were
clean which were covered with scales and supplied with fins,
but that those which were otherwise were not clean. More-
over, it established a distinction among the fowls, and laid
down what was to be judged either an abomination, or clean.
Thus the law ordained [the exercise of] very great subtlety in
making a separation among those animals which the ancient
appointment had gathered together into one form of blessing.
What, then, are we to say ? Are the animals therefore un-
clean ? But what else is it [to say] that they are not clean,
than that the law has separated them from the uses of food %
And what, moreover, is that that we have just now said?
Then God is the ordainer of things which are not clean; and
the blame attached to things which are made will recoil upon
their Maker, who did not produce them clean ; to say which
is certainly characteristic of extreme and excessive folly : it
is to accuse God as having created unclean things, and to
charge upon the divine majesty the guilt of having made
things which are abomination, especially when they were both
pronounced " very good," -^ and as being good have obtained
the blessing from God Himself " that they should increase
and multiply." Moreover also they were reserved by the
command of the Creator in Noah's ark for the sake of their
offspring, that so being kept they might be proved to be
needful ; and being needful, they might be proved to be
good, although even in that case also there is a distinction
appended. But still, even then, the creation of those very
creatures that were not clean might have been utterly
abolished, if it had needed to be abolished on account of its
own pollution.
CHAPTER III.
Argument. — And thus undeaji animals are not to he re-
pi'oacliedj lest the reproach he thrown upon their Author ;
hut ivhen an irrational animal is rejected on any account^
1 Gen. i. 31.
ON THE JEWISH MEATS, 387
it is rather that that very thing should he condemned in
man ivho is rational; and therefore that in animals the
character J the doingsj and the icills of men are depicted.
How far, then, must that law, which (as I have shown by the
authority of the apostle) is spiritual, be spiritually received in
order that the divine and sure idea of the law may be carried
out ? Firstly, we must believe that whatever was ordained by
God is clean and purified by the very authority of His crea-
tion; neither must it be reproached, lest the reproach should be
thrown back upon its Author. Then [we must believe] that
the law was given to the children of Israel for this purpose,
that they might profit by it, and return to those virtuous
manners which, although they had received them from their
fathers, they had corrupted in Egypt by reason of their in-
tercourse with a barbarous people. Finally, also, those ten
commandments on the tables teach nothing new, but remind
them of what had been obliterated — that righteousness in
them, which had been put to sleep, might revive again as
it were by the afflatus of the law, after the manner of a
fire [nearly extinguished]. But tliey could profit by the
perception that those vices were especially to be avoided in
men which the law had condemned even in beasts. For
when an irrational animal is rejected on any account, it is
rather that very thing which is condemned in the man who
is rational. And if in it anything which it has by nature is
characterized as a defilement, that same thing is most to be
blamed when it is found in man opposed to his nature.
Therefore, in order that men might be purified, the cattle
were censured — to wit, that men also who had the same vices
might be esteemed on a level with the brutes. Whence it
results, that not only were the animals not condemned by
their Creator because of His agency ;^ but that men might be
instructed in the brutes to return to the unspotted nature of
their own creation. For we must consider how the Lord
distinguishes clean and not clean. The creatures that are
clean, it says, both chew the cud and divide the hoof ; the
^ Sui culpa.
388 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
-unclean do neither, or only one of the two. All these things
were made by one Workman, and He who made them Him-
self blessed them. Therefore I regard the creation of both
as clean, because both He who created them is holy, and
those things wdiich w^ere created are not in fault in being
that which they were made. For it has never been customary
for nature, but for a perverted w^ill, to bear the blame of
guilt. What, then, is the case? In the animals it is the
characters, and doings, and wills of men that are depicted.
They are clean if they chew the cud ; that is, if they ever
have in their mouth as food the divine precepts. They
divide the hoof, if with the firm step of innocency they tread
the w^ays of righteousness, and of every virtue of life. For of
those creatures which divide the foot into two hoofs the walk
is always vigorous; the tendency to slip of one part of the hoof
being sustained by the firmness of the other, and so retained
in the substantial footstep. Thus they wdio do neither are
unclean, wdiose walk is neither firm in virtues ; nor do they
digest the food of the divine precepts after the manner of
that chewing of the cud. And they, too, who do one of these
things are not themselves clean either, inasmuch as they
are maimed of the other, and not perfect in both. And these
are they wdio either do both, as believers, and are clean ; or
one of the two, as Jews and heretics, and are blemished ; or
neither, as the Gentiles, and are consequently unclean. Tlius
in the animals, by the law, as it w^ere, a certain mirror of
human life is established, wherein men may consider the
images of penalties; so that everything which is vicious in men,
as committed against nature, may be the more condemned,
when even those things, although naturally ordained in brutes,
are in them blamed. For that in fishes the roughness of scales
is regarded as constituting their cleanness; rough, and rugged,
and unpolished, and substantial, and grave manners are ap-
proved in men ; while those that are without scales are un-
clean ; because trifling, and fickle, and faithless, and eifemi-
nate manners are disapproved. Moreover, what does the law
mean when it says, ^'Thou slialt not eat the camel? "^ —
^ Lev. xi. 4.
ON TEE JEWISH MEATS, 389
except that by the example of that animal it condemns a
life nerveless ^ and crooked with crimes. Or when it forbids
the swine to be taken for food ? It assuredly reproves a life
filthy and dirty, and delighting in the garbage of vice, placing
its supreme good not in generosity of mind, but in the flesh
alone. Or when it forbids the hare ? It rebukes men de-
formed into women. And who w^ould use the body of the
weasel for food ? But in this case it reproves theft. Who
would eat the lizard? But it hates an aimless waywardness
of life. Who the eft? But it execrates mental stains.
Who would eat the hawk, who the kite, who the eagle ? But
it hates plunderers and violent people who live by crime.
Who the vulture ? But it holds accursed those wdio seek for
booty by the death of others. Or who the raven ? But it
holds accused crafty wills. Moreover, when it forbids the
sparrow, it condemns intemperance; when the owl, it hates
those who fly from the light of truth ; when the swan, the
proud with high neck ; when the sea-mew, too talkative an
intemperance of tongue ; when the bat, those who seek the
darkness of night as well as of error. These things, then,
and the like to these, the law holds accursed in animals,
which in them indeed are not blameworthy, because they are
born in this condition ; in man they are blamed, because they
are sought for contrary to his nature, not by his creation^
but by his error.
CIIAPTEE lY.
Argument. — To these things also icas added another reason
for prohibiting many hinds of meats to the Jews ; to icity
for the restraint of the intemperance of the people^ and
that they might serve the one God.
To these considerations, then, thus enumerated, w^ere added
also other reasons for which many kinds of meats were with-
held from the Jews ; and that this might be so, many things
^ " Enervem," "but more probably " informem."
890 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
were called unclean, not as being condemned in themselves,
but that the Jews might be restrained to the service of one
God ; because frugality and moderation in appetite were be-
coming to those who were chosen for this purpose. And such
moderation is always found to be approximate to religion,
nay, so to speak, rather related and akin to it ; for luxury is
inimical to holiness. For how shall religion be spared by it,
when modesty is not spared ? Luxury does not entertain the
fear of God ; since while pleasures hurry it on, it is carried
forward to the sole daring [of the indulgence] of its desires :
for the reins being loosened, it increases in the application of
expense without measure, as if it were its food, exceeding its
patrimony with its modesty ; or as a torrent rushing from
the mountain-peaks not only overleaps wdiat is opposed to it,
but carries with it those very hindrances for the destruction
of other things. Therefore these remedies were sought for
to restrain the intemperance of the people, that in propor-
tion- as luxury w^as diminished, virtuous manners might be
increased. For what else did they deserve, than that they
should be restrained from using all the pleasures of divers
meats, who dared to prefer the vilest meats of the Egyptians
to the divine banquets of manna, preferring the juicy meats
of their enemies and masters to their liberty ? They were
truly worthy that the slavery wdiich they had coveted should
pamper them, if the food that was more desirable and free
was so ill pleasing to them.
CHAPTER V.
Argument. — But there ivas a limit to the use of these shadows
or figures ; for afterwards, ivhen the end of the law, Chist,
came^ all things ivere said by the apostle to he pure to the
pure, and the true and holy meat icas a right faith and an
unspotted conscience.
And thus there was a certain ancient time, wherein those
shadows or figures were to be used, that meats should be
ON THE JEWISH MEATS. 391
abstained from which had indeed been commended by their
creation, but had been prohibited by the law. But now
Christ, the end of the law, has come, disclosing all the ob-
scurities of the law — all those things which antiquity had
covered with the clouds of sacraments. For the illustrious
]\Iaster, and the heavenly Teacher, and the ordainer of
the perfected truth, has come, under whom at length it is
rightly said: "To the pure all things are pure; but unto
them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but
even their mind and conscience is defiled." ^ Moreover, in
another place : " For every creature of God is good, and
nothing to be refused which is received with thanksgiving ;
for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer." " Again,
in another place: "The Spirit expressly says that in the
last days some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypo-
crisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, for-
bidding to marry, and [commanding to] abstain from meats
which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by
them which believe and those who know God." ^ Moreover,
in another passage : " Everything that is sold in the market-
place eat, asking nothing." * From these things it is plain
that all those things are returned to their [original] blessed-
ness now that the law is finished, and that we must not revert
to the special observances of meats, which observances were
ordained for a certain reason, but which evangelical liberty
has now taken away, their discharge being given. The
apostle cries out : " The kingdom of God is not meat and
drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy." ^ Also else-
where : " Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats : but
God shall destroy both it and them. 'Now the body is not for
fornication, but for the Lord ; and the Lord for the body." ^
God is not worshipped by the belly nor by meats, which the
Lord says will perish, and are purged by natural law in the
draught. For he who worships the Lord by meats, is merely
as one who has his belly for his Lord. The meat, I say,
1 Tit. i. 15. - 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5. » 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3.
4 1 Cor. X. 25. « Rom. xiv. 17. ^ 1 Cor. vi. 13.
392 NOVATIAN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
true, and lioly, and pure, is a true faith, an unspotted con-
science, and an innocent soul. Whosoever is thus fed, feeds
also with Christ. Such a banqueter is God's guest : these
are the feasts that feed the angels, these are the tables which
the martyrs make. Hence is that word of the law : " Man
doth not live by bread alone, but by every word which pro-
ceedeth out of the mouth of God." ^ Hence, too, that saying
of Christ : " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me,
and to finish His work." ^ Hence, " Ye seek me not because
ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of my loaves and
were filled. But labour not for the meat which perisheth,
but for the meat which endureth to life eternal, which the
Son of man will give you; for Him hath the Father sealed."*
By rigliteousness, I say, and by continency, and by the rest
of the virtues, God is worshipped. For Zecharias also tells
lis, saying : " If ye eat or drink, is it not ye that eat or
drink?"'* — declaring thereby that meat or drink attain not
unto God, but unto man : for neither is God fleshly, so as
to be pleased with flesh ; nor is He careful ^ for these plea-
sures, so as to rejoice in our food. God rejoices in our
faith alone, in our innocency alone, in our truth alone, in
our virtues alone. And these dwell not in our belly, but
in our soul; and these are acquired for us by divine awe
and heavenly fear, and not by earthly food. And such the
apostle fitly rebuked, as " obeying the superstitions of angels,
puffed up by their fleshly mind; not holding Christ the head,
from whom all the body, joined together by links, and in-
woven and grown together by mutual members in the bond
of charity, increaseth to God ; " ^ but observing those things :
"Touch not, taste not, handle not; which indeed seem to
have a form of religion, in that the body is not spared." ^
Yet there is no advantage at all of righteousness, while we
are recalled by a voluntary slavery to those elements to
which by baptism we have died.
1 Dent. viii. 3. 2 JqI^^ iv. 34.
» John vi. 26, 27. ^ Zech. vii. 6, LXX.
^ " Attonitus" is assumed to be rightly read "atteutus."
c Col. ii. 18, 19. ^ Col. ii. 21, 23.
ON THE JEWISH MEATS. 393
CHAPTER YI.
Argument. — But, on the ground that liherty in meats is granted
to usy there is no permission of luxury, there is no taking
away of continence and fasting : for these things greatly
become the faithful^ — to ivit, that they should jy ray to God,
and give Him thanks, not only hy day, hut hy night.
But from the fact that liberty [in respect] of meats is
granted to us, it does not of necessity follow that luxury is
allowed us ; nor because the gospel has dealt with us very
liberally, has it taken away continency. By this, I say, the
belly is not provided for, but the form of meats was shown : it
was made manifest what was right, not that we might go into the
gulf of desire, but to give a reason for the law. But nothing
has so restrained intemperance as the gospel ; nor has any one
given such strict laws against gluttony as Christ, who is said
to have pronounced even the poor blessed, and the hun-
gering and thirsting happy, the rich miserable ; to whom,
obeying the government of their belly and their palate, the
material of their lusts could never be wanting, so that their
servitude could not cease ; who think it an argument of
their happiness to desire as much as they can, except that
they are thus able to attain less than they desire. For,
moreover, preferring Lazarus in his very hunger and in his
sores themselves, and with the rich man's dogs. He restrained
the destroyers of salvation, the belly and the palate, by
examples. The apostle also, when he said, " Having food
and raiment, we are therewith content," ^ laid down the law
of frugality and continency ; and thinking that it would be
of little advantage that he had written, he also gave him-
self as an example of what he had written, adding not with-
out reason, that " avarice is the root of all evils ;'' " for it
follows in the footsteps of luxury. Whatever the latter has
wasted by vice, the former restores by crime ; the circle of
crimes being re-trodden, that luxury may again take away
1 1 Tim. vi. 8. 2 i Tim. vi. 10.
894 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER
whatever avarice had heaped together. Nor yet are there
wanting, among such things, those who, although they have
claimed to themselves the sound of the Christian name,
afford instances and teachings of intemperance ; whose vices
have come even to that pitch, that while fasting they drink
in the early morning, not thinking it Christian to drink after
meat, unless the wine poured into their empty and un-
occupied veins should have gone down directly after sleep :
for they seem to have less relish of what they drink if food
be mingled with the wine. Thus you may see such in a
new kind, still fasting and already drunk, not running to the
tavern, but carrying the tavern about with them; and if
any one of them offers a salute, he gives not a kiss, but
drinks a health. What can they do after meat, whom meat
finds intoxicated ? Or in what kind of state does the sun at
his setting leave them, whom at his rising he looks upon as
already stupid with wine ? But things which are detestable
are not to be taken as our examples. For those things only
are to be taken by which our soul may be made better ; and
although in the gospel the use of meats is universally given
to us, yet it is understood to be given to us only with the
law of frugality and continence. For these things are even
greatly becoming to the faithful, — to wit, those who are about
to pray to God and to give Him thanks, not only by day,
but by night also ; which cannot be if the mind, stupefied
by meat and wine, should not prevail to shake off hea^^ sleep
and the load heaped upon the breast.
CHAPTEE VIL
Argument. — Moreover^ ice must he careful that no one sliould
think that this licence may he carried to such an extent as
that he may approach to things offered to idols.
But it must be very greatly guarded against in the use of
food, and we must be warned lest any should think that
liberty is permitted to that degree that even he may approach
I
ON THE JEWISH MEATS. 395
to [partake of] what has been offered to idols. For, as far
as pertains to God's creation, every creature is clean. But
when it has been offered to demons, it is polluted so long as
it is offered to the idols ; and as soon as this is done, it belongs
no longer to God, but to the idol. And wdien this creature is
taken for food, it nourishes the person who so takes it for
the demon, not for God, by making him a fellow-guest with
the idol, not with Christ, as rightly do the Jews also [soil.
abstain]. And the meaning of these meats being perceived,
and the counsel of the law being considered, and the kindness
of the gospel grace being known, and the rigour of tem-
perance being observed, and the pollution of things offered
to idols being rejected, we wdio keep the rule of truth
throughout all things, ought to give thanks to God through
Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord, to whom be praise, and
honour, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Letter luritten to Cyprian hy Novatian the Boman Preshyter,
in the name of the Roman Clergy, will be found trans-
lated at page 85 of the first volume, Ep. xxx.
«
ACTS AND KECORDS
OF THE
FAMOUS CONTKOVERSY ABOUT THE
BAPTISM OF HERETICS.
A EOMAN COUNCIL CELEBRATED UNDER ST. STEPHEN.
From the Synodal Roll.
A divine and sacred provincial synod, gathered together
at Rome by Stephen, the blessed martyr and pope, which ex-
communicated those who in an African synod had, without
reason, conceded that they who came to the catholic church
from any heresy should be re -baptized.*
CARTHAGINIAN COUNCILS.
The Third Carthar/inian Council under Cyprian, on the Baptism
of Infants ; held anno Domini 253.
This document is translated at page 195 in the first
volume, Ep. Iviii.
The Fourth Carthaginian Council under Cyprian; held anno
Domini 254. About Basilides and Martial, hisliops of
Spain, udio had i^eceived certificates.
This document is translated at page 235, vol. i. Ep. Ixvii.
^ Reference is made to this council in Epistles of Cyprian^ No. Ixxiii.,
and at large in Epistles Ixix. to Ixxiv., vol i. pp. 250 to 285.
a97
398 ACTS AND RECOBDS ABOUT BAPTISM.
The Fifth Carthaginian Council under Cyprian, the first about
Baptism; held anno Domini 255, the third year of St,
Stephen^ s papacy.
This will be found translated in vol. i. p. 250, Ep. Ixix.
The Sixth Carthaginian Council under Cyprian, the second
about Baptism, from a province of Africa and Numidia ;
held anno Domini 256, in the third year of Stephens
papacy.
This will be found translated in vol. i. p. 256, Ep. Ixxi.
The Seventh Carthaginian Council under Cyprian, the third
about Baptism, from three provinces of Africa; held
anno Domini 256, in the third year of Stephen! s papacy.
This will be found translated in the former part of the
present volume, p. 199.
I
A FKAGMENT
OF A
LETTEE OF DIONYSIUS OF ALEXANDRIA
TO
POPE STEPHEN.
PREFACE.
To the subjoined fragment Eusebius says, by way of introduction:
" Dionysius indited to Stephen the first of those letters which were
vrritten on the subject of baptism, when no small controversy had arisen
whether they who are converted from any kind of heresy ought to be
purged by baptism ; because an ancient custom had prevailed, that in
receiving such there should only be hands laid upon them with prayers.
Cyprian, who then ruled the church of Carthage, was the first who
judged that they must not be admitted to communion unless they were
first purified from error by baptism ; but Stephen, thinking that nothing
should be innovated contrary to the tradition which had already obtained
in that matter from the beginning, was indignant at this. And as
Dionysius had already written to him on this argument many letters,
he intimates to him finally, that all the churches everywhere, now that
the fury of persecution was abated, detesting the turbulent novelty of
Novatian,! had estabhshed peace with one another." And thus he
writes : ^ —
UT know, my brother, that all the churches
throughout the East, and those that are placed
beyond, which formerly were separated, are now
at length returned to unity; and all the presi-
dents ^ [of the churches] everywhere think one and the
^ Eusebius calls him Novatus.
2 Euseb. B. viii. ch. ii. iii. and iv.
400 FRAGMENT OF A LETTER OF DIONYSIUS.
same thing, and rejoice with incredible joy on account of
the unlooked-for return of peace : to wit, Demetrianus in
Antioch ; Theoctistus in C?esarea ; Mazaloenes in ^lia, after
the death of Alexander; Marinus in Tyre; Heliodorus in
Laodicea, after the death of Thelymidres ; Helenus in Tarsus,
and all the churches of Cilicia ; Firmilianus, with all Cappa-
docia. And I have named only the more illustrious bishops,
lest by chance my letter should be made too prolix, and my
address too wearisome. The wdiole of the Syrias, indeed,
and Arabia, to which you now and then send help, and to
which you have now written letters ; Mesopotamia also, and
Pontus, and Bithynia ; and, to comprise all in one word, all
the lands everywhere, are rejoicing, praising God on account
of this concord and brotherly charity.
Letters of Cyprian to Quintus, to Juhaianiis, to Pompey^ on the
haptism of heretics; and to Magnus on hap)tizing the
JVovatians, and those u'ho obtain grace on a sicJc-hedy will
be found translated in vol. i. at p. 253, Ep. Ixx. ; p. 260,
Ep. Ixxii.; p. 276, Ep. Ixxiii. ; and p. 302, Ep. Ixxv.
respectively ; and the Letter of Firmilian to Cyi^rian
against the LMter of Stephen^ at vol. i. p. 285, Ep. Ixxiv. ;
— all which are repeated, in extenso, in the Monumenta
Veterum'^
ANONYMOUS TEEATISE ON EE-BAPTISM.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
HE following treatise on Ee-baptism has been
attributed by some authorities to the pen of one
Ursinus/ a monk, who is said to have written in
the fourth century. But internal evidence seems
to point to a bishop as having been the writer f and it seems
very probable that it was written while the baptismal con-
troversy was still agitating the church, from the manner in
which he refers to it. Moreover, the bitter attack contained
in the first chapter was probably levelled against Cyprian'
as the leader of the party in favour of the re-baptism of
heretics. And this would hardly have been the case, at least
the attack would not have been characterized by the same
rancour, if Cyprian had already suffered martyrdom, and the
controversy had lost its acrimony and intensity.
Rigaltius, who first edited the treatise amonc; his notes to
the works of Cyprian, judged that it was written about the
time of that father. And Fell, Cave, Tillemont, and Galland,
are of the same opinion. The two latter, indeed, conjecture
that it was actually intended against Cyprian.
The difficulty arising to the translator from a loose and
rambling style, and very involved argument, has been en-
hanced by a text singularly uncertain ; but he ventures to
think that there are points in the treatment of the subject
which will not be without interest to the theological student
of the present day, although its immediate purpose has passed
away.
^ Gennadius, de Script. Ecclcs. cap. xxvii. ^ Section x.
CYP. — VOL. II. 2 C
A TKEATISE ON KE-BAPTIS
BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.
Argument. — That they ivho have once been ivashed in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christy ought 7iot to he 7'e-haptized.
OBSEEVE that it lias been asked among the
brethren what course ought specially to be
adopted towards the persons of those who, al-
though baptized in heresy, have yet been bap-
tized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and subsequently
departing from their heresy, and fleeing as supplicants to the
church of God, should repent with their whole hearts, and
only now perceiving the condemnation of their error, implore
from the church the help of salvation : whether, according to
the most ancient custom and ecclesiastical tradition, it would
suffice, after that baptism which they have received outside
[the church] indeed, but still in the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord, that only hands should be laid upon them by the
bishop for their reception of the Holy Spirit, and this impo-
sition of hands would afford them the renewed and perfected
seal of faith ; or whether indeed a repetition of baptism would
be necessary for them, as if they should receive nothing if
they had not obtained baptism afresh, just as if they were
never baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And therefore
some things were talked about as having been written and
replied on this new question, wherein both sides endeavoured
with the greatest eagerness to demolish what had been written
by their antagonists. In which kind of debate, as it appears
to me, no controversy or discussion could have arisen at all if
each one of us had been content with the venerable authority
402
A TREATISE ON BE-BAPTISM. 403
of all the cliurclies, and with becoming humility had desired to
innovate nothing, as observing no kind of room for contradic-
tion. For everything which is both doubtful and ambiguous,
and is established in opinions differing [from those] of prudent
and faithful men, if it is judged to be against the ancient and
memorable and most solemn observance of all those holy and
faithful men who have deserved well, ought assuredly to be
condemned ; since in a matter once arranged and ordained,
whatever that is which is brought forward against the quiet
and peace of the church, will result in nothing but discords,
and strifes, and schisms. And in this no other fruit can be
found but this alone, — that one man, whoever he is, should be
vain gloriously declared among certain fickle men to be of great
prudence and constancy; and, being gifted wath the arrogance
of heretics, whose only consolation in destruction is the not
appearing to sin alone, should be renowned among those that
are most similar and agreeable to himself, as having corrected
the errors and vices of all the churches. For this is the desire
and purpose of all heretics, to frame as many calumnies of
this kind as possible against our most holy mother the church,
and to deem it a great glory to have discovered anything that
can be imputed to her as a crime, or even as a folly. And
since it becomes no faithful man of sound mind to dare to hold
such a view, especially no one who is ordained in any clerical
office at all, and much more in the episcopal order, it is like
a prodigy for bishops themselves to devise such scandals, and
not to fear to unfold too irreverently against the precept of
the law and of all the Scriptures, with their own disgrace and
risk, the disgrace of their mother the church — if they think
that there is any disgrace in this matter, although the church
has no disgrace in this instance, save in the error of such men
as these themselves. Therefore it is the more grievous sin in
men of this kind, if that which is blamed by them in the most
ancient observance, as if it were not rightly done, is manifestly
and forcibly shown as well to have been rightly observed by
those who were before us, as to be rightly observed also by us ;
so that even if we should engage in the controversy with equal
arguments on both sides, yet, since that which was innovated
404 A TREATISE ON BE-BAPTISM,
could not be establislied without dissension among the brethren
and mischief to the church, assuredly it ought not, right or
wrong, as they say — that is, contrary to what is good and
proper — rashly to be flung like a stain upon our mother the
church ; and the ignominy of this audacity and impiety ought
with reason to be attached to those who w^ould attempt this.
But since it is not in our power, according to the apostle's
precept, " to speak the same thing, that there be not schisms
among us ;" ^ yet, as far as we can, we strive to demonstrate
the true condition of this argument, and to persuade turbulent
men even now to mind their own business, as we shall even
attain a great deal if they will at length acquiesce in this
sound advice. And therefore we shall, as is needful, collect
into one mass whatever passages of the Holy Scriptures are
pertinent to this subject. And we shall manifestly harmonize
as far as possible those which seem to be differing or of various
meaning ; and we shall to the extent of our poor ability ex-
amine both the utility and advantage of each method, that we
may recommend to all the brethren, that the most wholesome
form and peaceful custom be adopted in the church.
2. To such, then, as approach to a discussion of saving
and modern, that is, of spiritual and evangelical baptism,
there occurs first of all the annoancement universally well
known, made and begun by John the Baptist, wdio, somewhat
departing from the law, that is, from the most ancient bap-
tism of Moses, and preparing the way of the new and true
grace, both preoccupied the ears of the Jews gradually by
the baptism of water and of repentance which for the time
he practised, and took possession of them with the announce-
ment of a spiritual baptism that was to come, exhorting them,
and saying, " He that cometh after me is mightier than I,
whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose : He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire ; " ^ and for
this reason we also ought to make a beginning of this dis-
course from this point. For in the Acts of the Apostles, the
Lord after His resurrection, confirming this same word of
John, " commanded them that they should not depart from
1 1 Cor. i. 10. 2 Matt. iii. 11.
A TREATISE ON BE -BAPTISM. 405
Jerusalem, but wait for that promise of the Father which,
[saith He], ye have heard from me ; for John truly baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence." ^ And Peter also related these same
words of the Lord, when he gave an account of himself to
the apostles, saying : " And as I began to speak, the Holy
G host fell upon them as on us at the beginning ; and I
remembered the word of the Lord, how that He said, John
indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost. If, therefore, He gave them a like gift as
to us, who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that
I could withstand the Lord ? " ^ And arrain : " Men and
brethren, ye know how from ancient days God made choice
among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the
Avord of the gospel, and believe. And God, who knoweth
the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit,
even as He did unto us." " And on this account we ou^ht
to consider what is the force and power of this saying. For
the Lord says to them who would have to be subsequently
baptized because they should believe, that they must be
baptized not in like manner as by Him in water, unto repent-
ance, but in the Holy Ghost. And of this announcement, as
assuredly none of us can doubt it, it is plain on what principle
men were baptized in the Holy Spirit. For it was peculiarly
in the Holy Spirit Himself alone that they who believed
were baptized. For John distinguished, and said that he
indeed baptized in water, but that one should come who
would baptize in the Holy Ghost, by the grace and power of
God ; and they are so by the [Spirit's] bestowal and opera-
tion of hidden results. Moreover, they are so no less in the
baptism of the Spirit and of water. They are so, besides, also
in the baptism of every one in his own proper blood.* Even
as the Holy Scriptures declare to us, from which we shall
adduce evident proofs throughout each individual instance
of those things which we shall narrate.
1 Acts i. 4, 5. 2 Acts xi. 15-17. ^ Acts xv. 7, 8.
* There is something needed to make the connection of this passage
complete.
406 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
3. And to these things thou perchancej who art bnnging in
some novelty, mayest immediately and impatiently reply, as
thou art wont, that the Lord said in the Gospel : " Except
a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven." ^ Whence it manifestly
appears that that baptism alone is profitable wherein also
the Holy Spirit can dwell ; for that upon the Lord Him-
self, wdien He was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended, and
that His deed and word are quite in harmony, and that such
a mystery can consist with no other principle. To which
reply none of us is found either so senseless or so stubborn
as to dare, contrary to right or contrary to truth, to object,
for instance, so to the doing of things in their integrity,
and by all means in the church, and the observation of
them according to the order of discipline perpetually by us.
But if, in the same New Testament, those things which in
that matter we come upon as associated, be sometimes found
in some sort divided, and separated, and arranged, and
ordered just as if they were by themselves ; let us see
wdiether these solitary instances by themselves may not
sometimes be such as are not imperfect, but, as it were,
entire and complete. For when by imposition of the bishop's
hands the Holy Spirit is given to every one that beheves,
as in the case of the Samaritans, after Philip's baptism, the
apostles did to them by laying on of hands ; in this manner
also they conferred on them the Holy Spirit. And that this
might be the case, they themselves prayed for them, for as
yet the Holy Spirit had not descended upon any of them,
but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Moreover, our Lord after His resurrection, when He
had breathed upon His apostles, and had said to them,
" Receive ye the Holy Ghost," ^ thus and thus only bestowed
upon them the Spirit.
4. And tliis being found to be so, wdiat thinkest thou, my
brother ? If a man be not baptized by a bishop, so as even
at once to have the imposition of hands, and should yet die
before having received the Holy Spirit, should you judge
1 John iii. 3, 5. 2 joj^n xx. 22.
A TREATISE ON HE-BAPTISM. 407
liim to have received salvation or not ? Because, indeed, both
the apostles themselves and the disciples, who also baptized
others, and were themselves baptized by the Lord, did not
at once receive the Holy Spirit, for He had not as yet been
given, because that Jesus had not as yet been glorified ; and
after His resurrection no small interval of time elapsed
before that [gift of the Spirit] took place, — even as also
the Samaritans, when they were baptized by Philip, [did
not receive the gift] until the apostles invited from Jeru-
salem to Samaria went down to them to lay hands upon
them, and conferred on them the Holy Spirit by the im-
position of hands. Because in that interval of time any
one of them who had not attained the Holy Spirit, might
have been cut off by death, and die defrauded of the grace
of the Holy Spirit. And it cannot be doubted also, that in
the present day this sort of thing is usual, and happens
frequently, that many after baptism depart from this life
without imposition of the bishop's hands, and yet are esteemed
perfected believers, — just as the Ethiopian eunuch, when he
was returning from Jerusalem and reading the prophet
Isaiah, and was in doubt, having at the Spirit's suggestion
heard the truth from Philip the deacon, believed and was
baptized ; and when he had gone up out of the water, the
Spirit of the Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw
him no more. For he went on his way rejoicing, although,
as thou observest, hands were not laid on him by the bishop,
that he might receive the Holy Spirit. But if thou admit-
test this, and believest it to be saving, and dost not gainsay
the opinion of all the faithful, thou must needs confess this,
that even as this principle proceeds to be more largely dis-
cussed, that other also can be more broadly established;
that is, that by the imposition of hands alone of the bishop —
because baptism in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ has
gone before it — may the Holy Spirit also be given to another
man who repents and believes. Because the Holy Scripture
has affirmed that they who should believe in Christ, must
needs be baptized in the Spirit ; so that these also may not
seem to have anything less than those who are perfectly
408 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
Christians ; lest it slioulcl be needful to ask what sort of a
thing was that baptism which they have attained in the name
of Jesus Christ. Unless, perchance, in that former discussion
also, about those who should only have been baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ, thou shouldst decide that they can be
saved even without the Holy Spirit, or that the Holy Spirit
is not accustomed to be bestowed in this manner only, but
by the imposition of the bishop's hands; or even shouldst
say that it is not the bishop alone who can bestow the Holy
Spirit.
5. And if this be so, and the occurrence of any of these
things cannot deprive a man who believes, of salvation, thou
thyself also affirmest that the fact of the mystery of the faith
being divided in a manner, and its not being, as thou con-
tendest, consummated, where necessity intervenes, cannot take
away salvation from a believing and penitent man. Or if
thou sayest that a man of this kind cannot be saved, we de-
prive all bishops of salvation, whom thou thus engagest, under
risks as assured as possible, to be bound themselves to afford
help to all those who live under their care, and are in weak
health in their districts scattered up and down, because
other men of less deo;ree anion o; the clerics who venture
cannot confer the same benefit, so that the blood of those
w^ho shall appear to have departed from this life without the
benefit would have of necessity to be required at the hands
of the bishops. And further, as you are not ignorant, the
Holy Spirit is found to have been given to men who believe,
by the Lord without baptism of water, as is contained In the
Acts of the Apostles after this manner : " While Peter was
still speaking these words, the Holy Ghost fell upon all
them who heard the word. And they who were of the
circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as
came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. For they heard
them speak with their tongues, and they magnified God.
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these
should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost
as well as we ? And he commanded them to be baptized in
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM. 409
the name of Jesus Christ." ^ Even as Peter also subsequently
most abundantly taught us about the same Gentiles, saying :
" And He put no difference between us and them, their hearts
being purified by faith." ^ And there will be no doubt that
men may be baptized with the Holy Ghost without water, as
thou observest that these ^Yere baptized before they were
baptized with water, that the announcements of both John
and of our Lord Himself were satisfied ; forasmuch as they
received the grace of the promise both without the imposi-
tion of the apostle's hands and -without the laver, which they
attained afterwards. And their hearts being purified, God
bestowed upon them at the same time, in virtue of their faith,
remission of sins ; so that the subsequent baptism conferred
upon them this benefit alone, that they received also the in-
vocation of the name of Jesus Christ, that nothing might ap-
pear to be wanting to the integrity of their service and faith.
6. And this also, looking at it from the opposite side
of this discussion, those disciples of our Lord themselves
attained, upon whom, being previously baptized, the Holy
Spirit at length came down on the day of Pentecost,
descending from heaven indeed by the will of God, not of
His own accord, but effused for this very office, and more-
over upon each one of them ; although these were already
righteous, and, as we have said, liad been baptized by the
Lord's baptism even as the apostles themselves, who never-
theless are found on the night on which He was apprehended
to have all deserted Him. And even Peter himself, wdio
boasted that he should persevere in his faith, and most
obstinately resisted the prediction of the Lord Himself, yet
at last denied Him, that by this means it might be shown to
us, that whatever sins they had contracted in the meantime
and in any manner, these same sins, by the faith in them
subsequently attested as sincere, were without doubt put
away by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nor, as I think,
was it for any other reason that the apostles had charged
those whom they addressed in the Holy Spirit, tliat they
should be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus, except that
1 Acts X. 44-18. 2 Acts XV. 9.
410 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
the power of tlie name of Jesus invoked upon any man by
baptism might afford to him who should be baptized no slight
advantage for the attainment of salvation, as Peter relates in
the Acts of the Apostles, saying : '^ For there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved." ^ As also the Apostle Paul unfolds, showing that
God hath exalted our Lord Jesus, and given Him a name,
that it may be above every name, that in the name of Jesus
all should bow the knee, of things heavenly and earthly, and
under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus
is Lord in the glory of God the Father. And he on whom,
when he should be baptized, invocation should be made in
the name of Jesus, although he might obtain baptism under
some error, still would not be hindered from knowing the
truth at some time or another, and correcting his error, and
coming to the church and to the bishop, and sincerely con-
fessing our Jesus before men; so that then, when hands were
laid upon him by the bishop, he might also receive the Holy
Spirit, and he would not lose that former invocation of the
name of Jesus, wdiich none of us may disallow, although this
invocation, if it be standing bare and by itself, could not suffice
for affording salvation, lest on this principle we should believe
that even Gentiles and heretics who abuse the name of Jesus
could attain unto salvation without the true and entire thing.
Yet it is extremely useful to believe that this invocation of the
name of Jesus, together with the correction of error and the
acknowledgment of the belief of the truth, and with the putting
away of all stain of past conversation, if rightly performed
with the mystery of God among men of this kind, obtains a
place which it would not have had, and finally, in the true
faith and for the maintenance of the integrity of the sign, is
no hindrance, when its supplement which had been wanting is
added ; and that it is consistent with good reason, with the
authority of so many years, and so many churches and apostles
and bishops ; even as it is the very greatest disadvantage and
damage to our most holy mother church, now for the first time
suddenly and without reason to rebel against former decisions
1 Acts iv. 12.
A TREATISE ON BE-BAPTISM. 411
after so long a series of so many ages. For not for any otlier
reason was Peter, who had ah^eady been baptized and had
been asked what he thought of the Lord by the Lord Him-
self, and the truth of the revelation of the Father in heaven
beinfr bestowed on him had confessed that Christ was not
only our Lord, but was the Son of the living God — was
shown subsequently to have withstood the same Christ when
He made announcement of His passion, and therefore was
set forth as being called Satan, except because it would come
to pass that some, although varying in their own judgment,
and somewhat halting in faith and doctrine, although they
were baptized in the name of Jesus, yet, if they had been
able to rescind their error in some interval of time, were not
on that account cut off from salvation ; but at any time that
they had come to the right mind, obtained by repentance a
sound hope of salvation, especially when they received the
Holy Spirit, to be baptized by Whom is the duty of every
man, they would have intended some such thing. Even as
we do not apprehend that Peter in the Gospel suffered this
alone, but all the disciples, to whom, though already baptized,
the Lord afterwards says, that " all ye shall be offended in
me," ^ — all of whom, as we observe, having amended their
faith, were baptized after the Lord's resurrection with the
Holy Spirit; so that not without reason we also in the present
day may believe that men amended from their former error
may be baptized in the Holy Spirit, who, although they were
baptized with water in the name of the Lord, might have
had a faith somewhat im.perfect. Because it is of great
importance whether a man is not baptized at all in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, or indeed whether in some
respect he halts when he is baptized with the baptism of
water, which is of less account provided that afterwards a
sincere faith in the truth is evident in the baptism of the
Spirit, which undoubtedly is of greater account.
7. Neither must you esteem what our Lord said as being
contrary to this treatment : " Go ye, teach the nations ;
baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
^ Mark xiv. 27.
412 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
and of the Holy Ghost." ^ Because, although this is true
and right, and to be observed by all means in the church,
and moreover has been used to be observed, yet it behoves us
to consider that invocation of the name of Jesus ought not
to be thought futile by us on account of the veneration and
power of that very name, in which name all kinds of power
are accustomed to be exercised, and occasionally some even by
men outside the church. But to what effect are those words
of Christ, who said that He w^ould deny, and not know, those
who should say to Him in the day of judgment, " Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name
cast out demons, and in Thy name done many wonderful
works," when He answered them, even with emphasis,^ " I
never knew you; depart from me, ye who work iniquity,"^
unless that it should be shown to us, that even by those who
work iniquity might these good works also be done, by the
superfluous energy of the name of Christ? Therefore ought
this invocation of the name of Jesus to be received as a
certain beginning of the mystery of the Lord common to us
and to all others, which may afterwards be filled up with the
remainino; things ; otherwise such an invocation would not
avail if it should remain alone, because after the death of a
man in this position there cannot be added to him anything at
all, nor supplemented, nor can in anything avail him in the
day of judgment, when they shall begin to be reproached
by our Lord with those things which we have above men-
tioned, none of wdiom notwithstanding in this present time
may by any man be so hardly and cruelly prohibited from
aiding themselves in those ways which we have above shown.
8. But these things thou wilt, as thou art wont, contradict,
by objecting to us, that when they were baptized, the dis-
ciples were baptized perfectly, and rightly, and not as these
heretics ; and this thou must needs assume from their con-
dition, and His who baptized them. And therefore w^e reply
to this proposition of thine, not as accusers of the Lord's dis-
ciples, but as we are constrained, because it is necessary that
we should investigate by reasons where and when, and in what
^ Matt, xxviii. 19. ^ " Jurejuranclo." ^ Mark xiv. 27.
A TREATISE OJS^ RE-BAPTISM. 413
measure, salvation has been bestowed on each of us. For that
our Lord was born, and that He was the Christ, appeared by
many reasons to be beheved, not unjustly, by His disciples,
because He had been born of the tribe of Judah, of the family
of David, and in the city of Bethlehem ; and because He had
been announced to the shepherds by the angels at the same
moment that there was born to them a Saviour ; because His
star being seen in the east, He had been most anxiously sought
for and adored by the ^lagi, and honoured with illustrious pre-
sents and distinguished offerings ; because while still a youth,
sitting in the temple with the doctors of the law. He wisely, and
with the admiration of all, had disputed; because when He was
baptized He had been glorified, as had happened to none others,
by the descent of the Holy Spirit from the opened heavens,
and by its abode upon Him ; and moreover by the testimony
of His Father, and also of John the Baptist ; because, beyond
the inferior capacity of man, He understood the hearts and
thoughts of all men ; because He cured and healed weak-
nesses, and vices, and diseases, with very great power ; because
He bestowed remissions of sins, with manifest attestation ; be-
cause He expelled demons at His bidding ; because He purified
lepers with a word ; because, by converting water into wine,
He enlarged the nuptial festivity with marvellous joy fulness ;
because He restored or granted sight to the blind ; because He
maintained the doctrine of the Father with all confidence ;
because in a desert place He satisfied five thousand men with
five loaves; because the remains and the fragments filled more
than twelve baskets ; because He everywhere raised up the
dead, according to His mercy; because He commanded the
winds and the sea to be still ; because He walked with His feet
upon the sea ; because He absolutely performed all miracles.
9. By which things, and by many deeds of this kind tend-
ing to His glory, it appeared to follow as a consequence,
that in whatever manner the Jews think about Christ, and
although they do not believe concerning Jesus Christ our Lord,
that even they themselves thought that such and so great a
one would without any death endure to eternity, and would
possess the kingdom of Israel, and of the whole world for
4U A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
ever ; and tliat it should not be destroyed. Whence, more-
over, the Jews dared to seize Him by force, and anoint Him
for the kingdom, which indeed He was compelled to evade ;
and therefore His disciples thought that in no other way
would He bestow upon them eternal life, except He Himself
had first continued this temporal life into that eternal one
in His own experience. In fine, when they were passing
through Galilee, Jesus said to them, " The Son of man is to
be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him ;
and after three days He shall rise again." ^ And they were
greatly grieved, because, as we have said, they had formed a
very different notion previously in their minds and hearts.
And again, this also was the speech of the Jews, in contra-
diction against Him, when He taught them of Himself, and
announced future things to them, and they said, " We have
heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever : and how
sayest thou that the Son of man must be lifted up?"^ And
so there was this same presumption concerning Christ in the
mind of the disciples, even as Peter himself, the leader and
chief of the apostles, broke forth into that expression of his
own incredulity. For when he, together with the others,
had been asked by the Lord what he thought about Him,
that is, whom he thought Him to be, and had first of all
confessed the truth, saying that He was the Christ the Son
of the living God, and therefore was judged blessed by Him
because he had arrived at this truth, not after the flesh, but
by the revelation of the heavenly Father; yet this same
[Peter], when Jesus began to show His disciples that He
must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the
elders, and priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after the
third day rise again from the dead, nevertheless that true
confessor of Christ, after a few days, taking Him aside, began
to rebuke Him, saying, " Be propitious to Thyself : this shall
not be ; " ^ so that on that account he deserved to hear from
the Lord, " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence
unto me," because he savoured not the things which are of
God, but those things which are of men; — which rebuke
1 Mark ix. 30. ^ jobn xii. 34. 3 ^att. xvi. 22.
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM. 415
against Peter became more and more apparent when the
Lord was apprehended, and, frightened by the damsel, he
said, "I know not what thou sayest, neither know I thee;"^
and again when, using an oath, he said this same thing ; and
for the thu'd time, cui'sing and swearing, he affirmed that he
knew not the man, and not once, but frequently, denied Him.
And this disposition, because it was to continue to him even
to the Lord's passion, was long before made manifest by the
Lord, that we also might not be ignorant of it. Again, after
the Lord's resurrection, one of His disciples, Cleopas, when
he was, according to the error of all his fellow-disciples,
sorrowfully telling what had happened to the Lord Himself,
as if to some unknown person, spoke thus, saying of Jesus the
Nazarene, " who was a prophet mighty in deed and in word
before God and all the people; how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and
fastened Him to the cross. But we trusted that it had been
He which should have redeemed Israel."^ And in addition
to these things, all the disciples also judged the declaration of
the women who had seen the Lord after the resurrection to be
idle tales ; and some of themselves, when they had seen Him,
believed not, but doubted ; and they who were not then pre-
sent believed not at all until they had been subsequently by
the Lord Himself in all ways rebuked and reproached; because
His death had so offended them that they thought that He
had not risen again, who they had believed ought not to have
died, because contrary to their belief He had died once. And
thus, as far as concerns the disciples themselves, they are found
to have had a faith neither sound nor perfect in such matters
as we have referred to ; and what is much more serious, they
moreover baptized others, as it is written in the Gospel accord-
mg to John.
10. Besides, what wilt thou say of those who are in many
cases baptized by bishops of very bad character, who yet at
length, when God so wills it, convicted of their crimes, are
even deprived of their office itself, or absolutely of com-
munion ? Or what wilt thou decide of those who may have
1 Matt. xxvi. 70. 2 Luke xxiv. 20, 21.
416 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
been baptized by bisliops, wliose opinions are unsound, or who
are very ignorant ? — when they may not have spoken clearly
and honestly, or even have spoken otherwise than is fit in the
tradition of the sacrament, or at least may have asked any-
thing, or asking, have heard from those who answered what
ouo-ht by no means to be so asked or answered. And still
this does not greatly injure that true faith of ours, although,
moreover, these more simple men may deliver the mystery of
the faith without the elegance and order that thou wouldst use.
And thou wilt assuredly say, with that marvellous carefulness
of thine, that these too should be baptized again, since this is
especially the thing which is wanting to them, or hinders their
being able to receive uncorrupted that divine and inviolable
mystery of the faith. And yet, O excellent man, let us
attribute and allow to the heavenly agencies their power, and
let us concede to the condescension of the divine majesty its
appropriate operations ; and understanding how great is the
advantage therein, let us gladly acquiesce in it. And thus, as
our salvation is founded in the baptism of the Spirit, which
for the most part is associated with the baptism of water, if
indeed baptism shall be given by us, let it be conferred in its
integrity and with solemnity, and with all those means wdiich
are written ; and let it be administered without any discon-
nection of anything. Or if, by the necessity of the case, it
should be administered by an inferior cleric, let us wait for
the result, that it may either be supplied by us [sciL the
bishop], or reserved to be supplied by the Lord. If, however,
it should have been administered by strangers, let this matter
be amended as it can and as it allows. Because outside the
church there is no Holy Spirit, sound faith moreover cannot
exist, not alone among heretics, but even among those who
are established in schism. And for that reason, they who
repent and are amended by the doctrine of the truth, and by
their own faith, wdiich subsequently has been improved by
the purification of their heart, ought to be aided only by
spiritual baptism, that is, by the imposition of the bishop's
hands, and by the ministration of the Holy Spirit. More-
over, the perfect seal of faith has been rightly accustomed to
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM. All
be given in this manner and on tliis principle in tlie cliurcli,
so that the invocation of the name of Jesus, which cannot be
clone away, may not seem to be held in disesteem by us; which
assuredly is not fitting ; although such an invocation, if none
of those things of which we have spoken should follow it,
may fail and ,be deprived of the effect of salvation. For
when the apostle said that there was ^' one baptism,"^ it must
needs have been by the continued effect of the invocation of
the name of Jesus, because, once invoked, it cannot be taken
away by any man, even although we might venture, against
the decision of the apostles, to repeat it by giving too much,
yea, by the desire of superadding baptism. If he who returns
to the church be unwilling again to be baptized, the result
will be that we may defraud him of the baptism of the Spirit,
whom we think we must not defraud of the baptism of water.
11. And what wilt thou determine against the person of
him who hears the word, ^ and haply taken up in the name of
Christ, has at once confessed, and has been punished before
it has been granted him to be baptized with water? Wilt
thou declare liim to have perished because he has not been
baptized with water ? Or, indeed, wilt thou think that there
may be something from without that helps him to salvation,
although he is not baptized with water ? Thy thinking him
to have perished will be opposed by the sentence of the
Lord, who says, " Whosoever shall confess me before men,
him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven;"^
because it is no matter whether he who confesses for the
Lord is a hearer of the word or a believer, so long as he
confesses that same Christ whom he ouMit to confess: because
the Lord, by confessing him, in turn Himself graces His
confessor before His Father with the glory of his martyrdom,
as He promised. But this assuredly ought not to be taken
too liberally, as if it could be stretched to such a point as
that any heretic can confess tlie name of Christ who notwith-
standing denies Christ Himself ; that he believes on another
1 Epli. IV. 5.
2 By him who hoars the word is meant a catechiimeu (Rigaltius)
8 Matt. X. 32.
CYP. — VOL. II. 2 D
418 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
Christ, when Christ avows that it cannot avail him at all ;
forasmuch as the Lord said that He ^ must needs be brought
to confession by us before men, which cannot be done without
Him, and without veneration of His name. And therefore
both [soil, baptisms (?)] ought to stand by the confessor, sound,
and sincere, and uncontaminated, and inviolated, without
any choice being made of the confessor himself, whether he
is righteous or a sinner, and a perfect Christian or an imper-
fect one, who has not feared to confess the Lord at his ovvii
greatest peril. And this is not contrary to the former dis-
cussion, because there is left therein time for the correction
of many things which are bad, and because certain things are
conceded to the very name only of our Lord ; while martyr-
dom cannot be consummated except in the Lord and by the
Lord Himself, and therefore nobody can confess Christ with-
out His name, nor can the name of Christ avail any one for
confession without Christ Himself.
12. Wherefore the whole of this discussion must be con-
sidered, that it may be made clearer. For the invocation of
the name of Jesus can only be an advantage if it shall be
subsequently properly supplemented, because both prophets
and apostles have so declared. For James says in the Acts
of the Apostles : " Men and brethren, hearken : Simon hath
declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles, to take
out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the
words of the prophets ; as it is written, After this I will
return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which
has fallen down ; and I will build again the ruins thereof,
and I will raise it up anew ; that the residue of men may
seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is
called upon them, saith the Lord, who doeth these things." ^
Therefore also the residue of men, that is, some of the Jews
and all the Gentiles upon whom the name of the Lord is
called, may and of necessity must seek the Lord, because
that very invocation of the name affords them the oj)portunity,
or even imposes on them the necessity, of seeking the Lord ;
and with these they prescribe the Holy Scriptures — whether
1 The original interpolates "non." ^ ^cts xv. 13-17.
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM. 419
all or only some of tliem — to discuss still more boldly con-
cerning the truth than with the Gentiles upon whom the
name of the Lord Jesus, the Son of the living God, has not
been invoked, as it likewise has not upon the Jews who only
receive the Old Testament Scriptures. And thus men of
both of these kinds, that is, Jews and Gentiles, fully believing
as they ought, are in like manner baptized. But heretics who
are already baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ
must only be baptized with the Holy Spirit ; and in Jesus,
which is the only name given under heaven whereby we
must be saved, death is reasonably despised, although, if they
continue as they are, they cannot be saved, because they have
not sought the Lord after the invocation of His name upon
them, — even as those who, on account of false Christs, per-
chance have refused to believe, of whom the Lord says,
"Take heed that no man lead you into error. For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall lead
many into error." ^ And again He says : " Then if any man
shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ, or lo there ; believe it
not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall show great signs and wonders ; so that, if it w^ere
possible, even the very elect shall be deceived." ^ And these
miracles, without doubt, they shall then do under the name of
Christ ; in which name some even now appear to do certain
miracles, and to prophesy falsely. But it is certain that
those, because they are themselves not of Christ, therefore do
not belong to Christ, in like manner as if one should depart
from Christ, abiding only in His name, he would not be
much advantaged ; nay, rather, he is even burdened by that
name, although he may have been previously very faithful,
or very righteous, or honoured with some clerical office, or
endowed with the dignity of confession. For all those, by
denying the true Christ, and by introducing or following
another, although there [truly] is no other at all, leave them-
selves no hope or salvation ; not otherwise than they who
have denied Christ before men, who must needs be denied
by Christ ; no consideration for them being made from their
1 Matt. xxiv. 4, etc. 2 Matt. xxiv. 23,. 24.
420 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
previous conversation, or feeling, or dignity, equally as tliey
themselves have dared to do away with Christ, that Is, their
own salvation, they are condemned by the short sentence of
this kind, because it was manifestly said by the Lord, "Whoso-
ever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my
Father which is in heaven." As this word wliosoever, also in
the sentence of confession, most fully shows us that no condi-
tion of the confessor himself can stand in the way, although
he may have been before a denier, or a heretic, or a hearer,
or one who is beginning to hear, who has not yet been bap-
tized or converted from heresy to the truth of the faith, or
one who has departed from the church and has afterwards
returned, and then when he returned, before the bishop's
hands could be laid upon him, being apprehended, should be
compelled to confess Christ before men, even as to one who
again denies Christ, no special ancient dignity can be effectual
to him for salvation.
13. For any one of us will hold it necessary, that whatever
is the last thing to be found in a man in this respect, is that
whereby he must be judged, all those things which he has pre-
viously done being wiped away and obliterated. And there-
fore, although in martyrdom there is so great a change of
things in a moment of time, that in a very rapid case all things
may be changed ; let nobody flatter himself who has lost the
occasion of a glorious salvation, if by chance he has excluded
himself therefrom by his own fault ; even as that wife of
Lot's, who in a similar manner In time of trouble only, con-
trary to the angel's command, looked behind her, and she be-
came a pillar of salt. On which principle also, that heretic
who, by confessing Christ's name, is put to death, can subse-
quently correct nothing, if he should have thought anything
erroneously of God or of Christ, although by believing on
another God or on another Christ he has deceived himself: he
is not a confessor of Christ, but in the name only of Christ ;
since also the apostle goes on to say, " And if I shall give up
my body so that I may be burnt up with fire, but have not
love, I profit nothing."^ Because by this deed he profits
1 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM. 421
nothing who has not the love of that God and Clu'Ist who is
announced by the law and the prophets and in the Gospel in
this manner : " Thou slialt love the Lord thy God, with all
thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy thought ;
and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. For on these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets;"^ —
even as John the evangelist said, " And every one that
loveth is born of God, and knoweth God; for God is love;"^
even as God also says, '^ For God so loved the world, that
lie gave His only-begotten Son, that every one that believeth
on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,'"" — as it
manifestly appears that he who has not in him this love, of
loving us and of being loved by us, profits nothing by an
empty confession and passion, except that thereby it appears
and is plain that he is a heretic who believes on another God,
or receives another Christ than Him whom the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament manifestly declare, which an-
nounce without any obscurity the Father omnipotent. Creator
of all things, and His Son. For it shall happen to them as
to one who expects salvation from another God. Then,
finally, contrary to their notion, they are condemned to
eternal punishment by Christ, the Son of God the Father
omnipotent, the Creator whom they have blasphemed, when
God shall begin to judge the hidden things of men according
to the Gospel by Christ Jesus, because they did not believe
in Him, although they were washed in His name.
14. And even to this point the whole of that heretical
baptism may be amended, after the intervention of some
space of time, if a man should survive and amend his faith,
as our God, in the Gospel according to Luke, spoke to His
disciples, saying, " But I have another baptism to be baptized
with."'* Also according to Mark He said, with the same
purpose, to the sons of Zebedee : " Are ye able to drink of
the cup which I drink of, or to be baptized with the baptism
wherewith lam baptized?"^ Because He knew that those
men had to be baptized not only with water, but also in their
1 ^ratt. xxii. o7. 2 i j^,|^,^ j^_ 7^ g^ 3 John iii. 16.
* J.ukc xii. 50. « .Mark x. 08.
422 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
own blood ; so that, as well baptized in this baptism only,
they might attain the sound faith and the simple love of
the laver, and, baptized in both ways, they might in like
manner to the same extent attain the baptism of salvation
and glory. For what was said by the Lord, " I have another
baptism to be baptized wdth," signifies in this place not a
second baptism, as if there were two baptisms, but demon-
strates that there is moreover a baptism of another kind
given to us, concurring to the same salvation. And it was
fitting that both these kinds should first of all be initiated
and sanctified by our Lord Himself, so that either one of the
two or both kinds mi^ht afford to us this one twofold savins^
and glorifying baptism ; and certain ways of the one baptism
might so be laid open to us, that at times some one of them
might be wanting without mischief, even as in the case of
martyrs that hear the word, the baptism of water is wanting
without evil ; and yet we are certain that these, if they had
any indulgence, would also be used to be baptized with water.
And also to those who are made lawful believers, the baptism
of their own blood is wanting without mischief, because, being
baptized in the name of Christ, they have been redeemed with
the most precious blood of the Lord; since both of these
rivers of the baptism of the Lord proceed out of one and the
same fountain, that every one who thirsts may come and
drink, as says the Scripture, " From his belly flowed rivers
of living water ; " ^ which rivers were manifested first of all
in the Lord's passion, when from His side, pierced by the
soldier's spear, flowed blood and water, so that the one side
of the same person emitted two rivers of a different kind,
that v/hosoever should believe and drink of both rivers might
be filled with the Holy Spirit. For, speaking of these rivers,
the Lord set this forth, signifying the Holy Spirit whom
they should receive who should believe on Him : " But the
Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet
glorified."^ And when He thus said how baptism might be
produced, which the apostle declares to be one, it is assuredly
manifest on that principle that there are different kinds of
1 Jolm vii. 38. - John vii. 39.
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM. 423
one and the same baptism tliat flow from one wound into
water and blood ; since there are there two baptisms of water
of which we have spoken, that is, of one and the same kind,^
altliough the baptism of each kind^ ought to be one, as we
have more fully spoken.
15. And since we seem to have divided all "spiritual baptism
in a threefold manner, let us come also to the proof of the
statement proposed, that we may not appear to have done
this of our own judgment, and with rashness. For John
says of our Lord in his epistle, teaching us : " This is He
who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ ; not by water
only, but by water and blood : and it is the Spirit that
beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For three bear
witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood : and these
three are one ; " ^ — that we may gather from these words
both that water is wont to confer [the Spirit], and that men's
own blood is wont to confer the Spirit, and that the Spirit
Himself also is wont to confer the Spii'it. For since water
is poured forth even as blood, the Spirit also was poured
out by the Lord upon all who believed. Assuredly both,
in water, and none the less in their own blood, and then
especially in the Holy Spirit, men may be baptized. For
Peter says : " But this is that which was spoken by the
prophet ; It shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh : and their sons and
their daughters shall prophesy, and their young men shall
see visions, and their old men shall dream dreams : and upon
my servants, and upon my handmaidens, will I pour out
of my Spirit ; " ^ — which Spirit we discover to have been
communicated in the Old Testament, not indeed everywhere
nor at large, but with other gifts ; or, moreover, to have
sprung of His own will into certain men, or to have invested
them, or to have been upon them, even as we observe that
it was said by the Lord to Moses, about the seventy elders,
*' And I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will
put it upon them." ^ For which reason also, according to
1 Unius atque ejusdem species. - 1 Jolm v. 0.
8 Acts ii. 17, 18. ^ :N'um. xi. 17.
424 A TREATISE ON BE-BAPTISM.
His promise, God put upon tliem from another of tlie Spirit
which had been upon Moses, and they prophesied in the
camp. And Moses, as a spiritual man, rejoiced that this
had so happened, aUhough he "was un^Yi^ingly persuaded
by Jesus the son of Nave to oppose this thing, and ^yas
not thereby induced. Further, also in the book of Judges,
and in the books of Kings too, we observe that upon several,
there either was the Spirit of the Lord, or that He came
unto them, as upon Gothoniel, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson,
Saul, David, and many others. Which comes to this result,
that the Lord has taught us most plainly by them the liberty
and power of the Holy Spirit, approaching of His own
wdll, saying, " The Spirit breathes where He will ; and thou
liearest His voice, and knowest not whence He cometh or
whither He goeth." ^ So that the same Spirit is, moreover,
sometimes found to be upon those who are unworthy of Him ;
not certainly in vain or without reason, but for the sake of
some needful operation ; as He was upon Saul, upon whom
came the Spirit of God, and he prophesied. However, in
later days, after the Spirit of the Lord departed from him,
and after a malign spirit from the Lord vexed him, because
then he had come, after the messengers whom he had pre-
viously sent before with care, with intent to kill David ;
and they therefore fell into the chorus of the prophets, and
they prophesied, so that they neither were able nor willing
to do what they had been bidden. And this we believe that
the Spirit which was upon them all effected with an admir-
able wisdom by the will of God. Which Spirit also filled
John the Baptist even from his mother's womb ; and it
fell upon those who were with Cornelius the centurion
before they were baptized with water. Thus, cleaving to
the baptism of men, the Holy Spirit either goes before or
follows it ; or failing the baptism of water, it falls upon
those who believe, we are counselled that either we ought
duly to maintain the integrity of baptism, or if by chance
baptism is given by any one in the name of Jesus Christ,
we ought to supplement it, guarding the most holy invocation
^ John iii. 5.
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM. 425
of the name of Jesus Christ, as we have most abundantly set
forth ; guarding, moreover, the custom and authority which
so much claim our veneration for so long a time and for
such great men.
IG. But since the first part of this argument seems to be
unfolded, we ought to touch on its subsequent part, on account
of the heretics ; because it is very necessary not to pass over
that discussion which once falls into our hands, lest per-
chance some heretic should dare of his subtlety to assail
those of our brethren who are more simple. For because
John said that we must be baptized in the Holy Ghost and
in fire, from the fact that he went on to say and fire, some
desperate men have dared to such an extent to carry their
depravity, and therefore very crafty men seek how they can
thus corrupt and violate, and even neutralize the baptism of
holiness ; who derive the origin of their notion from Simon
Magus, practising it with manifold perversity through various
errors; to whom Simon Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, said,
" Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought
that the grace of God could be possessed by money. Thou
hast neither part nor lot in this work : for thy heart is not
rii>;ht with God."-^ And such men as these do all these thinojs
in the desire to deceive those who are more simple or more
inquisitive ; and some of them try to argue that they only
administer a sound and perfect, not as we, a mutilated and
curtailed baptism, which they are in such wise said to desig-
nate, that immediately they have descended into the water,
fire at once appears upon the water ; which if it can be
effected by any trick, as several tricks of this kind are
affirmed to be — of Anaxilaus — whether it is anything natural,
by means of which this may happen, or whether they think
that they behold this, or whether the work and magic poison
of some malimiant beino; can force fire from the water ; still
they declare such a deceit and artifice to be a perfect baptism,
which if faithful men have been forced to receive, there will
assuredly be no doubt but that they have lost that which
they had ; just as, if a soldier after taking an oath should
1 Acts viii. 20, 21.
426 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
desert his camp, and in the very different camp of the enemy
should wish to take an oath of a far other kind, it is plain
that in this way he is discharged from his old oath.
17. Moreover, if a man of this sort should again return
to thee, thou wilt assuredly hesitate whether he may have
baptism or no ; and yet it will behove thee, in whatever way
thou canst, to aid even this man if he repent. For of this
adulterous, yea, murderous baptism, if there is any other
author, it is then certainly a book devised by these same
heretics on behalf of this same error, which is inscribed The
Preaching of Paul ;^ in which book, contrary to all Scrip-
tures, thou wilt find both Christ confessing His own sin —
although He alone did no sin at all — and almost compelled
by His mother Mary unwillingly to receive John's baptism.
Also, that when He was baptized, fire was seen to be upon
the water, which is written in neither of the Gospels ; and
that after such long time, Peter and Paul, after the col-
lation of the Gospel in Jerusalem, and the mutual con-
sideration and altercation and arrangement of things to be
done finally, were known to one another as if then for the
first time ; and certain other things devised of this kind
disgracefully and absurdly ; — all which things thou wilt find
gathered together into that book. But they who are not
ignorant of the nature of the Holy Spirit, understand that
what is said of fire is said of the Spirit Himself. For in
the Acts of the Apostles, according to that same promise
of our Lord, on the very day of Pentecost, when the Holy
Spirit had descended upon the disciples, that they might be
baptized in Him, there were seen sitting upon each one
tongues as if of fire, that it might be manifest that they
were baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire — that is,
with that Spirit which was, whether fire, or as fire, such as
was the fire which burned in the bush, and did not consume
the bush ; and such as is that fire which is the Spirit of the
^ Eigaltius says that Jerome mentions this document, and regards it
as apocryphal. And Euscbius refers to the Uspioooi Uirpov, which, ac-
cording to the common reading of Peter for Paul in the text, may point
to the same document.
A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM, 427
Angelj as saitli the Scripture, " Who maketh His angels
spirits, and His ministers a burning fire ; " ^ whom if thou
shouldst resemble, or be a companion or sharer with, thou
shalt be able to dread no fire, not even that which, eoinir
before the Lord in the day of judgment, shall burn up the
whole world, save those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit
and in fire.
18. And the Spirit, indeed, continues to this day invisible
to men, as the Lord says, " The Spirit breathes where He
will ; and thou knowest not whence He cometh, or whither
He goeth." ^ But in the beginning of the mystery of the
faith and of spiritual baptism, the same Spirit was manifestly
seen to have sat upon the disciples as it had been fire ; more-
over, the heavens being opened, to have descended upon
the Lord like a dove ; because many things, yea, almost all
things which were to be, are manifest — which, however,
were only invisible nevertheless, — now also are shown to the
eyes and to the incredulity of men, either partially, or at
times, or in figure, for the strengthening and confirming of
our faith. But neither should I omit that which the Gospel
well announces. For our Lord says to the paralytic man,
" Be of good cheer, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee," ^ that
He might show that hearts were purified by faith for the
forgiveness of sins that should follow. And this remission
of sins that woman also which was a sinner in the city ob-
tained, to whom the Lord said, '^ Thy sins are forgiven thee." *
And when they who were reclining around began to say
among themselves, " Who is this that f orgiveth sins ? " ^ —
because concerning the paralytic the scribes and Pharisees
had murmured crossly — the Lord says to the woman, " Thy
faith hath made thee whole; go in peace." ® From all which
things it is shown that hearts are pm'ified by faith, but that
souls are washed by the Spirit ; further, also, that bodies are
washed by water, and moreover that by blood we may more
readily attain at once to the rewards of salvation.
19. I think that we have fully followed out the announce-
1 Ps. civ. 4. 2 joi^i iii^ 8^ 3 Matt. ix. 2.
* Luke vii. 48. ^ Luke vii. 50. ^ Luke vii. 50.
428 A TREATISE ON RE-BAPTISM.
ment of Joliii tlie Baptist, whence we began our discoursey
wlien he said to the Jews, " I indeed baptize you with.water
unto repentance ; but He who cometh after me is greater than
I, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose : He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." ^ Moreover,
I think also that we have not unsuitably set in order the teach-
in o- of the Apostle John, who says that " three bear witness,
the Spirit, and the water, and the blood ; and these three are
one." ^ And, unless I am mistaken, we have also explained
what our Lord says : ^' John indeed baptized with water, but
ye shall be baptized w^ith the Holy Ghost." ^ Moreover, I
think that we have given no weak reason as the cause of
the custom. Let us have a care, although we do that in a
subsequent place, that none may think that we are stirring
up the present debate on a single article; although this
custom even alone ought, among men who have the fear of
God, and are lowly, to maintain a chief place.
1 Luke iii. IG. ^ i jdm y. 8. ^ Acts i. 5.
ANONYMOUS TREATISE AGAINST THE
HEEETIC NOVATIAN.
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
I HE writer of the following treatise was undoubtedly
a contemporary of Cyprian, and wrote in the early
part of the reign of Valerian [254-256], during an
interval of peace to the church. This much may
be collected from the fact that he names one, and only one,
persecution after that of Decius — namely, that of Gallus and
Volusianus — and speaks of those who had lapsed under the
former, as liaving been stedfast and victorious in the latter.^
He is generally believed to have been an African, and Tille-
mont is only withheld from attributing the work to Cyprian
himself by what he judges to be a difference of style. But
although from the exordium it may be concluded that the
writer was a bishop, yet, from his manifest uncertainty as
to the fitting way to treat those who had lapsed, it is evident
that Cyprian cannot have been the author ; for that prelate,
when the persecution of Gallus and Volusianus was just
threatening, had already decided upon receiving to com-
munion the penitents who had yielded to temptation under
Decius.^
Ceillier ^ says that this treatise was written about the year
255, while Novatian was still alive,'' and when the schism of
Felicissimus was all but extinct.
Erasmus first published it among the known works of
Cyprian in the year 1520.
1 Ch. vi. p. 435. 2 Epislks, vol. i. p. 155.
3 Hist. Gen. des Auteurs, torn. iii. ch. i. art. 4, sect. 2, n. 4.
* Ch. i. p. 431.
429
A TEEATISE AGAINST THE HEEETIC NOVATIAN.
BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.
Tliat the hope of pardon should not he denied to the lapsed,
IHILE I was meditating and impatiently tossing
in my mind what I ought to do concerning those
pitiable brethren who, wounded, not of their own
will, but by the onset of a raging devil, have lived
until now, that is, through a long course of time, in the en-
durance of their punishment; lo, there appeared opposed to me
another enemy, and the adversary of his own paternal affec-
tion— the heretic Novatian — who not only, as it is signified in
the Gospel, passed by the prostrate wounded m.an, as did the
priest or the Levite, but by an ingenious and novel cruelty
rather would slay the wounded man, by taking away the hope
of salvation, by denying the mercy of his Father, by rejecting
the repentance of his brother. Marvellous, how bitter, how
harsh, how perverse are many things ! But one more easily
perceives the straw in another's eye than the beam in one's
own. Let not the abrupt madness of that perfidious heretic
move or disturb us however, beloved brethren, who, although
he is placed in such great guilt of dissension and schism,
and is separated from the church, with sacrilegious temerity
does not shrink from hurling back his charges upon us :
for although he is now by himself made unclean, defiled
with the filth of sacrilege, he contends that we are so.
And although it is written that the docjs should remain
without, and the apostle has taught that these same dogs
must be shunned, as we read, for he says, ^' Beware of
430
A TREATISE AGAINST NOV ATI AN. 431
dogs, beware of evil workers," ^ lie does not cease stirring up
his frenzy with barkings, after the manner of wolves seeking
the gloomy darkness, where with his brutal cruelty he may
easily rend in his dark caves the sheep snatched away from
the Shepherd. Certainly he declares that he and his friends
whom he collects are gold. Nor do we doubt but that deserters
of the church who have become apostates could now easily be
converted into gold, but it must be that gold in which the first
sins of the people of Israel were designated. But the gold and
silver vessels which were wrested from the Egyptians con-
tinue in the Lord's power, that is, in Christ's church; in which
house if thou hadst continued, Novatian, thou hadst perchance
been also a precious vessel ; but now thou neither perceivest
nor complainest that thou art changed into chaff and straw.
2. Why, therefore, shouldst thou be lifted up with vain
things ? Thou wilt gain loss rather than profit. Why, from
the very fact that thou art become poorer, believest thou thy-
self rich ? Hear in the Apocalypse the Lord's voice rebuking
thee with righteous reproaches : " Thou sayest," says He, " I
am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing ;
and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and
blind, and poor, and naked." ^ Let him think for certain that
he possesses these riches of poverty, whoever he may be, that,
forsaking the church of Christ, with his darkened reason
does not shrink from being turned to those rash leaders of
schisms and authors of dissension, whom John calls Anti-
christs, whom the Evangelist likens to chaff, whom the Lord
Christ characterizes as thieves and robbers, as He Himself
declares in the Gospel, saying that " he who entereth not by
the door into the sheep-fold, but goeth down by some other
way, the same is a thief and a robber." ^ ^loreover, in the
same He also says, " All who have come are thieves and
robbers."* Who are such but the deserters of the faith, and
the transgressors of God's church, who strive against God's
ordinance? — whom the Holy Spirit rightly rebukes by the
prophet, saying, " Ye have taken counsel, but not by me ; and
[ye have made] a convention, but not by my Spirit, to add
1 Phil. iii. 2. - Rev. iii. 17. » John x. 1. * Joiin x. 8.
432 A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN.
sin to sln."^ What now can those most perverse friends of
Novatian, even now the most unhappy^ few, reply to these
things, who have broken forth to such a folly of madness
as to have no reverence either for God or man ? Among
them, shamelessly, and without any law of ordination, the
episcopate is sought after; but among us in its own Sees, and
in those of the throne delivered to it by God, it is renounced.
There the Truth says, "They reject me, that they may sacrifice
to me ; nor do they offer the holy oblations of the children of
Israel, nor do they approach to offer the holy of holies, but
they shall receive their ignominy in the error wherein they
have erred." ^ Let it be enough in a few words to have
proved what they are. Hear, therefore, O Novatians, among
whom the heavenly Scriptures are read rather than under-
stood ; well, if they are not interpolated. For your ears are
closed, and your hearts darkened, seeing that ye admit no
light from spiritual and saving warnings ; as Isaiah says, " The
servants of God are blinded."^ And deservedly blinded,
because the desire of schismatics is not in the law; which
law points out to us the one and only church in that ark, to
wit, which was fashioned, by the providence of God, under
Noah before the deluge, in which — to answer you quickly,
O Novatian — we find that there were shut up not only clean
animals, but also unclean ; which ark was saved alone, with
those who were in it, whereas the other things which were
not found therein perished in the deluge. From that ark
there were loosed two birds, a raven and a dove; and this raven
truly bore the figure or type of impure men, and men who
would be in perpetual darkness through the world's broad
road, and of apostates who should arise, feeding on unclean
things, and not turning themselves eventually to the church ;
and as we read, we find that it was sent forth, and returned
no more. Whoever should be found to resemble this bird,
then, that is, the impure spirit, will no more be able to return
1 Isa. XXX. 1.
2 Infelicissimi. This is supposed to be a play upon the name of
Felicissimus, referred to in Cyprian's letter.
3 Ezek. xliv. 10-13. * Isa. xlii. 19.
A TREATISE AGAINST NOV ATI AN. 433
to the church, seeing that the Lord will forbid them, even if
they should wish it, as He commanded Moses, saying, " Every-
thing leprous ^ and impure, cast abroad outside the camp." ^
But the dove sent forth that returned, is signified by the
man who does not delay, because he would have no rest for
his feet. And Noah received it into the ark ; and when it
w^as sent forth again on the seventh day, received it, bearing
in its mouth an olive leaf.
3. And I, beloved brethren, — as I not heedlessly meditate
these things, and not in harmony with human wisdom, but
as it is permitted to our minds by the condescension of the
heavenly Lord, needfully and pertinently to conceive, — say
that that dove signifies to us of itself a double type. For-
merly, that is, from the beginning of the divine administra-
tion, it suggests its own figure, the first indeed and chief —
that is, the figure of the Spirit ; and by its mouth the sacra-
ment of baptism which is provided for the salvation of the
human race, and that by the heavenly plan it is celebrated in
the church only.^ ^loreover, three times sent forth from the
ark, flying about through the air over the w^ater, it already sig-
nified the sacraments of our church. Whence also the Lord
Christ charges upon Peter, and moreover also upon the rest of
His disciples, " Go ye and preach the gospel to the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost." ^ That is, that that same Trinity
which operated figuratively in Noah's days through the
[figure of the] dove, now operates m the church spiritually
through the disciples.
4. Let us now take the second character also of the dove
sent forth from the ark, that is to say, in the time of the
deluge, when all the abysses broke forth, when the cataracts
of heaven were opened upon the earth, on account of the
wickedness of men which they daily practised before the
Lord ; as said Moses, " And the Lord God saw that the
^ Yarium. - Ximi. v. 2.
^ This passage is altogether corrupt and iinintenigible ; some force is
necessary even to give it an appearance of meaning.
^ Matt, xxviii. 19.
CYP. — VOL. II. 2 E
434 A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN.
wickednesses of men were overflowing upon the earth, and
that all of them were remembering for evil from the beginning
of their days ; and He said, I will destroy man whom I have
made from off the face of the earth, from man even unto
cattle, and from the creeping thing even unto the fowls of
the air." ^ Therefore in the time of the flood the dove is
sent forth from the ark, when the waters were violently
rushing with all their force upon the earth.
5. That ark bore the figure of the church, as we have said
above, which was stricken hither and thither to such a degree
by the tumultuous waters. Therefore that deluge which
happened under Noah showed forth the figure of the persecu-
tion which now lately was poured forth over the whole world.
Moreover, by the waters, the cataracts broken forth meeting
together on all sides, and growing, were signified the peoples
which grew up for the desolation of the church ; as the
Apocalypse teaches, saying, " The waters which thou sawest
are peoples, and nations, and kingdoms."^ Moreover, the
dove which could not find rest for its feet, bore the likeness
of the lapsed, who, forgetful of the divine announcements,
either in simplicity ignorant, or in audacity feigning, fell, of
whom the Lord had intimated the future destruction in the
Gospel in these words, saying, " He who heareth my words
and doeth them not, I will liken him to a foolish man, who
built his house upon the sand : the tempests came and beat
upon that house, and it fell ; and great was its destruction." ^
And lest we should seem to have made the comparison in-
considerately of that dove bearing the image of the lapsed,
the prophet rebukes the city as a dove, that is, the character
of the lapsed, saying, " The dove hearkens not to the voice ;
that is, the illustrious and redeemed city receives not teaching,
and trusted not in the Lord."^
6. Moreover, that that dove could not find rest for her
feet, as we have said above, this signified the footsteps of
those who deny, that is, those who sacrifice, wounded by
the poison of the shining serpent, turned towards their fall,
1 Gen. vi. 5-7. 2 Rev. xvii. 15.
6 Matt. vii. 26, 27. * Zeph. iii. 1^ 2, 3, LXX.
A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN. 435
wliicli could not any further climb upon the asp and the
basilisk, and tread upon the dragon and the lion. For this
power the Lord gave to His disciples, as He says in the
Gospel : " Lo, I give unto you power to tread on all the power
of the enemy, and upon serpents and scorpions; and they
shall not harm you." ^ When, therefore, these so many and
such malignant spirits are attacking and bestirring them-
selves for the destruction of the lapsed, a way of salvation is
provided for the wounded, that with wdiatever strength they
have they may drag themselves with their whole body, and
betake themselves to their camp, wherein being received, they
may heal their wounds with spiritual medicaments. Thus
the dove received, after the intervention of a few days, is
again sent forth from the ark ; and returning, not only shows
its firm footsteps, but moreover the signs of its peace and
victory, in those olive leaves which it bore in its mouth.
Therefore that twofold sending forth shows to us a twofold
trial of persecution : the first, in which they who have lapsed
have fallen conquered ; the second, in which they who have
fallen have come out conquerors. For to none of us is it
doubtful or uncertain, beloved brethren, that they who in
the first struggle — that is, in the Decian persecution — were
wounded ; afterwards, that is in the second encounter, per-
severed so bravely, that, despising the edicts of the princes
of the w^orld,^ they maintained that unconquered; in that
they did not fear, after the example of the good Shepherd,
to give up their life, and to shed their blood, and not to
shrink from any barbarity of the raging tyrant.
7. Behold how glorious, how dear to the Lord, are the
people whom these schismatics do not shrink from calling
'^ wood, hay, stubble," ^ — the equals of whom, that is, those
who are even still placed in the same guilt of their lapse,
they presume must not be admitted to repentance ; from that
utterance of the Lord, where He says, " Whosoever shall
deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father
which is in heaven." * Oh grief ! why do they strive against
1 Luke X. 19. 2 g(.ii Gallus and Volusianus (Pamcl.).
3 1 Cor. iii. 12. * Matt. x. 33.
436 A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN,
the Lord's precepts, that this offspring of Novatian, following
the example of his father the devil, should now endeavour
to put in force those things which Christ will do in the time
of His judgment ? — when Scripture says, " Vengeance is
mine ; and I will repay, saith the Lord." ^
8. We wall answer them to that utterance of the Lord,
which they ill understand, and ill explain to themselves. For
that He says, " Whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven," its
meaning is assuredly wdth respect to future time — to the time
at which the Lord shall begin to judge the secrets of men — •
to the time at wdiich w^e must all stand before the judgment-
seat of Christ — to the time at wdiich many shall begin to say,
" Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in
Thy name cast out devils, and in Thy name done many
wonderful w^orks ? " ^ and yet shall hear the voice of the
Lord saying, " Depart from me, all ye that have worked
iniquity : I know you not." ^ Then shall it be fulfilled that
He says, " 1 also wdll deny them." But whom will the Lord
Christ chiefly deny, if not all of you heretics, and schismatics,
and strangers to His name ? For ye who were some time
Christians, but now are Novatians, no longer Christians, have
changed your first faith by a subsequent perfidy in the call-
ing of your name. I should wish you to reply to your ow^i
proposition. Read and teach : whom of those who had failed
or denied Him, while He w^as still with them, did our Lord
deny? Yet also to the others of the disciples who had
remained with Him He saith, " Will ye also go aw^ay ? " *
Even Peter, whom He had previously foretold as about to
deny Him, when he had denied Him, He did not deny, but
sustained ; and He Himself soothed him when subsequently
bitterly bew^ailing his denial.
9. What sort of folly is thine, Novatian, only to read wdiat
tends to the destruction of salvation, and to pass by what
tends to mercy, when Scripture cries, and says, " Repent,
ye who err ; be converted in heart ; " ^ and when the same
1 Heb. X. 30. 2 ^[att vii. 22, 23. 3 Matt. vii. 22, 23.
^ Jolin vi. 67. ^ Ezek. xviii. 30.
A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN. 437
prophet also exhorts, and sajs, " Be converted unto me with
all your heart, in fasting, and weeping, and mourning ; and
rend your hearts, and not your garments ; be ye converted to
tlie Lord your God : for lie is merciful, and one who pities
with great compassion ? " ^
10. Thus we have heard that the Lord is of great com-
passion. Let us hear what the Holy Spirit testifies by
Da^'id : " If his children forsake my law, and walk not in
my commandments ; if they should profane my righteous-
ness, and should not keep my precepts ; I will visit their
crimes with a rod, and their sins with stripes. But my mercy
will I not utterly disperse from them." ^ Words like to
these we read that the Lord said also by Ezekiel : " Son of
man, the house of Israel has dwelt on its own land, and
they have defiled it by their crimes : their uncleanness has
become like that of a menstruous woman before my face. I
have poured out my anger upon them, and I have scattered
them among the nations ; and I have judged them according
to their sins, because they have defiled my holy name ; and
because it was said of them, This is the people of the Lord,
I have spared them, because of my holy name, which the
house of Israel despised among the nations." " And in con-
junction with this he says, " Therefore say to the people of
Israel, Thus saith the Lord, I spare you not, O house of
Israel ; but I will spare you on account of my holy name,
which ye have defiled among the nations : and ye shall know
that I am the Lord, when I shall be sanctified in you."
Also the Lord to the same : " Son of man, say unto the
people of Israel, Wherefore have ye spoken, saying, We are
pining away in our sins, and how shall we be able to be
saved ? Say unto them, I live, saith the Lord : for I do not
desire the death of the sinner ; but I desire that the sinner
should turn from his evil way, and live : therefore return ye
from your evil way : why do ye give yourselves over to
death, O house of Israel ? " '' So, too, by Isaiah the prophet :
^' I will not be angry with you for ever, nor will I abstain
1 Joel ii. 12, 13. - Ps. Ixxxix. 30 et seq.
s Ezck. xxxvi. 17-23. •* Ezck. xxxiii. 10, 11.
438 A TREATISE AGAINST NOV ATI AN.
from defending you always." ^ And because Jeremiah tlie
prophet, in the person of the sinful people, prays to the Lord,
saying, " Amend us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in
anger, lest Thou make us few ; " ^ Isaiah '' also added, and
said, " For his sin I have slightly afflicted him ; and I have
stricken him, and have turned away my face from him : and
he was afflicted, and went away sadly in his ways." ^ And
because he labours, he added and said, "I have seen his
ways, and I have healed him ; and I have given him a true
exhortation, peace upon peace;"* that to those who repent, and
pray, and labour, restoration is possible, because they would
miserably perish, and because they would dechne from Christ.
11. Moreover, this is proved in the Gospel, where Is de-
scribed that woman who was a sinner, who came to the house
of a certain Pharisee whither the Lord had been bidden with
His disciples, and she brought a vessel of ointment, and stood
at the Lord's feet, and washed His feet with her tears, and
wiped them with her hair, and pressed kisses upon them ; so
that that Pharisee was provoked, and said, '' If this man were
a prophet, he would know^ wdio and wdiat sort of a w^oman
this is who touches him ; for she is a sinner." ^ Whence
immediately the Lord, the remitter of sins and the receiver
of the penitent, says, " Simon, I have somewhat to say unto
thee. And he answered, saying. Master, say on. And
the Lord, There was a certain creditor which had two
debtors ; one who had ^ live hundred pence, and the other
fifty. When they had nothing to pay, he forgave both.
And He asked, Which of these loved most ? And Simon
answered, Assuredly he to whom he forgave most. And
He added, saying, Seest thou that woman % I entered into
thy house, thou gavest me no kiss ; but she hath not ceased to
kiss my feet ; thou washedst not my feet, but she has washed
them with her tears, and wiped them with her hair ; thou
didst not anoint my feet with oil, but she hath anointed
them. Wherefore I say unto thee, Simon, that her sins are
forgiven her." Behold, the Lord grants the debt with His
1 Isa. Ivii. 16. - Jcr. x. 24. ^ jga. Ivii. 17. ^ Isa. Ivii. 19.
« Luke vii. 39 et seq. ^ "Habebat," but probably "debebat"— owed.
A TREATISE AGAINST NOV ATI AN. 439
liberal kindness to botli debtors ! Behold Him who pardons
sins ! Behold the woman who was a sinner, penitent, weep-
ing, praying, and receiving remission of her sins !
12. And now blush if thou canst, Novatian; cease to
deceive the unwary with thy impious arguments ; cease to
frighten them with the subtlety of one particular. We read,
and adore, and do not pass over the heavenly judgment of
the Lord, where he says that He will deny him who denies
Him. But does this mean the penitent ? And why should
I be taking pains so long to prove individual cases of mercies?
since the mercy of God is not indeed denied to the Ninevites,
although strangers, and placed apart from the law of the Lord,
when they beseech it on account of the overthrow announced
to their city. Nor to Pharaoh himself, resisting with sacrile-
gious boldness, when formerly he was stricken with heavenly
plagues, and turning to Moses and to his brother, said, " Pray
to the Lord for me, for I have sinned," ^ at once the anger of
God was suspended from him. And yet thou, O Novatian,
judgest and declarest that the lapsed have no hope of peace
and mercy, nor inclinest thine ear to the rebuke of the apostle,
when he says, "Who art thou, who judgest another man's
servant ? To his own master he standcth or f alleth. Yea,
he shall stand. God is mighty to establish him." ^ Whence
pertinently and needfully the Holy Spirit, in the person of
those same lapsed people, rebukes you when He says, "Rejoice
not over me, O mine enemy : because if I have fallen, I shall
also rise again ; and if I shall walk in darkness, the Lord is
my light. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because
I have sinned against Him, until He justify my cause, and
execute judgment and justice, and bring me forth to the
light. I shall behold His righteousness ; and she that is
mine enemy shall see me, and shall cover herself with con-
fusion." ^
13. I beseech thee, hast thou not read, "Boast not, and
speak not loftily, and let not arrogancy proceed out of your
mouth : for the Lord lifteth the poor from the earth ; He
raiseth up the beggar from the dunghill, and maketh him to
1 Ex. ix. 28. 2 Ko,,,_ xiv. 4. » ^ji^. vii. 8-10.
440 A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN.
sit with the mighty ones of the people ? " ^ Hast thon not
read, that " the Lord resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to
the humble? " ^ Hast thou not read, "Whoso exalteth him-
self shall be humbled ? " ^ Hast thou not read, that " God
destroys the remembrance of the proud, and does not forsake
the memory of the lowly?" Hast thou not read, that '' with
what judgment a man shall judge he must be judged?"*
Hast thou not read, that " he who hateth his brother is in
darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither
he goeth, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes ? " ^
Whence, then, this Novatian has become both so wicked and so
lost, so mad with the rage of discord,'! cannot discover, since
he always in one household — that is, the church of Christ —
would have bewailed the sins of his neighbours as his own ; ^
would have borne the burthens of his brethren, as the apostle
exhorts ; w^ould have strengthened the faltering in the faith
with heavenly counsel. But now, from the time when he
began to practise that heresy of Cain which only delights in
slaying, he does not even of late spare himself. But if he
had read, that " the righteousness of the righteous shall not
deliver him in the day on which he shall have erred, and
the wickedness of the wicked shall not harm him from the day
in which he shall have been converted," ^ he would long ago
have repented in ashes, who is always opposed to penitents ;
w^ho labours more readily in the destruction of those things
wdiich are built and standing, than in the building up of
those which are prostrate ; who has once more made heathens
of many most wretched brethren of ours, terrified by his
false oppositions, by saying that the repentance of the lapsed
is vain, and cannot avail them for salvation, although the
Scripture cries aloud and says, "Remember whence thou
hast fallen, and repent, or else I will come to thee except
thou repent." ^ And indeed, writing to the seven churches,
rebuking each one of them with its own crimes and sins, it
1 1 Sam. ii. 3-8. ^ j^g. iv. 6. ^ Matt, xxiii. 12.
4 Matt. vii. 2. ^1 John ii. 11.
* This refers to Novatian's letter in the name of the Roman people.
7 Ezek. xxxiii. 12. ^ Rev. ii. 5.
A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN. 441
said, Repent. To whom but to tliem, doubtless, whom He
had redeemed at the great price of His blood ?
14. O impious and wicked as thou art, thou heretic
Novatian, who after so many and great crimes which in past
times thou hadst known to be voluntarily committed in the
church before thou thyself wast an apostate in the family
of God, and hadst certainly taught that these might be
abolished from memory if well-doing followed, according to
the faith of the Scripture which says, "But if the wicked
will turn from all his sins which he hath committed, and will
do righteousness, he shall live in eternal life, and shall not die
in his wickedness." ^ (For the sins which he has committed
shall be abolished from memory by the good deeds which
succeed.) Thou reconsiderest now, whether the wounds of
the lapsed ought to be cured Avho have fallen stripped bare
by the devil, [carried away] by the "violence of the flood
which the serpent sent forth from his mouth after the
woman." ^ But " What shall I say?" says the apostle. " Do
I praise you ? In this I praise you not; that ye come together
not for the better, but for the worse." ^ For where there are
" rivalries and dissensions among you, are ye not carnal, and
walk according to man ?" * Nor indeed ought we to wonder
wdiy this Novatian should dare now to practise such wicked,
such severe things against the person of the lapsed, since we
have previous examples of this kind of prevarication. Saul,
that good ^ man, besides other things, is subsequently over-
thrown by envy, and strives to do everything that is harsh
and hostile against David. That Judas, who was chosen
among the apostles, who was always of one mind and faith-
ful in the house of God, himself subsequently betrayed
God.
And indeed the Lord had foretold that many should come
as ravening wolves in the skins of sheep. Who arc those
ravening wolves but such as conspire with treacherous in-
tent to waste the flock of Christ ? — as we read it written in
Zechariah : " Lo, I raise up a shepherd in the land, wlio shall
^ Ezek. xviii. 21. 2 Rcv. xii. 15. » 1 Cor. xi. 17.
* 1 Cor. iii. 3. ^ i gj^^i. ix. 2.
442 A TREATISE AGAINST NOV ATI AN.
not visit that which is turned away, and will eat the flesh of the
chosen, and tear their claws in pieces." ^ Similarly also in
Ezekiel he rebukes shepherds of this kind, to wit, robbers
and butchers (I will speak as he had thought ^), saying,
" O shepherds, wherefore do ye drink the milk, and eat up
the curdled milk, and have brought that which is strong to
nothing, and have not visited the weak, have not healed the
halting, and have not recalled the wandering, and have per-
mitted my people to wander among thorns and briers ? For
these things, says the Lord, lo, I will come against the
shepherds, and I will require my sheep of their hands ; and
I will drive them away, that they may not feed my sheep ;
and my sheep shall no more be for them to devour, and I
will seek them out as a shepherd his flock in the day in which
there shall be darkness and cloud. Thus I will seek out my
sheep, and I will seek them out in every place wherever they
are scattered ; and I w^ill seek out what had perished, and I
will recall what had wandered, and what had halted I will
heal, and what is weak I will watch over ; and I will feed
my sheep with judgment." ^
15. Who is it that says these things ? Certainly He who,
having left the ninety and nine sheep, went to seek that one
which had wandered from His flock ; as David says, " I have
gone astray like a sheep which was lost," * which being found
Christ brings back, bearing on His shoulder the tender sinful
one; and He, rejoicing and exulting, having called His friends
and domestics, says, " Kejoice with me ; for my sheep which
was lost is found. I say," says He, " unto you, that there
will be such joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." ^
And in continuation. He says : " Or what woman, having ten
denarii, if she should lose one of the denarii, does not light a
lamp, and all the day long clean out her house, seeking till
she finds it ? And when she has found it, she calls together
her friends and neighbours, saying, Eejoice with me ; for I
have found the denarius that I had lost. I say unto you, that
such joy shall be in the sight of the angels of God over one
^ Zecli. xi. 16. ^ This parentliesis is unintelligible.
3 Ezek. xxxiv. * Ps. cxix. 176. ^ Luke xv. 6-10
A TREATISE AGAINST NOV ATI AN. 443
sinner that repentetli." ^ But, on the other hand, they who
do not repent of their wickedness, let them know from the
answer of the Lord Himself what remaineth for them ; for
we read in the Gospel, that ^' certain men came from the
Galileans to the Lord, telling Him of those whose blood Pilate
mingled with their sacrifices ; to whom the Lord answered,
saying. Think ye that those Galileans had been sinners above
other Galileans, because they suffered such things ? No ; for
I say unto you, unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, think
ye that they were debtors to death above all men who dwell
in Jerusalem ? No ; I say unto you," said He, " that unless
ye repent, .ye shall all likewise perish."^
16. Let us then arouse ourselves as much as we can,
beloved brethren ; and breaking away from the slumber of
indolence and security, let us be watchful for the observance
of the Lord's precepts. Let us with all our hearts seek for
w^hat w^e have lost, that we may be able to find ; because " to
him that seeketh," says the Scripture, " it shall be given, and
to him that knocketh it shall be opened." ^ Let us cleanse
our house with spiritual cleanliness, that every secret and
hidden place of our breast, truly enlightened by the light of
the gospel, may say, " Against Thee only have I sinned, and
done this great evil in Thy sight." * Because the death of
sinners is evil, and in hell there is no repentance. Let us
have in contemplation especially the day of judgment and
retribution, and what must be believed by all of us, and
firmly maintained, that " there is no acceptance of persons
with God ;" ^ since He commanded in Deuteronomy, that the
person must not be accepted in judgment : " Thou shalt not
accept," says He, " the person, neither shalt thou judge ac-
cording to the least nor according to the greatest." ^ Like
words to these He also said by Ezekiel : " All souls," said He,
" are mine ; as the soul of the father, so is the soul of the
son : the soul that hath sinned, it shall die." '' It is then
1 Liike XV. 6-10. ^ Luke xiii. 1-5. - Luke xi. 10.
4 Ps. li. 4. « Rom. ii. 11. « Deut. i. 17.
"^ Ezek. xviii. 4.
444 A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN.
He who must be revered by us ; He must be held fast ; He
must be propitiated by our full and worthy confession,
*• who has the power of sending soul and body to the Gehenna
of fire," -^ — as it is written, " Behold, He cometh with many
thousands of His messengers, to execute judgment upon all,
and to destroy all the wicked, and to condemn all flesh, for
all the deeds of the wicked which they have wickedly done,
and for all the impious words which sinners have spoken
about God." ^
17. Like things to these also says Daniel : " I beheld a
throne placed, and the Ancient of days sat upon it, and His
clothing was as it were snow, and the hairs of His head as
it were white wool : His throne was a flame of fire, its
wheels were burning fire. A river of fire came forth before
Him ; thousand thousands ministered to Him, and thousand
thousands stood before Him : He sat to judgment, and the
books were opened." ^ And John still more plainly declares,
both about the day of judgment and the consummation of the
world, saying, " And when," said he, " He had opened the
sixth seal, lo, there was a great earthquake ; and the sun be-
came black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became
as of blood ; and the stars fell to the earth, even as a fig-tree,
shaken by a mighty wind, casteth her unripe figs. And the
heaven departed as a book when it is rolled up, and every
mountain and island were moved from their places. And
the kings of the earth, and all the great men, and the tribunes,
and the rich men, and the strong men, and every slave, and
every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the caverns
of the mountains ; saying to the mountains and to the rocks.
Fall upon us, and hide us from the sight of the Father that
sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb : be-
cause the day of destruction cometh ; and who shall be able to
stand?" * Also in the same Apocalypse John says that this
too was revealed to him. " I saw," says he, " a great throne,
and one in white who sat upon it, from whose face the
heaven and the earth fled away ; and their place was not
found. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing be-
1 Matt. X. 28. 2 jmie 14, 15. ^ Dan. vii. 9, 10. ^ Rev. vi. 12-17.
A TREATISE AGAINST NOVA TI AN. 445
fore the sight of tlie Lord's throne : and the books were
opened ; and another book was opened, which is [the book]
of Hfe : and every one was judged according to those things
that were written in the book, according to their own works." ^
Moreover, too, the apostle, giving good advice, thus exhorts
us, saying, " Let no one deceive you with vain words : for
because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the
children of disobedience. Be not partakers with them." ^
18. Let us, then, with the whole strength of our faith,
give praise to God ; let us give our full confession, since the
powers of heaven rejoice over our repentance, all the angels
rejoice, and Christ also rejoices, who once again with full and
merciful moderation exhorts us, laden with sins, overwhelmed
with crimes, to cease from wickedness, saying, " Turn je, and
return from your impieties, and your iniquities shall not be
to you for a punishment. Cast away from you all your im-
pieties which ye have committed against me ; and make to
yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. And why do ye
deliver yourselves over to death, O house of Israel ? For I
do not desire the death of the sinner." ^ ^' I am He, I am He
wdio blot out thy crimes, and 1 will not remember them.
But do thou have in mind, and let us judge ; tell thou thy
wickednesses first, that thou mayest be justified." * While the
way of mercy, brethren, is open, let us entreat God with full
atonements ; let us humble ourselves, that we may be exalted ;
let us acquiesce in the divine exhortation, whereby we may
escape the day of the Lord and His anger. For thus He
says : " Look, my son, upon the nations of men, and know
who hath hoped in the Lord, and has been confounded ; or
has remained in His commandments, and has been forsaken ;
or has called upon Him, and He has despised him. For the
Lord is loving and merciful, and forgiving in time of tribula-
tion their sins to all those that seek after Him in truth." *
Therefore He says, " First tell thou thy sins, that thou
mayest be justified." Let there be first in your hand that
prayer full of confession.
1 Rev. XX. 11-13. 2 Ep]j^ y^ Q^ 7, 3 Ezek. xviii. 30-32.
* Isa. xliii. 25, 26. ^ Ecclus. ii. 10, 11.
THE WOEKS
OF
MINUCIUS FELIX
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
INUCIUS FELIX is said by Jerome^ to have
been an advocate at Eome prior to his conversion
to Clu'istianity. Very httle else is known, how-
ever, of his history ; and of his writings nothing
with any certainty, except the following dialogue ; although
Jerome speaks of another tract as having, probably without
reason, been ascribed to him.
The Octavhis, which is here translated, is a supposed
argument between the heathen Caacilius and the Christian
Octavius — the writer being requested to arbitrate between
the disputants. The date of its composition is still a matter
of keen dispute. The settlement of the point hinges upon
the answer to the question — Whether, in the numerous pas-
sages which are strikingly similar, occurring in the Apolo-
geticiis and the Octavius^ Tertullian borrowed from Minucius,
or jNIinucius borrowed from Tertullian ? If ^linucius bor-
rowed from Tertullian, he must have flourished in the com-
mencement of the third century, as the Aijologeticus was
written about the year 198 a.d. If, on the other hand,
Tertullian borrowed from Minucius, the Octavius was written
probably about the year 166, and Minucius flourished in the
reign of Marcus Aurclius. The later date was the one
adopted by earlier critics, and the reasons for it are well
given by Mr. Plolden in his introduction. The earlier date
was suggested by Rosier, maintained by Nicbuhr, and ela-
borately defended by Muralto. An exhaustive exhibition of
arguments in favour of the earlier date has been given by
Adolf Ebert in his paper, Tertullian s Verhdltniss zu Minu-
cius Felix, Leipzig 1868.
^ De Viris Illustrihus, c. 58.
CYP. — VOL. II. 2 P
450 INTUODUCTORY NOTICE.
Of the literary character of the dialogue, it is sufficient
to quote the testimony of the late Dean Milman : " Perhaps
no late work, either Pagan or Christian, reminds us of the
golden days of Latin prose so much as the Octavius of Minu-
cius Felix." ^
In considering the claim of the dialogue to such praise as
this, it must be borne in mind that the text as we have it is
very uncertain, and often certainly corrupt; so that many
passages seem to us confused, and some hopelessly obscure.
Only one manuscript of the work has come down to us,
which is now in the Imperial Library in Paris. It is beau-
tifully written. Some editors have spoken of two other
MSS. ; but it is now known that they were wrong. They
supposed that the first edition was taken from a different
MS. than the Codex Regius, and they were not aware that a
codex in Brussels was merely a transcript of the one in Paris.
The Octavius appears in the MS. as the eighth book of
Arnobius, and at first it was published as such. To Fran-
ciscus Balduinus (1560) is due the merit of having discovered
the real author.
There are very many editions of the Octavius. Among
the earlier, those of Gronovius (1709) and Davies (1712)
are valuable. Among the later, Lindner (1760), Eduard
de Muralto (1836), and Oehler (1847) may be mentioned.
There is a very good English edition by the Rev. H. A.
Holden, M.A., Cambridge 1853. The most recent edition
is that of Carl Halm, published under the auspices of the
Imperial Academy of Letters in Vienna, Yindobonse 1867.
Both Holden and Halm give new recensions of the Codex
Regius.
^ Milman's Hist, of Christianity^ vol. iii. book iv. ch. iii.
THE OCTAYIDS OE MINUCIUS EELIX.
CHAPTER L
Argument. — Minucius relates 7iow delightful to him is the
recollection of the things that had happened to him with
Octavius ichile he ivas associated with him at Rome, and
especially of this disputation.
HEN I consider and mentally review my re-
membrance of Octavius, my excellent and most
faithful companion, the sweetness and charm of
the man so clings to me, that I appear to
myself in some sort as if I were returning to past times,
and not merely recalling in my recollection things which
have long since transpired and gone by. Thus, in the
degree in which the actual contemplation of him is withdrawn
from my eyes, it is bound up in my heart and in my most
intimate feelinf^s. And it was not without reason that that
remarkable and holy man, when he departed [this life], left
to me an unbounded regret for him, especially since he him-
self also glowed with such a love for me at all times, that,
whether in matters of amusement or of business, he agreed
with me in similarity of will, in either liking or disliking the
same things. You would think that one mind had been shared
between us two. Thus he alone was my confidant in my
loves, my companion in my mistakes ; and when, after the
gloom had been dispersed, I emerged from the abyss of dark-
ness into the light of wisdom and truth, he did not cast off
his associate, but — what is more glorious still — he outstripped
451
452 THE OCTAVIUS OF
him. And thus, when my thoughts were traversing the
entire period of our intimacy and friendship, the direction of
my mind fixed itself chiefly on "that discourse of his, wherein
by very weighty arguments he converted C^ciHus, who was
still cleaving to superstitious vanities, to the true rehgion.
CHAPTEE II.
Argument. — The arrival of Octavius at Rome during the
time of the public holidays was very agreeable to Minucius.
Both of them were desirous of going to the marine baths of
Ostia, with Ccedlius, associated ivith them as a companion
of Minucius. On their ivay together to the sea, Ccecilius,
seeing an image of Serapis, raises his hand to his mouth,
and worships it.
For, for the sake of business and of visiting me, Octavius
had hastened to Rome, having left his home, his wife, his
children, and that which is most attractive in children, while
yet their innocent years are attempting only half-uttered
Avords, — a language all the sweeter for the very imperfection
of the falterlno; tonnrne. And at this his arrival I cannot
express in words with how great and with how impatient a
joy I exulted, since the unexpected presence of a man so
very dear to me greatly enhanced my gladness. Therefore,
after one or two days, when the frequent enjoyment of our
continual association had satisfied the craving of affection, and
when we had ascertained by mutual narrative all that we were
ignorant of about one another by reason of our separation, we
agreed to go to that very pleasant city Ostia, that my body
might have a soothing and appropriate remedy for drying its
humours from the marine bathing, especially as the holidays of
the courts at the vintage-time had released me from my cares.
For at that time, after the summer days, the autumn season
was tending to a milder temperature. And thus, when in
the early morning we were going towards the sea along the
shore [of the Tiber], that both the breathing air might gently
MINUCIUS FELIX. 453
refresli our limbs, and that the yielding sand might sink down
under our easy footsteps with excessive pleasure ; Ciecilius,
observing an image of Serapis, raised his hand to his moutli,
as is the custom of the superstitious common people, and
pressed a kiss on it with his lips.
CHAPTER III.
Akgument. — Octavius, displeased at the act of tJds supersti-
tions onan, sliarply reproaches Minucias, on the (jroimd
that the disgrace of this icicJced deed is reflected not less on
himself, as Ca^cilius host, than on Ccecilius.
Then Octavius said : " It is not the part of a good man,
my brother Marcus, so to desert a man wdio abides by your
side at home and abroad, in this blindness of vulgar ignorance,
as that you should suffer him in such broad daylight as this
to give himself up to stones, however they may be carved into
images, anointed and crowned ; since you know that the dis-
grace of this his error redounds in no less degree to your
discredit than to his own." With this discourse of his we
passed over the distance between the city and the sea, and w^e
were now walking on the broad and open shore. There the
gently rippling wave was smoothing the outside sands, as if
it would level them for a promenade ; and as the sea is always
restless, even when the winds are lulled, it came up on the
shore, although not with waves crested and foaming, yet with
waves crisped and curling. Just then we were excessive^
delighted at its vagaries, as on the very threshold of the water
we were wetting the soles of our feet, and it now by tmuis
approaching broke upon our feet, and now the wave retiring
and retracing its course, sucked itself back into itself. And
thus, slowly and quietly going along, we tracked the coast of
the gently bending shore, beguiling the way with stories.
These stories were related by Octavius, who was discoursing
on navigation. But when we had occupied a sufficiently
reasonable time of our walk with discourse, retracing the same
454 THE OCTAVIUS OF
way again, we trod the path with reverted footsteps. And
when we came to that place where the little ships, drawn up
on an oaken framework, were lying at rest supported above
the [risk of] ground-rot, we saw some hoys eagerly gesti-
culating as they played at throwing shells into the sea. This
play is : To choose a shell from the shore, rubbed and made
smooth by the tossing of the waves ; to take hold of the
shell in a horizontal position w^ith the fingers; to whirl it
along sloping and as low down as possible upon the waves,
that when thrown it may either skim the back of the wave,
or may swim as it glides along with a smooth impulse, or
may spring up as it cleaves the top of the waves, and rise as
if lifted up with repeated springs. That boy claimed to be
conqueror whose shell both went out furthest, and leaped up
most frequently.
CHAPTEE IV.
Argument. — Ccecilius, somewhat grieved at this Jcind of rehuhe
which for his sake Minucius had had to hear from Octavius,
begs to argue ivith Octavius on the truth of his o'eligion.
Octavius with his companion consents^ and Minucius sits
in the middle betiveen Ccecilius and Octavius.
And thus, while we were all engaged in the enjoyment of
this spectacle, Csecilius was paying no attention, nor laughing
at the contest ; but silent, uneasy, standing apart, confessed
by his countenance that he was grieving for I knew not what.
To whom I said : " What is the matter ? Wherefore do I not
recognise, Cascilius, your usual liveliness? and why do I seek
vainly for that joyousness which is characteristic of your
glances even in serious matters % " Then said he : " For some
time our friend Octavius' speech has bitterly vexed and worried
me, in which he, attacking you, reproached you with negli-
gence, that he might under cover of that charge more seri-
ously condemn me for ignorance. Therefore I shall proceed
further : the matter is now wholly and entirely between me
MINUCIUS FELIX. 455
and Octavius. If he is willing that I, a man of that form of
opinion, should argue with him, he will now at once perceive
that it is easier to hold an argument among his comrades,
than to engage in close conflict after the manner of the
philosoiDhers. Let us be seated on those rocky barriers that
are cast there for the protection of the baths, and that run
far out into the deep, that we may be able both to rest after
our journey, and to argue with more attention." And at his
word we sat down, so that, by covering me on either side,
they sheltered me in the midst of the three.^ Nor was this
a matter of observance, or of rank, or of honour, because
friendship always either receives or makes equals ; but that,
as an arbitrator, and being near to both, I might give my
attention, and being in the middle, I might separate the two.
Then Csecilius began thus :
CHAPTER Y,
Aegument. — Cwcilius begins his argument first of all by re-
minding them that in human affairs all things are doubt-
ful and uncertain, and that therefore it is to be lamented
that Chnstians, ivho for the most part are untrained and
illiterate persons^ should dare to determine on anything
with certainty concerning the chief of things and the Divine
Majesty : hence he argues that the ivorld is governed by no
providence, and concludes that it is better to abide by the
received forms of religion,
"Although to you, Marcus my brother, the subject on
which especially we are inquiring is not in doubt, inasmuch
as, being carefully informed in both kinds of life, you have
rejected the one and assented to the other, yet in the present
case your mind must be so fashioned that you may hold the
balance of a most just judge, nor lean with a disposition to
one side [more than another], lest your decision may seem
^ " Ita ut me ex tribus medium lateris ambitione protegerent."
456 THE OCTAVIUS OF
not to arise so mucli from our arguments, as to be originated
from your own perceptions. Accordingly, if you sit in judg-
ment on me, as a person who is new, and as one ignorant
of either side, there is no difficulty in making plain that
all things in human affairs are doubtful, uncertain, and un-
settled, and that all things are rather probable than true.
Wherefore it is the less^ wonderful that some, from the weari-
ness of thoroughly investigating truth, should rashly succumb
to any sort of opinion rather than persevere in exploring it
with persistent diligence. And thus all men must be indig-
nant, all men must feel pain,^ that certain persons — and these
unskilled in learning, strangers to literature, without know-
ledo-e even^ of sordid arts — should dare to d^etermine on any
certainty concerning the nature at large, and the [divine]
majesty, of which so many of the multitude of sects in all ages
[are still in doubt], and philosophy itself deliberates still. Nor
without reason ; since the mediocrity of human intelligence is
so far from [the capacity of] divine investigation, that neither
is it given us to know, nor is it permitted to search, nor is it
religious to ravish,* the things that are supported in suspense
in the heaven above us, nor the things which are deeply sub-
merged below the earth ; and w^e may rightly seem sufficient!}^
happy and sufficiently prudent, if, according to that ancient
oracle of the sage, we should know ourselves intimately. But
even if we indulge in a senseless and useless labour, and
wander away beyond the limits proper to our humility, and
though, inclined towards the earth, we transcend with daring
ambition heaven itself, and the very stars, let us at least not
entangle this error with vain and fearful opinions. Let the
seeds of all things have been in the beginning condensed by
a nature combining them in itself — what God is the author
here ? Let the members of the whole w^orld be by fortuitous
1 The MS. and first edition read " more ;" Ursiniis suggested minus
instead of magis.
2 This clause is otherwise read : ' ' Therefore we must be indignant,
nay, must be grieved."
3 Otherwise for '^ even," " except."
* The reading of the MS. is " stuprari," as above. " Scrutari," " sci-
ari," or "lustrare" and "suspicari," are proposed emendations.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 457
concurrences united, digested, fashioned — wliat God is the
contriver ? Although fire may have ht up the stars; although
[the lightness of] its own material may have suspended the
heaven ; although its own material may have established the
earth by its weight ; ^ and although the sea may have flowed
in from moisture/ whence is this religion? Whence this fear?
What is this superstition ? Man, and every animal which is
born, is inspired with life, and is nourished,^ is as a voluntary
concretion of the elements, into which again man and every
animal is divided, resolved, and dissipated : so all things flow
back again into their source, and are turned again into them-
selves, without any artificer, or judge, or creator. Thus the
seeds of fires, being gathered together, cause other suns, and
again others, always to shine forth. Thus the vapours of the
earth, being exhaled, cause the mists always to grow, which
being condensed and collected, cause the clouds to rise higher ;
and wdien they fall, cause the rains to flow, the winds to blow,
the hail to rattle down ; or wdien the clouds clash together,
they cause the thunder to bellow, the lightnings to grow red,
the thunderbolts to gleam forth. Therefore they fall every-
where, they rush on the mountains, they strike the trees ;
without any choice,''* they blast places sacred and profane ;
they smite mischievous men, and often, too, religious men.
Why should I speak of tempests, various and uncertain,
wherein the attack upon all things is tossed about without
any order or discrimination ? — in shipwrecks, that the fates
of good and bad men are jumbled together, their deserts
confounded ? — in conflagrations, that the destruction of inno-
cent and guilty is united ? — and when with the plague-
taint of the sky a region is stained, that all perish without
distinction ? — and when the heat of war is raging, that it is
the better men who generally fall ? In peace also, not only
is wickedness put on the same level with [the lot of] those who
^ Or, " although its weight may have established the earth."
2 Or, " although the moisture may have flowed into the sea."
^ Variously read, " is raised up," or " and is raised up." The MS. has
" attollitur," which by some is amended into " ct alitiir," or " et tollitur."
^ Either " dclcctu " or " dilcctu."
458 THE OCTAVIUS OF
are better, but it is also regarded in such esteem/ that, in the
case of many people, you know not whether their depravity is
most to be detested, or their fehcity to be desired. But if the
world were governed by divine providence and by the autho-
rity of any deity, Phalaris and Dionysius would never have
deserved to reign, Rutilius and Camillus would never have
merited banishment, Socrates would never have merited the
poison. Behold the fruit-bearing trees, behold the harvest
already white, the vintage, already dropping, is destroyed by
the rain, is beaten down by the hail. Thus either an uncer-
tain truth is hidden from us, and kept back ; or, which is
rather to be believed, in these various and wayward chances,
fortune, unrestrained by laws, is ruling over us.
CHAPTER VI.
Akgument. — The object of all nations, and especially of the
Romans^ in ivorshipping their divinities, has been to attain
for their worship the supreme dominion over the whole
earth.
" Since, then, either fortune is certain or nature is uncertain,
how much more reverential and better it is, as the high
priests of truth, to receive the teaching of your ancestors, to
cultivate the religions handed down to you, to adore the gods-
whom you were first trained by your parents to fear rather
than to know^ with familiarity ; not to assert an opinion con-
cerning the deities, but to believe your forefathers, who, while
the age was still untrained in the birth-times of the world
itself, deserved to have gods either propitious to them, or as
their kings.^ Thence, therefore, we see through all empires,
and provinces, and cities, that each people has its national
rites of worship, and adores its local gods : as the Eleusinians
1 Or, " it is extolled."
2 " To think of rather than to know " in some texts.
3 Xeander quotes this passage as illustrating the dissatisfied state of
the pagan mind with the prevailing infidehty at that time.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 459
wors jip Ceres ; the Phrygians, Mater ; ^ the Epidaurlans,
^sculapius ; the Chaldseans, Belus ; the Syrians, Astarte ;
the Taurians, Diana ; the Gauls, Mercurius ; the Romans,
all divinities. Thus their power and authority has occupied
the circuit of the whole world : thus it has propagated its
empire beyond the paths of the sun, and the bounds of the
ocean itself ; in that in their arms they practise a religious
valour ; in that they fortify their city with the religions of
sacred rites, with chaste virgins, with many honours, and the
names of priests ; in that, when besieged and taken, all but
the Capitol alone, they worship the gods which when angry
any other people would have despised ; " and through the lines
of the Gauls, marvelling at the audacity of their superstition,
they move unarmed with weapons, but armed with the wor-
ship of their religion ; while in the city of an enemy, when
taken while still in the fury of victory, they venerate the
conquered deities ; while in all directions they seek for the
gods of the strangers, and make them their own ; while they
build altars even to unknown divinities, and to the Manes.
Thus, in that tliey acknowledge the sacred institutions of all
nations, they have also deserved their dominion. Hence the
perpetual course of their veneration has continued, which is
not weakened by the long lapse of time, but increased, because
antiquity has been accustomed to attribute to ceremonies and
temples so much of sanctity as it has ascribed of age.
CHAPTER VII.
Akgument. — That the Roman auspices and auguries have
been ner/Iected icith ill consequences , hut have been observed
with good fortune,
^' Nor yet by chance (for I would venture in the meantime
even to take for granted [the point in debate], and so to err on
the safe side) have our ancestors succeeded in their under-
^ Or, "the great mother."
2 Or, "which another people, wheu angry, would have despised."
460 TILE OCTAVIUS OF
takings either by the observance of auguries, or by consulting
the entrails, or by the institution of sacred rites, or by the
dedication of temples. Consider what is the record of books.
You will at once discover that they have inaugurated the
rites of all kinds of religions, either that the divine indulgence
might be rewarded, or that the threatening anger might be
averted, or that the wrath already swelling and raging might
be appeased. Witness the Idsean mother,^ who at her arrival
both approved the chastity of the matron, and delivered the
city from the fear of the enemy. Witness the statues of the
equestrian brothers,^ consecrated even as they had showed
themselves on the lake, wdio, with horses breathless,^ foaming,
and smoking, announced the victory over the Persian on the
same day on which they had gained it. Witness the renewal
of the games of the offended Jupiter,* on account of the
dream of a man of the people. And an acknowledged witness
is the devotion of the Decii. Witness also Curtius, who
filled up the opening of the profound chasm either with the
mass, or with the glory of his knighthood. Moreover, more
frequently than we wished have the auguries, when despised,
borne witness to the presence of the gods : thus Allia is an
unlucky name; thus the battle of Claudius and Junius is
not a battle against the Carthaginians, but a fatal shipwreck.
Thus, that Thrasimenus might be both swollen and dis-
coloured with the blood of the Romans, Flaminius despised
the auguries ; and that we might again demand our standards
from the Parthlans, Crassus both deserved and scoffed at the
imprecations of the terrible sisters. I omit the old stories,
w^hich are many, and I pass by the songs of the poets about
the births, and the gifts, and the rewards of the gods. More-
over, I hasten over the fates predicted by the oracles, lest
antiquity should appear to you excessively fabulous. Look
at the temples and fanes of the gods by which the Roman
city is both protected and armed : they are more august by
^ Otherwise, " the goddess mother."
2 Soil Castor and Pollux.
3 Otherwise, " w^ho breathless with horses foaming," etc.
* Otherwise, " the offence of Jupiter, the renewal of the games," etc.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 4G1
the deities which are their inhabitants, who are present and
constantly dwelling in them, than opulent by the ensigns and
gifts of worship. Thence therefore the prophets, filled with
the god, and mingled with him, collect futurity beforehand,
give caution for dangers, medicine for diseases, hope for the
afflicted, help to the wretched, solace to calamities, alleviation
to labours. Even in our repose we see, we hear, we acknow-
ledge the gods, whom in the day-time we impiously deny,
refuse, and abjure.
CHAPTEE VIII.
Argument. — The impious temeinty of Theodorus, Diagoras,
and Protagoras is not at all to he acquiesced in, ivho tvished
either altogether to get rid of the religion of the gods, or at
least to weaken it; but infinitely less to he endured is that
skulking and light-shunning people of the Chi^istians, icho
reject the gods, and icho, fearing to die after death, do not
i?i the meantime fear to die,
"Therefore, since the consent of all nations concernino- the
existence of the immortal gods remains established, although
their nature or their origin remains uncertain, I suffer no-
body swelling with sucli boldness, and with I know not
what irreligious wisdom, who would strive to undermine or
weaken this religion, so ancient, so useful, so wholesome,
even although he may be Theodorus of Cyrene, or one who
is before him, Diagoras the iMelian,^ to whom antiquity
applied the surname of Atheist, — both of whom, by asseverat-
ing that there were no gods, took away all the fear by which
humanity is ruled, and all veneration absolutely; yet never
will they prevail in this discipline of impiety, under tlie name
and autliority of their pretended philosophy. AVhcn the men
of Athens both expelled Protagoras of Abdera, and in public
assembly burnt his writings, because he disputed deliberately^
"^ According to the codex, " the Milesian."
2 Some have corrected this word, reading "without consideration,"
462 TRE OCTAVIUS OF
rather than profanely concerning the divinity, why is it not
a thing to be lamented, that men (for you will bear with my
making nse pretty freely of the force of the plea that I have
undertaken) — that men, I say, of a reprobate, unlawful, and
desperate faction, should rage against the gods ? who, having
gathered together from the lowest dregs the more unskilled,
and women, credulous and, by the facility of their sex, yield-
ing, establish a herd of a profane conspiracy, which is leagued
together by nightly meetings, and solemn fasts, and inhuman
meats — not by any sacred rite, but by that which requires
expiation — a people skulking and shunning the light, silent
in public, but garrulous in corners. They despise the temples
as dead-houses, they reject the gods, they laugh at sacred
things ; wretched, they pity, if they are allowed, the priests ;
half naked themselves, they despise honours and purple robes.
Oh, wondrous folly and incredible audacity ! they despise
present torments, although they fear those which are uncer-
tain and future ; and while they fear to die after death, they
do not fear to die for the present ; so does a deceitful hope
soothe their fear with the solace of a revival [to come].^
CHAPTEE IX.
AegUMENT. — The religion of the Christians is foolish^ inas-
much as they worship a crucified man^ and even the instru-
ment itself of his punishment. They are said to worship
the head of an ass, and even the secret parts of their
father. They are initiated by the slaughter and the blood
of an infant, and in shameless darkness they are all mixed
up in an uncertain medley.
" And now, as wickeder things advance more fruitfully, and
abandoned manners creep on day by day, those abominable
sell. " inconsulte ; " and the four first editions omit tlie subsequent
words, " concerning the divinity."
1 There are various emendations of this passage, but their meaning is
somewhat obscure. One is elaborately ingenious: " Ita illis pavorum
MINUCIUS FELIX, 463
slirines of an impious assembly are maturing themselves
throughout the whole world. Assuredly this confederacy
ought to be rooted out and execrated. They know one
another by secret marks and insignia, and they love one
another almost before they know one another ; everywhere
also there is mingled among them a certain religion of
lust, and they call one another promiscuously brothers and
sisters, that even a not unusual debauchery may by the
intervention of that sacred name become incestuous : it
is thus that their vain and senseless superstition glories in
crimes. Nor, concerning these things, would intelligent
report speak of things so great and various,^ and requir-
ing to be prefaced by an apology, unless truth were at the
bottom of it. I hear that they adore the head of an ass,
that basest of creatures, consecrated by I know not what
silly persuasion, — a worthy and appropriate religion for such
manners. Some say that they worship the genitals of their
pontiff and priest,^ and adore the nature, as it were, of their
common parent. I know not whether these things are false ;
certainly suspicion is applicable to secret and nocturnal rites ;
and he who explains their ceremonies by reference to a man
punished by extreme suffering for his wickedness, and to
the deadly wood of the cross, appropriates fitting altars for
reprobate and wicked men, that they may worship what they
deserve. Now the story about the initiation of young novices
is as much to be detested as it is well known. An infant
covered over with meal, that it may deceive the unwary, is
placed before him who is to be stained with their rites : this
infant is slain by the young pupil, who has been urged on as
if to harmless blows on the surface of the meal, with dark and
secret wounds. Thirstily — 0 horror ! — they lick up its blood ;
eagerly they divide its limbs. By this victim they are pledged
fallax spes solatio redivivo blanditur," which is said to imply, " Thus
the hope that deceives their fears, soothes them with the hope of living
again."
^ Otherwise read " abominable."
2 This charge refers apparently to the kneeling postui'e in which peni-
tents made confession to their bishop (Oehler).
464 THE OCTAVIUS OF
together; with this consciousness of wickedness they are
covenanted to mutual silence.-^ Such sacred rites as these
are more foul than any sacrileges. And of their banqueting
it is well known all men speak of it everj'where ; even the
speech of our Cirtensian ^ testifies to it. On a solemn day
they assemble at the feast, with all their children, sisters,
mothers, people of every sex and of every age. There, after
much feasting, when the fellowship has grown warm, and
the fervour of incestuous lust has grown hot with drunken-
ness, a dog that has been tied to the chandelier is provoked,
by throwing a small piece of offal beyond the length of a line
by which he is bound, to rush and spring ; and thus the con-
scious light being overturned and extinguished in the shame-
less darkness, the connections of abominable lust involve them
in the uncertainty of fate. Although not all in fact, yet in
consciousness all are alike incestuous, since by the desire of
all of them everything is sought for which can happen in the
act of each individual.
CHAPTER X.
Argument. — Whatever the Christians ivorshipy they strive in
every tvay to conceal : they have no altars, no temples, no
achioivledged images. Their God, like that of the Jews,
is said to he one, ivhom, although they are neither able to
see nor to shoiv, they think nevertheless to he mischievous,
restless, and unseasonahly inquisitive.
" I PURPOSELY pass over many things, for those that I have
mentioned are ah-eady too many ; and that all these, or the
greater part of them, are true, the obscurity of their vile
religion declares. For why do they endeavour with such
pains to conceal and to cloak whatever they worship, since
honourable things always rejoice in publicity, wdiile crimes
^ This calumny seems to have originated from the sacrament of the
Eucharist.
2 Soil. Fronto of Cirta, spoken of again in ch. xxxi.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 465
are kept secret ? Why have they no altars, no temples, no
acknowledged images ? ^ Why do they never speak openly,
never congregate freely, unless for the reason that what they
adore and conceal is either worthy of punishment, or some-
thing to be ashamed of ? Moreover, whence or who is he,
or where is the one God, solitary, desolate, whom no free
people, no kingdoms, and not even Roman superstition, have
known ? The lonely and miserable nationality of the Jews
worshipped one God, and one peculiar to itself; but they
worshipped him openly, with temples, with altars, with
victims, and with ceremonies ; and he has so little force or
power, that he is enslaved, with his own special nation, to the
Eomari deities. But the Christians, moreover, what w^onders,
what monstrosities do they feign ! — that he who is their God,
whom they can neither show nor behold, inquires diligently
into the character of all, the acts of all, and, in fine, into
their words and secret thoughts ; that he runs about every-
where, and is everywhere present : they make him out to be
troublesome, restless, even shamelessly inquisitive, since he
is present at everything that is done, wanders in and out in
all places, although, being occupied with the whole, he can-
not give attention to particulars, nor can he be sufficient for
the whole while he is busied with particulars. What ! be-
cause they threaten conflagration to the whole world, and to
the universe itself, with all its stars, are they meditatino- its
destruction ? — as if either the eternal order constituted by the
divine laws of nature would be disturbed, or the leao-ue of
all the elements would be broken up, and the heavenly struc-
ture dissolved, and that fabric in which it is contained and
bound together ^ would be overthrown.
1 Otherwise, " no consecrated images."
2 Otherwise, " we are contained and bound toi^'ether."
/
CYP. — YOL. II. 2 G
466 THE OCTAVIUS OF
CHAPTEE XL
Argument. — Besides asserting the future conflagration of the
whole world, they promise afterwards the resurrection of
our bodies : and to the righteous an eternity of most blessed
life ; to the unrighteous, of extreme punishment.
" And, not content with this wild opinion, they add to it and
associate with it old women's fables : they say that they will
rise again after death, and ashes, and dust ; and with I know
not what confidence, they believe by turns in one another's
lies : you would think that they had already lived again. It
is a double evil and a twofold madness to denounce destruc-
tion to the heaven and the stars, which we leave just as we
find them, and to promise eternity to ourselves, who are dead
and extinct — who, as we are born, so also perish ! It is for
this cause, doubtless, also that they execrate our funeral piles,
and condemn our burials by fire, as if every body, even
although it be withdrawn from the flames, were not, never-
theless, resolved into the earth by lapse of years and ages,
and as if it mattered not whether wild beasts tore the body to
pieces, or seas consumed it, or the ground covered it, or the
flames carried it away ; since for the carcases every mode
of sepulture is a penalty if they feel it ; if they feel it not, in
the very quickness of their destruction there is relief. De-
ceived by this error, they promise to themselves, as being
good, a blessed and perpetual life after their death ; to others,
as being unrighteous, eternal punishment. Many things
occur to me to say in addition, if the limits of my discourse
did riot hasten me. I have already shown, and take no more
pains to prove,^ that they themselves are unrighteous ; al-
though, even if I should allow them to be righteous, yet your
agreement also concurs with the opinions of many, that guilt
and innocence are attributed by fate. For whatever we do,
as some ascribe it to fate, so you refer it to God : thus it is
1 " And I have already shown, without any trouble," is another
reading.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 467
according to your sect to believe that men will, not of their
own accord, but as elected to will. Therefore you feign an
iniquitous judge, who punishes in men, not their will, but
their destiny. Yet I should be glad to be informed whether
or no you rise again with bodies ;^ and if so, with what bodies
— whether with the same or with renewed bodies ? Without
a body ? Then, as far as I know, there will neither be mind,
nor soul, nor life. With the same body ? But this has
already been previously destroyed. With another body ?
Then it is a new man who is born, not the former one re-
stored ; and yet so long a time has passed away, innumerable
ages have flowed by, and what single individual has returned
from the dead either by the fate of Protesilaus, with permis-
sion to sojourn even for a few hours, or that we might believe
it for an example ? All such figments of an unhealthy belief,
and vain sources of comfort, with which deceiving poets have
trifled in the sweetness of their verse, have been disgracefully
remoulded by you, believing undoubtingly ^ on your God.
CHAPTER XII.
Argumet^T. — Moreover J lohat ivill happen to the Chnstians
themselves after death^ may he anticipated from the fact
that even noiv they are destitute of all means, and are
afflicted loith the heaviest calamities and miseries,
" Neither do you at least take experience from things pre-
sent, how the fruitless expectations of vain promise deceive
you. Consider, wretched creatures, [from your lot] while
you are yet living, what is threatening you after death.^
Behold, a portion of you — and, as you declare, the larger and v/
better portion — are in want, are cold, are labouring in hard
work and hunger; and God suffers it. He feigns ; He either
1 Otherwise, " without a body or with."
2 Otherwise, " too credulous."
^Otherwise, "while you consider, while you are yet alive, poor
wretches, what is threatening after death."
4G8 THE OCTAVIUS OF
is not willing or not able to assist His people ; and thus He
is either weak or inequitable. Thou, who dreamest over a
posthumous immortality, when thou art shaken by danger/
when thou art consumed with fever, when thou art torn with
pain, dost thou not then feel thy real condition ? Dost thou
not then acknowledge thy frailty? Poor wretch, art thou
unwillingly convinced of thine infirmity, and wilt not con-
fess it? But I omit matters that are common to all alike.
Lo, for you there are threats, punishments, tortures, and
crosses ; and that no longer as objects of adoration, but as
tortures to be undergone ; fires also, which you both predict
and fear. Where is that God who is able to help you when
you come to life again, since he cannot help you while you
are in this life? Do not the Komans, without any help
from your God, govern, reign, have the enjoyment of the
Avhole world, and have dominion over you ? But you in the
meantime, in suspense and anxiety, are abstaining from
respectable enjoyments. You do not visit exhibitions ; you
have no concern in public displays ; jou reject the public
banquets, and abhor the sacred contests ; the meats previ-
ously tasted by, and the drinks made a libation of upon, the
altars. Thus you stand in dread of the gods whom you
deny. You do not wreath your heads with flowers ; you do
not grace your bodies with odoui's ; you reserve unguents for
funeral rites ; you even refuse garlands to your sepulchres —
pallid, trembling beings, worthy of the pity even of our gods !
Thus, wretched as you are, you neither rise again, nor do
you live in the meanwhile. Therefore, if you have any
wisdom or modesty, cease from prying into the regions of
the sky, and the destinies and secrets of the world: it is
sufficient to look before your feet, especially for untaught,
uncultivated, boorish, rustic people : they who have no capa-
city for understanding civil matters, are much more denied
the ability to discuss divine.
1 Some read, " with shivering."
MINUCWS FELIX, 4C9
CHAPTER XIII.
Argument. — Ccecilius at length concludes that the new reli-
gion is to he repudiated; and that ive must not rashly
pronounce upon douUful matters.
'^ However, if you have a desire to pliilosopliizc, let any one
of you who is sufficiently great, imitate, if he can, Socrates
the prince of wisdom. The answer of that man, whenever
he was asked about celestial matters, is well known: ' What
IS ABOVE US IS NOTHING TO US.' Well, therefore, did he
deserve from the oracle the testimony of singular wisdom,
which oracle he himself had a presentiment of, that he had
been preferred to all men for the reason, not that he had
discovered all things, but because he had learnt that he
knew^ nothino;. And thus the confession of imiorance is the
height of wisdom. From this source flowed the safe doubting
of Arcesilas, and long after of Carneades, and of very many
of the Academics,^ in questions of the highest moment, in
wdiich species of philosophy the unlearned can do much with
caution, and the learned can do gloriously. What ! is not
the hesitation of Simonides the lyric poet to be admired and
followed by all? Which Simonides, when he was asked by
Hiero the tyrant what, and what like he thought the gods to
be, asked first of all for a day to deliberate ; then postponed
his reply for two days ; and then, when pressed, he added
only another ; and finally, when the tyrant inquired into the
causes of such a long delay, he replied that, the longer his
research continued, the obscurer the truth became to him.^
In my opinion also, things which are uncertain ought to be
left as they are. Nor, while so many and so great men are
deliberating, should we rashly and boldly give an opinion in
another direction, lest either a childish superstition should be
introduced, or all religion should be overthrown."
^ This is otherwise read, " Academic Pyrrhonists."
2 Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i. 22.
470 THE OCTAVIUS OF
CHAPTER XIV.
Argument. — With sometMng of the ijride of self-satisfaction^
Ca'cilius urges Octavius to reply to his arguments; and
Minucius with modesty answers him, that he must not
exult at his oivn hy no means ordinary eloquence^ and at
the harmonious variety of his address.
Thus far Cascilins; and smiling cheerfully (for the vehe-
mence of his lengthy discourse had relaxed the ardour of his
indignation), he added : "And what does Octavius venture to
reply to this, a man of the race of Plautus/ who, while he w^as
chief among the millers, was still the lowest of philosophers ? "
" Restrain," said I, " your self-approval against him ; for it is
not worthy of you to exult at the harmony of your discourse,
before the subject shall have been more fully argued on both
sides ; especially since your reasoning is striving after truth,
not praise. And in however great a degree your discourse
has delighted me by its subtile variety, yet I am very deeply
moved, not concerning the present discussion, but concerning
the entire kind of disputation — that for the most part the
condition of truth should be changed according to the powers
of discussion, and even the faculty of perspicuous eloquence.
This is very well known to occur by reason of the facility of
the hearers, who, being distracted by the allurement of words
from attention to things, assent without distinction to every-
thing that is said, and do not separate falsehood from truth ;
unaware that even in that which is incredible there is often
truth, and in verisimilitude falsehood. Therefore the oftener
they believe bold assertions, the more frequently they are
convinced by those who are more clever, and thus are con-
^ " Plautinse prosapise." The expression is intended as a reproach
against the humble occupations of many of the Christian professors.
Plautus is said, when in need, to have laboured at a baker's hand-mill.
Caecilius tells Octavius that he may be the first among the millers, but
he is the last among the philosophers. Stieber proposes " Christianorum "'
instead of " pistorum" — " Christians" instead of " millers."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 471
tliiiially deceived by their temerity. They transfer the blame
of the judge to the complaint of uncertainty ; so that, every-
tliing being condemned, they would rather that all things
should be left in suspense, than that they should decide about
matters of doubt. Therefore we must take care that we do
not in such sort suffer from the hatred at once of all dis-
courses, even as very many of the more simple kind are led
to execration and hatred of men in general. For those who
are carelessly credulous are deceived by those whom they
thought worthy; and by and by, by a kindred error, they
begin to suspect every one as wicked, and dread even those
whom they might have regarded as excellent. Now there-
fore we are anxious — because in everything there may be
argument on both sides ; and on the one hand, the truth is
for the most part obscure ; and on the other side there is a
marvellous subtlety, which sometimes by its abundance of
words imitates the confidence of acknowledged proof— as
carefully as possible to weigh each particular, that we may,
while ready to applaud acuteness, yet elect, approve, and
adopt those things which are right."
CHAPTEE XV.
Argument. — Ccecilius retorts upon Minucius, with some little
appearance of being hurt, that he is foregoing the office of
a religious umpire, ichen he is iceahening the force of his
argument. He says that it should he left to Octavius to
confute all that he had advanced,
'^ You are withdrawing," says Ciecilius, ^' from the oflice of a
religious judge ; for it is very unfair for you to weaken the
force of my pleading by the interpolation of a very important
argument, since Octavius has before him each thing tliat I have
said, sound and unimpaired, if he can refute it." " What you
are reproving," said I, " unless I am mistaken, I have brought
forward for the common advantage, so that by a scrupulous
examination we miglit weigh our decision, not by the pom-
472 THE OCTAVIUS OF
pous style of the eloquence, but by the solid character of the
matter itself. Nor must our attention, as you complain, be
any longer called away, but with absolute silence let us listen
to the reply of our friend Januarius,^ who is now beckoning
to us [that he is about to speak]."
CHAPTEE XVL
Akgument. — Octavius therefore arranges his reply , and trusts
that he shall he able to dilute the bitterness of reproach
u'ith the river of truthfid icords. He then 'proceeds to
weaken the individual arguments of Coicilius. And he
first of all lays it down, that nobody need complain that
the Christians, unlearned though they may be, dispute
about heavenly things, because it is not the authority of
Mm u'ho argues, but the truth of the argument itself that
should be considered.
And thus Octavius began : '^ I will indeed speak as I shall
be able to the best of my powers, and you must endeavour
w'ith me to dilute the very offensive stain of recriminations
in the river ^ of veracious words. Nor will I disguise in the
outset, that the opinion of my friend Natalis ^ has swayed to
and fro in such an erratic, vague, and slippery manner, that
Ave are compelled to doubt whether your * information was
confused, or whether it w^avered backwards and forwards ^ by
mere mistake. For he varied at one time from believing the
gods, at another time to being in a state of hesitation on the
subject ; so that the direct purpose of my reply was estab-
lished with the greater uncertainty,'' by reason of the uncer-
tainty of his proposition. But in my friend Natalis — I will
1 Sell " Octavius." 2 gome i^g^d, " in tlie light."
^ Crecilius. * Otherwise " his."
^ Some read " cavillaverit " instead of " vacillavcrit," which would
give the sense, " make captious objections."
^ This is otherwise given " certainty," which helps the meaning of the
passage.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 473
not allow, I do not believe in, any chicanery — far from his
simplicity is crafty trickery.^ What then ? As he who knows
not the right way, when as it happens one road is separated
into many, because he knows not the way, remains in anxiety,
and dares neither make choice of particular roads, nor try
them all ; so, if a man has no stedfast judgment of truth,
even as his unbelieving suspicion is scattered, so his doubting
opinion is unsettled. It is therefore no wonder if Ccecilius
in the same way is cast about by the tide, and tossed hither
and thither among things contrary and repugnant to one
another ; but that this may no longer be the case, I will con-
vict and refute all that has been said, however diverse, con-
firming and approving the truth alone ; and for the future
he must neither doubt nor waver. And since my brother
broke out in such expressions as these, that he was grieved,
that he was vexed, that he was indignant, that he regretted
that illiterate, poor, unskilled people should dispute about
heavenly things ; let him know that all men are begotten
alike, with a capacity and ability of reasoning and feeling,
without preference of age, sex, or dignity; nor do they
obtain wisdom by fortune, but have it implanted by nature ;
moreover, that the very philosophers themselves, or any
others who have gone forth unto celebrity as discoverers of
arts, before they attained an illustrious name by their mental
skill, were esteemed plebeian, untaught, half naked : thus,
that rich men, attached to their means, have been accustomed
to gaze more upon their gold than upon heaven, while our
sort of people, though poor, have both discovered wisdom, and
have delivered their teaching to others ; whence it appears
that intelligence is not given to wealth, nor is gotten by
study, but is begotten with the very formation of the mind.
Therefore it is nothing to be angiy or to be grieved about,
though any one should inquire, should think, should utter
his thoughts about divine things ; since what is wanted is
not the authority of the arguer, but the truth of the argu-
ment itself : and even the more unskilled the discourse, the
^ Otherwise, " fear from his guileless subtlety is so crafty a trickery."
But the readings are very unsettled.
474 THE OCTAVIUS OF
more evident the reasoning, since it is not coloured by the
pomp of eloquence and grace ; but as it is, it is sustained by
the rule of ri^ht.
CHAPTER XYII.
Aegument. — He confesses that man ought indeed to know
himselfy hut absolutely denies that this knoivledge can be
attained by him unless he first of all acknoiuledges the
entire scope of things, and God Himself , And from the
constitution and furniture of the world itself every one
endowed with reason holds it as discovered that it ivas
established by God, and is governed and administered by
Him,
" Neither do I refuse to admit what Csecilius earnestly en-
deavoured to maintain among the chief matters, that man
ought to know himself, and to look around and see what he
is, whence he is, why he is ; whether collected together from
the elements, or harmoniously formed of atoms, or rather
made, formed, and animated by God. And it is this very
thing which we cannot seek out and investigate without inquiry
into the universe ; since things are so coherent, so linked and
associated together, that unless you diligently examine into
the nature of divinity, you must be ignorant of that of
humanity. Nor can you well perforin your social duty unless
you know that community of the world which is common to
all, especially since in this respect we differ from the wild
beasts, that while they are prone and tending to the earth,
and are born to look upon nothing but their food, we, whose
countenance is erect, whose look is turned towards heaven,
as is our converse and reason, whereby we recognise, feel,
and imitate God,^ have neither right nor reason to be igno-
rant of the celestial glory which forms itself into our eyes
and senses. For it is as bad as the grossest sacrilege even,
to seek on the ground for what you ought to find on high.
^ Some read, " the Lord God."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 475
Wherefore the rather, they who deny that this furniture of
the whole world was perfected by the divme reason, and
assert that it was heaped together by certain fragments ^
casually adhering to each other, seem to me not to have
either mind or sense, or, in fact, even sight itself. For what
can possibly be so manifest, so confessed, and so evident,
w^hen you lift your eyes up to heaven, and look into the
things which are below and around, than that there is some
Deity of most excellent intelligence, by whom all nature is
inspired, is moved, is nourished, is governed? Behold the
heaven itself, how broadly it is expanded, how rapidly it is
whirled around, either as it is distinguished in the night by
its stars, or as it is lightened in the day by the sun, and you
will know at once how the marvellous and divine balance of
the Supreme Governor is engaged therein. Look also on the
year, how it is made by the circuit of the sun ; and look on
the month, how the moon drives it around in her increase,
her decline, and decay. What shall I say of the recurring
changes of darkness and light ; how there is thus provided
for lis an alternate restoration of labour and rest ? Truly a
more prolix discourse concerning the stars must be left to
astronomers, whether as to how they govern the course of
navigation, or bring on ^ the season of ploughing or of reap-
ing, each of which things not only needed a Supreme Artist
and a perfect intelligence, nor only to create, to construct,
and to arrange ; but, moreover, they cannot be felt, perceived
and understood without the highest intelligence and reason.
What ! when the order of the seasons and of the harvests is
distinguished by stedfast variety, does it not attest its Author
and Parent? As well the spring with its flowers, and the
summer with its harvests, and the grateful maturity of autumn,
and the wintry olive-gathering,^ are needful ; and this order
would easily be disturbed unless it were established by the
highest intelligence. Now, how great is the providence
needed, lest there should be nothing but winter to blast with
1 Sell " atoms."
2 According to some, " point out " or " indicate."
3 Olives ripen in the month of December.
476 THE OCTAVIUS OF
its frost, or nothing but summer to scorcli with its heat, to
interpose the moderate temperature of autumn and spring, so
that the unseen and harmless transitions of the year returning
on its footsteps may gUde by ! Look attentively at the sea ; it
is bound by the law of its shore. Wherever there are trees,
look how they are animated from the bowels of the earth !
Consider the ocean ; it ebbs and flows with alternate tides.
Look at the fountains, how they gush in perpetual streams !
Gaze on the rivers ; they always roll on in regular courses.
Why should I speak of the aptly ordered peaks of the moun-
tains, the slopes of the hills, the expanses of the plains ?
Wherefore should I speak of the multiform protection pro-
vided by animated creatures against one another ? — some
armed with horns, some hedged with teeth, and shod with
claws, and barbed w^ith stings, or with freedom obtained by
swiftness of feet, or by the capacity of soaring furnished by
wings ? The very beauty of our own figure especially con-
fesses God to be its artificer : our upright stature, our uplook-
ing countenance, our eyes placed at the top, as it were, for
outlook ; and all the rest of our senses as if arranged in a
citadel.
CHAPTER XVIIL
Argument. — Moreover, God not only takes care of the uni-
versal world, hut of its individual parts. That hy the
decree of the one God all things are governed, is proved hy
the illustratio7i of earthly emjnres. But although He, heing
infinite and immense — a7id hoiv great He is, is knoivn to
Himself alone — cannot either he seen or named hy us, yet
His glory is heheld most clearly ichen the use of all titles
is laid aside.
" It would be a long matter to go through particular in-
stances. There is no member in man which is not calculated
both for the sake of necessity and of ornament ; and what is
more wonderful still, all have the same form, but each has
MINUCIUS FELIX. 477
certain lineaments modified, and thus we arc eacli found to
be unlike to one another, while we all appear to be like in
general. What is the reason of our being born ? what means
the desire of begetting ? Is it not given by God, and that
the breasts should become full of milk as the offspring grows
to maturity, and that the tender progeny should grow up by
the nourishment afforded by the abundance of the milky mois-
ture ? Neither does God have care alone for the universe
as a whole, but also for its parts. Britain is deficient in sun-
shine, but it is refreshed by the warmth of the sea that flows
around it. The river Nile tempers the dryness of Egypt;
the Euphrates cultivates Mesopotamia; the river Indus makes
up for the want of rains, and is said both to sow and to water
the East. Now if, on entering any house, you should behold
everything refined, well arranged, and adorned, assuredly you
would believe that a master presided over it, and that he
himself was much better than all those excellent things. So
in this house of the world, when you look upon the heaven and
the earth, its providence, its ordering, its law, believe that
there is a Lord and Parent of the universe far more glorious
than the stars themselves, and the parts of the whole world.
Unless, perchance — since there is no doubt as to the existence
of providence — you think that it is a subject of inquiry,
whether the celestial kingdom is governed by the power of
one or by the rule of many ; and this matter itself does not
involve much trouble in opening out, to one who considers
earthly empires, for which the examples certainly are taken
from heaven. When at any time was there an alliance in
royal authority which either began with good faith or ceased
without bloodshed ? I pass over the Persians, who gathered
the augury for their chieftainship from the neighing of horses ;
and I do not quote that absolutely dead fable of the Theban
brothers.-^ The story about the twins [Romulus and Remus],
in respect of the dominion of shepherds, and of a cottage, is
very well known. The wars of the son-in-law and the father-
in-law^ were scattered over the whole world; and the fortune *
1 Etcocles and Polynices. ^ Pompey and Csesar.
^ Accordiiifr to some, " one fate."
478 THE OCTAVIUS OF
of so great an empire could not receive two rulers. Look at
other matters. The bees have one king ; the flocks one leader;
among the herds there is one ruler. Canst thou believe that
in heaven there is a division of the supreme power, and that
the whole authority of that true and divine empire is sundered,
when it is manifest that God, the Parent of all, has neither
beginning nor end — that He who gives birth to all gives per-
petuity to Himself — that He who was before the world, was
Himself to Himself instead of the world ? He orders every-
thing, whatever it is, by a word ; arranges it by His wisdom ;
perfects it by His power. He can neither be seen — He is
brighter than light ; nor can be grasped — He is purer than
touch ; ^ nor estimated ; He is greater than all perceptions ;
infinite, immense, and how great is known to Himself alone.
But our heart is too limited to understand Him, and therefore
we are then worthily estimating Him when we say that He is
beyond estimation. I will speak out in what manner I feel.
He who thinks that he knows the magnitude of God, is
diminishing it ; he who desires not to lessen it, knows it not.
Neither must you ask a name for God. God is His name.
We have need of names when a multitude is to be separated
into individuals by the special characteristics of names; to
God, who is alone, the name God is the whole. If I were
to call Him Father, you would judge Him to be earthly ; if
a King, you would suspect Him to be carnal ; if a Lord,
you will certainly understand Him to be mortal. Take
away the additions of names, and you will behold His glory.
What ! is it not true that I have in this matter the consent
of all men ? I hear the common people, when they lift their
hands to heaven, say nothing else but Oh God, and God is
great, and God is true, and if God slicdl ^permit. Is this the
natural discourse of the common people, or is it the prayer
of a confessing Christian ? And they who speak of Jupiter
as the chief, are mistaken in the name indeed, but they are
in agreement about the unity of the power.
1 These words are omitted by some editors.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 479
CHAPTER XIX.
Argument. — Moreovevy the poets have called Him the Parent
of gods and men, the Creator of all things, and their Mind
and Spirit. And, besides, even the more excellent p)hiloso-
phers themselves have come almost to the same conclusion
as the Christians about the unity of God.
" I HEAR the poets also announcing ' the One Father of gods
and men ; ' and that such is the mind of mortal men as
the Parent of all has appointed His day.^ What says the
[Mantuan Maro ? Is it not even more plain, more apposite,
more true ? ' In the beginning/ says he, ' the spirit within
nourishes, and the mind infused stirs the heaven and the
earth/ and the other members ' of the world. Thence arises
the race of men and of cattle/ ^ and every other kind of
animal. The same poet in another place calls that mind and
spirit God. For these are his words : ^ ' For that God per-
vades all the lands, and the tracts of the sea, and the profound
heaven, from whom are men and cattle, from whom are
rain and fire.' * What else also is God announced to be by
us, but mind, and reason, and spirit? Let us review, if
it is agreeable, the teaching of philosophers. You will find
them, although in varied kinds of discourse, yet in these
matters concur and agree in this one opinion. I pass over
those untrained and ancient ones who deserved to be called
wise men for their sayings. Let Thales the Milesian be the
first of all, for he first of all disputed about heavenly things.
That same Thales the Milesian said that water was the be-
ginning of things, but that God was that mind which from
water formed all thinors. Ah ! a hisiher and nobler account
of water and spirit than to have ever been discovered by
man. It was delivered to him by God. You see that the
1 Homer, Odijiis. xviii. 136.
2 Virgil, JEne'id, vi. 724.
' Some read, " For these things are true."
* Virgil, Georgic, iv. 221 ; ^Eneid, i. 747.
480 THE OCTAVIUS OF
opinion of this original philosopher absolutely agrees with
ours. Afterwards Anaximenes, and then Diogenes of Apol-
Ionia, decide that the air, infinite and unmeasured, is God.
The agreement of these also as to the Divinity is like ours.
But the description of Anaxagoras also is, that God is said to
be the motion of an infinite mind ; and the God of Pytha-
goras is the soul passing to and fro and intent, throughout
the universal nature of things, from whom also the life of all
animals Is received. It is a known fact, that Xenophanes
delivered that God was all infinity with a mind ; and Antis-
thenes, that there are many gods of the people, but that one
God of Nature was the chief of all; that Xeuxippus^ acknow-
ledged as God a natural animal force, whereby all things are
governed. What says Democritus ? Although the first dis-
coverer of atoms, does not he especially speak of nature,
which is the basis of forms, and intelligence, as God ? Strato
also himself says that God Is nature. Moreover, Epicurus,
the man who feigns either otiose gods or none at all, still
places above all. Nature. Aristotle varies, but nevertheless
assigns a unity of power : for at one time he says that Mind,
at another the World, Is God ; at another time he sets God
above the world.^ Heraclides of Pontus also ascribes, although
in various ways, a divine mind to God. Theophrastus, and
Zeno, and Chrysippus, and Cleanthes are Indeed themselves
of many forms of opinion ; but they are all brought back
to the one fact of the unity of providence. For Cleanthes
discoursed of God as of a mind, now of a soul, now of air,
but for the most part of reason. Zeno, his master, will
have the law of nature and of God, and sometimes the air,
and sometimes reason, to be the beginning of all things.
Moreover, by Interpreting Juno to be the air, Jupiter the
heaven, Neptune the sea, Yulcan to be fire, and in like
manner by showing the other gods of the common people to
^ Otherwise, " Speusippus."
2 The MS. here .inserts, " Aristoles of Pontus varies, at one tune attri-
buting the supremacy to the workl, at another to the divine mind." Some
think that this is an interpolation, others transfer the words to Theo-
phrastus below.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 481
be elemonts, lie forcibly denounces and overcomes the public
error. Chrysippus says almost the same. He believes that
a divine force, a rational nature, and sometimes the world,
and a fatal necessity, is God ; and he follows the example
of Zeno in his physiological interpretation of the poems of
Hesiod, of Homer, and of Orpheus. Moreover, the teaching
of Diogenes of Babylon is that of expounding and arguing
that the birth of Jupiter, and the origin of ^linerva, and
this kind, are names for other things, not for gods. For
Xenophon the Socratic says that the form of the true God
cannot be seen, and therefore ought not to be inquired
after. Aristo the Stoic ^ says that He cannot at all be com-
prehended. And both of them were sensible of the majesty
of God, while they despaired of understanding Him. Plato
has a clearer discourse about God, both in the matters them-
selves and in the names by which he expresses them ; and his
discourse would be altogether heavenly, if it were not occa-
sionally fouled by a mixture of merely civil belief. There-
fore in his Timociis Plato's God is by His very name the
parent of the world, the artificer of the soul, the fabricator
of heavenly and earthly things, whom both to discover he
declares is difiicult, on account of His excessive and incredi-
ble power ; and when you have discovered Him, impossible
to speak of in public. The same almost are the opinions also
wdiich are ours. For we both know and speak of a God who
is parent of all, and never speak of Him in public unless we
are interro2;ated.
CHAPTER XX.
Argument. — But if the u-orld is ruled hy 2^^'ovidence and
governed hy the icill of one God, an ignorant antiquity
ought not to carry us away into the error of agreement loith
it : although delighted ivith its oivn fables, it has brought in
ridiculous traditions. Nor is it shown less plainly that
the ivorship of the gods has ahvays been silly and impious,
^ Otherwise, " Aristo the Chiau."
CYP. — VOL. II. 2 H
482 THE OCTAVIUS OF
in that the most ancient of men have venerated their Mugs,
their illustrious generals, and inventors of arts, on account
of their remarkable deeds, no otherwise than as Gods.
'^ I HAVE set forth the opinions ahnost of all the philosophers
whose more illustrious glory it is to have pointed out that
there is one God, although with many names ; so that any
one might think either that Christians are now philosophers,
or that philosophers were then ah^eady Christians. But if the
world is governed by providence, and directed by the will of
one God, antiquity of unskilled people ought not, however
delighted and charmed with its own fables, to carry us away
into the mistake of a mutual agreement, when it is rebutted
by the opinions of its own philosophers, who are supported
by the authority both of reason and of antiquity. For our
ancestors had such an easy faith in falsehoods, that they
rashly believed even other monstrosities as marvellous won-
ders ; ^ a manifold Scylla, a Chimasra of many forms, and
a Hydra rising again from its auspicious wounds, and Cen-
taurs, horses entwined mth their riders; and whatever Eeport
was allowed^ to feign, they were entirely willing to listen to.
Why should I refer to those old wives' fables, that men
were changed from men into birds and beasts, and from men
into trees and flowers ? — which things, if they had happened
at all, would happen again ; and because they cannot happen
now, therefore never happened at all. In like manner with
respect to the gods too, our ancestors believed carelessly,
credulously, with untrained simplicity ; while worshipping
their kings religiously, desiring to look upon them when
dead in outward forms, anxious to preserve their memories
in statues,^ those things became sacred which had been
taken up merely as consolations. Thereupon, and before
the world was opened up by commerce, and before the
nations confounded their rites and customs, each particu-
1 Some editors read, " mere wonders," apparently on conjecture only.
2 Otherwise, " was pleased."
3 Four early editions read " instantius " for " in statuis," making the
meaning probably, "more keenly," " more directly."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 483
lar nation venerated its Founder, or illustrious Leader, or
modest Queen braver than her sex, or the discoverer of any
sort of faculty or art, as a citizen of worthy memory ; and
thus a reward was given to the deceased, and an example to
those who were to follow.
CHAPTER XXL
Argument. — Octavius attests the fact that men were adopted
as gods, by the testimony of Euliemerus, ProdicuSj Per-
sceus, and Alexander the Great, who enumerate the country,
the birthdays, and the burial-places of the gods. Moreover
he sets forth the mournful endings, misfortunes, and deaths
of the gods. And, in addition, he laughs at the ridiculous
and disgusting absurdities ivhich the heathens continually
allege about the form and appearance of their gods,
" Eead the WTitings of the Stoics,^ or the writings of wise
men, you will acknowledge these facts with me. On account
of the merits of their virtue or of some gift, Euhemerus
asserts that they were esteemed gods ; and he enumerates
their birthdays, their countries, their places of sepulture, and
throughout various provinces points out these circumstances
of the Dictsean Jupiter, and of the Delphic Apollo, and of the
Pharian Isis, and of the Eleusinian Ceres. Prodicus speaks
of men who were taken up among the gods, because they were
helpful to the uses of men in their wanderings, by the discovery
of new kinds of produce. Persseus philosophizes also to the
same result ; and he adds thereto, that the fruits discovered,
and the discoverers of those same fruits, were called by the same
names ; as the passage of the comic writer runs, that Venus
freezes without Bacchus and Ceres. Alexander the Great,
the celebrated Macedonian, wrote in a remarkable document^
^ Otherwise, according to some, " of the historians."
2 This treatise is mentioned by Athenagoras, Legal, pro Christ, eh.
xxiv. ; and by Augustine, de Civ. Dei, Hb. viii. ch. iii. and xxvii. In
the fifth chapter Augustine calls the priest by the name of Leo.
484 THE OCTAVIUS OF
addressed to his mother, that tinder fear of his power there
liad heen betrayed to him by the priest the secret of the gods
having been men : to her he makes Vulcan the original of all,
and then the race of Jupiter. And you behold the swallow
and the cymbal of Isis/ and the tomb of your Serapis or Osiris
empty, wath his limbs scattered about. Then consider the
sacred rites themselves, and their very mysteries : you will
find mournful deaths, misfortunes, and funerals, and the
griefs and Tvailings of the miserable gods. Isis bewails,
laments, and seeks after her lost son, with her Cynocephalus
and her bald priests; and the wretched Isiacs beat their
breasts, and imitate the grief of the most unhappy mother.
By and by, when the little boy is found, Isis rejoices, and the
j^riests exult, Cynocephalus the discoverer boasts, and they
do not cease year by year either to lose wdiat they find, or to
find what they lose. Is it not ridiculous either to grieve for
what you worship, or to worship that over which you grieve ?
Yet these were formerly Egyptian rites, and now are Roman
ones. Ceres with her torches lighted, and surrounded - with a
serpent, with anxiety and solicitude tracks the footsteps of
Proserpine, stolen away in her wandering, and corrupted.
These are the Eleusinian mysteries. And what are the
sacred rites of Jupiter ? His nurse is a she-goat, and as an
infant he is taken away from his greedy father, lest he should
be devoured; and clanging uproar^ is dashed out of the
cymbals of the Corybantes, lest the father should hear the
infant's wailing. Cybele of Dindymus — I am ashamed to
speak of it — who could not entice her adulterous lover, who
unhappily was pleasing to her, to lewdness, because she her-
self, as being the mother of many gods, was ugly and old,
mutilated him, doubtless that she might make a god of the
eunuch. On account of this story, the Galli also worship
her by the punishment of their emasculated body. Now
certainly these things are not sacred rites, but tortures.
What are the very forms and appearances [of the gods] ? do
^ This passage is very doubtful both iu its text and its meaning.
2 Otherwise, " carried about."
2 Otherwise, " his approach is drowned."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 485
they not argue the contemptible and disgraceful characters
of your gods ^^ Vulcan is a lame god, and crippled ; Apollo,
smooth-faced after so many ages ; jZEsculapius well bearded,
notwithstanding that he is the son of the ever youthful
Apollo; Neptune with sea-green eyes; Minerva with eyes
bluish grey ; Juno with ox-eyes ; ^Mercury with winged feet ;
Pan with hoofed feet ; Saturn with feet in fetters ; Janus,
indeed, wears two faces, as if that he might walk with looks
turned back ; Diana sometimes is a huntress, with her
robe girded up high ; and as the Epheslan she has many
and fruitful breasts ; and when exaggerated as Trivia, she is
horrible with three heads and with many hands. What is
your Jupiter himself? Now he is represented in a statue
as beardless, now he is set up as bearded ; and when he is
called Hammon, he has horns ; and when Capltolinus, then he
wields the thunderbolts ; and when Latlaris, he is sprinkled
with gore ; and when Feretrius, he Is not approached ; ^ and
not to mention any further the multitude of Juplters, the
monstrous appearances of Jupiter are as numerous as his
names. Eriffone was hano:ed from a noose, that as a viroln
she might be glowing ^ among the stars. The Castors die
by turns, that they may live, ^sculapius, that he may rise
into a god, is struck with a thunderbolt. Hercules, that he
may put off humanity, is burnt up by the fires of G^ta.'*
CHAPTEE XXII.
Argument. — Moreover, these fahles, icJnch at first ivere in-
vented hj ignorant men, icere afterwards celebrated hy
^ Otherwise, " do tlicy not show what are the sports and the honoui'S
of your gods ? "
2 These words are very variously read, Davis conjectures that they
should be, " When Feretrius, he does not hear," and explains the allusion
as follows: that Jupiter Feretrius could only be approached with the
spolia opima ; and Minucius is covertly ridiculing the liomans, because,
not having taken t^polla opima for so long a time, they could not ap-
proach Feretrius.
^ Otherwise, "pointed out," or "designated."
* Otherwise corrupted into JEtna.
486 THE OCTAVIUS Oi
otiiersj ayid chiefly hy poets, icJio did no little mischief to
the truth hy their authority ; and hy fictions of this kindy
and hy falsehoods of a yet more attractive nature, the minds
of young people are corompted, and thence they miserahly
grow old in these heliefs, although, on the other hand, the
truth is obvious to them if they will only seek after it,
" These fables and errors we both learn from ignorant
parents, and, what is more serious still, we elaborate them
in our very studies and instructions, especially in the verses
of the poets, who as much as possible have prejudiced ^
the truth ^ by their authority. And for this reason Plato
rightly expelled from the state which he had founded in his
discourse, the illustrious Homer whom he had praised and
crowned.^ For it was he especially who in the Trojan war
allowed your gods, although he made jests of them, still to
interfere in the affairs and doings of men : he brought them
together in contest ; he wounded Venus ; he bound, wounded,
and drove away Mars. He relates that Jupiter was set free
by Briareus, so as not to be bound fast by the rest of the gods;
and that he bewailed in showers of blood his son Sarpedon,
because he could not snatch him from death; and that, enticed
by the girdle of Venus, he lay more eagerly with his wife
Juno than he was accustomed to do with his adulterous loves.
Elsewhere Hercules threw out dung, and Apollo is feed-
ing cattle for Admetus. Neptune, however, builds walls for
Laomedon, and the unfortunate builder did not receive the
wages for his work. Then Jupiter's thunderbolt is fabri-
cated ^ on the anvil with the arms of ^neas, although there
were heaven, and thunderbolts, and lightnings long before
Jupiter was born in Crete ; and neither could the Cyclops
imitate, nor Jupiter himself help fearing, the flames of the
real thunderbolt. Why should I speak of the detected adul-
tery of Mars and Venus, and of the violence of Jupiter against
Ganymede, — a deed consecrated, [as you say,] in heaven?
^ Some read, " and it is marvellous bow these have prejudiced," etc.
2 Some read, " the truth itself." ^ pij;^^^ jg p^^p lib. jij.
* Otherwise, " Then Vulcan fabricates," etc.
MINUCIUS FELIX, 487
And all these things have been put forward with this view,
that a certain authority might be gained for the vices^ of men.
By these fictions, and such as these, and by lies of a more
attractive kind, the minds of boys are corrupted ; and with
the same fables clinging to them, they grow up even to the
strength of mature age ; and, poor wretches, they grow old
in the same beliefs, although the truth is plain, if they will
only seek after it. For all the writers of antiquity, both Greek
and Roman, have set forth that Saturn, the beginner of this
race and multitude, was a man. Nepos knows this, and Cas-
sius in his history ; and Thallus and Diodorus speak the same
thing. This Saturn then, driven from Crete by the fear \
of his raging son, had come to Italy, and, received by the
hospitality of Janus, taught those imskilled and rustic men
many things, — as, being something of a Greek, and poHshed,
— to print letters for instance, to coin money, to make in-
struments. Therefore he preferred that his hiding-place,
because he had been safely hidden [latent] there, should be
called Latium ; and he gave a city, from his own name, the
name of Saturnia, and Janus, Janiculum, so that each of them
left their names to the memory of posterity. Therefore it
was certainly a man that fled, certainly a man who was con-
cealed, and the father of a man, and sprung from a man. He
was declared, however, to be the son of earth or of heaven,
because among the Italians he was of unknown parents ; as
even to this day we call those who appear unexpectedly, sent
from heaven, those who are ignoble and unknown, sons of the
earth. His son Jupiter reigned at Crete after his father was
driven out. There he died, there he had sons. To this day the
cave of Jupiter is visited, and his sepulchre is shown, and he
is convicted of being human by those very sacred rites of his.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Akgumext. — AltJiough the heathens achioideclne their kings to
he mortal^ yet they feign that they are gods even against
^ Otlienvise, "judgments."
488 THE OCTAVIUS OF
their own icill, not because of their belief in their divinity^
but in honour of the j^oiver that they have exerted: and
yet a true God has neither rising nor setting. Thence
Octavius criticises the images and shines of the gods,
*' It is needless to go tlirougli each individual case, and to
develope the entire series of that race, since in its first parents
their mortality is proved, and must have flowed down into the
rest by the very law of their succession, unless perhaps you
fancy that they were gods after death ; as by the perjury of
Proculus, Komulus became a god ; and by the good-will of
the Mauritanians, Juba is a god ; and other kings are divine
who are consecrated, not in the faith of their divinity, but in
honour of the power that they exercised. ]\ioreover, this
name is ascribed to those wdio are unwilling to bear it. They
desire to persevere in their human condition. They fear that
they may be made gods ; although they are already old men,
they do not wish it. Therefore neither are gods made from
dead people, since a god cannot die ; nor of people that are
born, since everything wdiich is born dies. But that is divine
which has neither rising nor setting. For why, if they were
born, are they not born in the present day also ? — unless,
perchance, Jupiter has already grown old, and child-bearing
has failed in Juno, and Minerva has grown grey before she
has borne children. Or has that process of generation ceased,
for the reason that no assent is any longer yielded to fables
of this kind ? Besides, if the gods could create,^ they could
not perish : we should have more gods than all men together ;
so that now, neither w^ould the heaven contain them, nor the
air receive them, nor the earth bear them. Whence it is
manifest, that those w^ere men whom we both read of as
having been born, and know to have died. Who therefore
doubts that the common people pray to and publicly worship
the consecrated images of these men ; in that the belief and
mind of the ignorant is deceived by the perfection of art, is
blinded by the glitter of gold, is dimmed with the shining of
silver and the whiteness of ivory ? But if any one were to
^ " Be created " is a more probable reading.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 489
present to his mind with what instruments and with what
machinery every image is formed, he woukl blush that he
had feared matter, treated after his fancy by the artificer to
make a god.^ For a god of wood, a portion perhaps of a pile,
or of an unlucky log, is hung up, is cut, is hewn, is planed ;
and a god of brass or of silver, often from an impure vessel,
as was done by the Egyptian king, is fused, is beaten with
hammers and forged on anvils ; and the god of stone is cut,
is sculptured, and is polished by some abandoned man, nor
feels the injury done to him in his nativity, any more than
afterwards it feels the worship flowing from your veneration ;
unless perhaps the stone, or the wood, or the silver is not
yet a god. When, therefore, does the god begin his exist-
ence ? Lo, it is melted, it is wrought, it is sculptured — it is
not yet a god ; lo, it is soldered, it is built together — it is set
up, and even yet it is not a god ; lo, it is adorned, it is con-
secrated, it is prayed to — then at length it is a god, when
man has chosen it to be so, and has dedicated it [for the
purpose].
CHAPTER XXIY.
Argument. — He briefly sJwivSy moreover , ivhat ridiculous^
obscene, and cruel rites ivere observed in celebrating the
mysteries of certain gods.
^' How much more truly do dumb animals naturally judge
concerning your gods ? Mice, swallows, kites, know that
they have no feeling : they gnaw them, they trample on
them, they sit upon them; and unless you drive them off,
they build their nests in the very mouth of your god.
Spiders, indeed, weave their webs over his face, and suspend
their threads from his very head. You wipe, cleanse, scrape,
and you protect and fear those whom you make ; while not one
of you tli'nks that he ought to know God before he worships
1 Otherwise, " that he had rashly been so deceived by the artificer in
the material, as to make a god."
490 THE OCTAVIUS OF
Him ; desiring without consideration to obey their ancestors,
choosing rather to become an addition to the error of others,
than to trust themselves ; in that they know nothing of what
they fear. Thus avarice has been consecrated in gold and
silver ; thus the form of empty statues has been established ;
thus has arisen Roman superstition. And if you reconsider
the rites of these gods, how many things are laughable, and
how many also pitiable ! Naked people run about in the raw
winter ; some walk bonneted, and carry around old bucklers,
or beat drums, or lead their gods a-begging through the
streets. Some fanes it is permitted to approach once a year,
some it is forbidden to visit at all. There is one place where
a man may not go, and there are some that are sacred from
women : it is a crime needing atonement for a slave even to be
present at some ceremonies. Some sacred places are crowned
by a woman having one husband, some by a woman with
many ; and she who can reckon up most adulteries is sought
after with most religious zeal. What! would not a man who
makes libations of his own blood, and supphcates [his God]
by his own wounds, be better if he were altogether pro-
fane, than religious in such a way as this ? And he whose
shameful parts are cut off, how greatly does he wrong God
in seeking to propitiate Him in this manner ! since, if God
wished for eunuchs. He could bring them as such into exist-
ence, and would not make them so afterwards. Who does
not perceive that people of unsound mind, and of weak and
degraded apprehension, are foolish in these things, and that
the very multitude of those who err affords to each of them
mutual patronage ? Here the defence of the general mad-
ness is the multitude of the mad people.
CHAPTER XXV.
Argument. — TJien he sJwivs that Ccecilms had been ivrong in
asserting that the Romans had gained theu' power over the
whole ivorld by means of the due observance of supersti-
tions of this kind. Bather the Romans in their origin
Jim^UCIUS FELIX. 491
were collected by crime, and grew by the terrors of their
ferocity. And therefore the Romans were not so great
because they ivere religious, but because they ivere sacri-
legious ivith impunity,
"Nevertheless, you will say that that very superstition itself
gave, increased, and established their empire for the Romans,
since they prevailed not so much by their valour as by their
religion and piety. Doubtless the illustrious and noble justice
of the Eomans had its beginning from the very cradle of the
growing empire. Did they not in their origin, when gathered
together and fortified by crime, grow by the terror of their
own fierceness ? For the first people were assembled together
as to an asylum. Abandoned people, profligate, incestuous,
assassins, traitors, had flocked together; and in order that
Romulus himself, their commander and governor, might excel
his people in guilt, he committed fatricide.^ These are the
first auspices of the religious state ! By and by they carried off,
violated, and ruined foreign virgins, already betrothed, already
destined for husbands, and even some young women from
their marriage vows — a thing unexampled^ — and then engaged
in war with their parents, that is, with their fathers-in-law,
and shed the blood of their kindred. What more irreligious,
what more audacious, what could be safer than the very con-
fidence of crime ? Now, to drive their neighbours from the
land, to overthrow the nearest cities, with their temples and
altars, to drive them into captivity, to grow up by the losses
of others and by their own crimes, is the course of training
common to the rest of the kings and the latest leaders with
Romulus. Thus, whatever the Romans hold, cultivate, possess,
is the spoil of their audacity. All their temples are built
from the spoils of violence, that is, from the ruins of cities,
from the spoils of the gods, from the murders of priests. This
is to insult and scorn, to yield to conquered religions, to adore
them when captive, after having vanquished them. For to
adore what you have taken by force, is to consecrate sacrilege,
not divinities. As often, therefore, as the Romans triumphed
^ Parricidium. 2 Yipg. jEneid, viii. C35.
492 THE OCTAVIUS OF
so often they were polluted ; and as many trophies as they
gained from the nations, so many spoils did they take from
the gods. Therefore the Romans were not so great because
they were religious, but because they were sacrilegious with
impunity. For neither were they able in the wars themselves
to have the help of the gods against whom they took up
arms ; and they began to worship those when they were
triumphed over, whom they had previously challenged. But
what avail such gods as those on behalf of the Romans, wlio
had had no power on behalf of their own worshippers against
the Roman arms ? For we know the indigenous gods of the
Romans — Romulus, Picus, Tiberinus, and Census, and Pilum-
nus, and Picumnus. Tatius both discovered and worshipped
Cloacina ; Plostilius, Fear and Pallor. Subsequently Fever
was dedicated by I know not whom : such was the superstition
that nourished that city, — diseases and ill states of health.
Assuredly also Acca, Laurentia, and Flora, infamous harlots,
must be reckoned among the diseases ^ and the gods of the
Romans. Such as these doubtless enlarged the dominion of
the Romans, in opposition to others who were worshipped by
the nations : for against their own people neither did the
Thracian Mars, nor the Cretan Jupiter, nor Juno, now of
Argos, now of Samos, now of Carthage, nor Diana of Tauris,
nor the Idsean mother, nor those Egyptian — not deities,
but monstrosities — assist them ; unless perchance among the
Romans the chastity of virgins was greater, or the religion
of the priests more holy : though absolutely among very
many of the virgins unchastity was punished, in that they,
doubtless without the knowledge of Vesta, had intercourse
too carelessly with men ; and for the rest their impunity arose
not from the better protection of their chastity, but from the
better fortune of their immodesty. And where are adul-
teries better arranged by the priests than among the very
altars and shrines'? where are more panderings debated, or
more acts of violence concerted ? Finally, burning lust is
more frequently gratified in the little chambers of the keepers
of the temple, than in the brothels themselves. And still, long
^ Some read "probra" for "morbos," soil, "reproaches."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 493
before tlie Romans, by tlie ordering of God, the Assyrians
held dominion, the Medes, the Persians, the Greeks also, and
the Egyptians, although they had not any Pontiffs, nor
Arvales, nor Salii, nor Vestals, nor Augurs, nor chickens
shut up in a coop, by whose feeding or abstinence the
highest concerns of the state were to be governed.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Argument. — The weapon that Ccecilius had slightly brandished
against hirn, taken from the auspices and auguries of hirds^
Ootavius retorts by instancing the cases of BegiduSy Man-
cinuSj Paulus, and Ccesar. And he shoivs by other ex-
amples^ that the argument from the oracles is of no greater
force than the others,
^^ And now I come to those Roman auspices and auguries
which you have collected with extreme pains, and have borne
testimony that they were both neglected with ill consequences,
and observed with good fortune. Certainly Clodius, and
Flaminius, and Junius lost their armies on this account,
because they did not judge it well to wait for the very solemn
omen given by the greedy pecking of the chickens. But
what of Regulus? Did he not observe the auguries, and
was taken captive ? Mancinus maintained his religious duty,
and was sent under the yoke, and was given up. Paulus
also had greedy chickens at Cannce, yet he was overthrown
with the greater part of the republic.^ Caius Csesar despised
the auguries and auspices that resisted his making his voyage
into Africa before the winter, and thus the more easily he
both sailed and conquered. But what and how much shall
I go on to say about oracles ? After his death Amphiariius
answered as to thino-s to come, thouo-h he knew not fwhile
living] that he should be betrayed by his wife on account of
^ Reipublicse ; but it is shrewdly conjectured that the passage was
written, "cum majore K. P. parte" — "with the greater part of the
Eoman people," and the mistake made by the transcriber of the MS.
494 THE OCTAVIUS OF
a bracelet. The blind Tiresias saw the future, although he
did not see the present. Ennius invented the replies of the
Pythian Apollo concerning Pyrrhus, although Apollo had
already ceased to make verses ; and that cautious and ambi-
guous oracle of his, failed just at the time when men began to
be at once more cultivated and less credulous. And Demos-
thenes, because he knew that the answers were feigned, com-
plained that the Vythm philippized. But sometimes, it is true,
even auspices or oracles have touched the truth. Although
among many falsehoods chance might appear as if it imitated
forethought ; yet I will approach the very source of error and
perverseness, whence all that obscurity has flowed, and both
dig into it more deeply, and lay it open more manifestly.
There are some insincere and vagrant spirits degraded from
their heavenly vigour by earthly stains and lusts. Now these
spirits, after having lost the simplicity of their nature by being
weighed down and immersed in vices, for a solace of their cala-
mity, cease not, now that they are ruined themselves, to ruin
others : and being depraved themselves, to infuse into others
the error of their depravity ; and being themselves alienated
from God, to separate others from God by the introduction
of degraded superstitions. The poets know that those spirits
are demons ; the philosophers discourse of them ; Socrates
knew it, who, at the nod and decision of a demon that was
at his side, either declined or undertook affairs. The Magi,
also, not only know that there are demons, but, moreover,
whatever miracle they affect to perform, do it by means of
demons ; by their aspirations and communications they show
their wondrous tricks, making either those things appear
which are not, or those things not to appear which are.
Of those magicians, the first both in eloquence and in deed,
Sosthenes,^ not only describes the true God with fitting
majesty, but the angels that are the ministers and messengers
of God, even the true God. And he knew that it enhanced
His veneration, that in awe of the very nod and glance of
their Lord they should tremble. The same man also declared
that demons were earthly, wandering, hostile to humanity.
^ Otherwise Hostanes.
MINUCIUS FELIX, 495
What said Plato, who believed that it was a hard thino- to
find out God ? Does not he also, without hesitation, tell of
both angels and demons ? And in his Si/mjwsium also, does
not he endeavour to explain the nature of demons ? For he
will have it to be a substance between mortal and immortal
— that is, mediate between body and spirit, compounded by
a mingling of earthly weight and heavenly lightness ; whence
also he warns us of the desire of love,^ and he says that it is
moulded and glides into the human breast, and stirs the
senses, and moulds the affections, and infuses the ardour of
lust.
CHAPTEK XXVII.
Akgument. — To conjiimi what he has said, he goes over the
ground again from its first beginning. Doubtless here is a
source of error : demons lurh under the statues and images,
they haunt the fanes, they animate the fibres of the entrails,
direct the flights of birds, govern the lots, pour forth oracles
involved in false responses. Nevertheless these thi7igs are
not from God ; hut they are constrained to confess that
they are made by themselves, when they are adjured by
Christians in the name of the true God, and are driven
from the possessed bodies. Hence they flee hastily from
the neighbourhood of Christians, and stir up such a hatred
against them in the minds of the Gentiles, that they begin
to hate them before they know them, lest they may be able
to imitate them if known, or should be unable to condemn
them.
" These impure spirits, therefore — the demons — as is shown
by the Magi, by the philosophers, and by Plato, consecrated
under statues and images, lurk there, and by their afflatus
attain the authority as of a present deity ; while in the mean-
time they are breathed into the prophets, while they dwell in
^ According to some editors, " -vvariis us that the desii-e of love is
received."
496 THE OCTAVIUS OF
the shrines, while sometimes they animate the fibres of the
entrails, control the flights of birds, direct the lots, are the
cause of oracles involved in many falsehoods. For they are
both deceived, and they deceive ; inasmuch as they are both
ignorant of the simple truth, and for their own rain they
confess not that which they know. Thus they weigh men
downwards from heaven, and call them away from the true
God to material things : they disturb the life, render all men^
unquiet ; creeping also secretly into human bodies, with sub-
tlety, as being spirits, they feign diseases, alarm the minds,
wrench about the limbs ; that they may constrain men to
worship them, that, being gorged with the fumes of altars
or the sacrifices of cattle, by remitting what they had bound,
they may seem to have cured it. These raging maniacs also,
whom you see rush about in public, are moreover themselves
prophets without a temple ; thus they rage, thus they rave,
thus they are whirled around. In them also there is a like
insticration of the demon, but there is a dissimilar occasion
for their madness. From the same causes also arise those
things which were spoken of a little time ago by you, that
Jupiter demanded the restoration of his games in a dream,
that the Castors appeared with horses, and that a small ship
was following the leading of the matron's girdle. A great
many, even some of your own people, know all those things
that the demons themselves confess concerning themselves,
as often as they are driven by us from bodies by the tor-
ments of our Avords and by the fires of our prayers. Saturn
himself, and Serapis, and Jupiter, and wdiatever demons you
worship, overcome by pain, speak out what they are ; and
assuredly they do not lie to their own discredit, especially
when any of you are standing by. Since they themselves
are the witnesses that they are demons, believe them when
they confess the truth of themselves ; for when adjured by
the only and true God, unwillingly the wretched beings
shudder in^ their bodies, and either at once leap forth, or
vanish by degrees, as the faith of the sufferer assists or the
1 Some read " slumbers*' for " all men."
2 " Cliiii? to " is another reading.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 497
grace of the healer inspires. Thus they fly from Christians
when near at hand, whom at a distance they harassed by
your means in their assemblies. And thus, introduced into
the minds of the ignorant, they secretly sow there a hatred
of us by means of fear. For it is natural both to hate one
whom you fear, and to injure one whom you have feared,
if you can. Thus they take possession of the minds and
obstruct the hearts, that men may begin to hate us before
they know us ; lest, if known, they should either imitate us,
or not be able to condemn us.
CHAPTER XXVIIL
Argu3IEXt. — Nor is it only hatred that they arouse against
the Christians, hut they charge against them horrid crimes,
ichich up to this time have been j^roved hy nobody. This
is the work of demons. For by them a false report is
both set on foot and propagated. Most triumpliaiitly,
Octavius proves that the Christians are falsely accused of
sacrilege, of incest, of adultery, of parricide; and, moreover,
that it is certain and true that the very same crimes, or
crimes like to or greater than these, are in fact committed
hy the Gentiles themselves,
" But how unjust it is,^ to form a judgment on things un-
known and unexamined, as you do ! Believe us ourselves
when penitent, for we also were the same as yon, and formerly,
while yet blind and obtuse, thought the same things as you ;
to wit, that tlie Christians worshipped monsters, devoured
infants, mingled in incestuous banquets. And we did not
perceive that such fables as these were always set afloat by
those [newsmongers], and were never either inquired into
nor proved ; and tliat in so long a time no one had appeared
to betray [their doings], to obtain not only pardon for their
crime, but also favour for its discovery : moreover, that it
was to this extent not evil, that a Christian, when accused,
1 Otherwise read, " But how great a fault it is."
CYr. — VOL. II. 2 I
498 THE OCTAVIUS OF
neither blushed nor feared, and that he only repented that he
had not been one before. We, however, when we undertook to
defend and protect some sacrilegious and incestuous persons,
and even parricides, did not think that these [sc. Christians]
were to be heard at all. Sometimes even, when we affected to
pity them, we were more cruelly violent against them, so as
to torture them ^ when they confessed, that they might deny,
to wit, that they might not perish ; making use of a perverse
inquisition against them, not to elicit the truth, but to compel
a falsehood. And if any one, by reason of greater weakness,
overcome with suffering, and conquered, should deny that he
was a Christian, we showed favour to him, as if by forswear-
ing that name he had at once atoned for all his deeds by that
simple denial. Do not you acknowledge that we felt and did
the same as you feel and do ? when, if reason and not the insti-
gation of a demon were to judge, they should rather have been
pressed not to disavow themselves Christians, but to confess
themselves guilty of incests, of abominations, of sacred rites
polluted, of infants immolated. For with these and such as
these stories, did those same demons fill up the ears of the
ignorant against us, to the horror of their execration. Nor
yet was it wonderful, since the common report of men,^ which
is always fed by the scattering of falsehoods, is wasted away
when the truth is brought to light. Thus this is the business
of demons, for by them false rumours are both sown and
cherished. Thence arises what you say that you hear, that an
ass's head is esteemed among us as a divine thing. Wlio is such
a fool as to worsliip this ? Who is so much more foolish as to
believe that it is an object of worship ? unless that you even
consecrate whole asses in your stables, together with your
Epona,^ and religiously devour^ those same asses with Isis.
Also you offer up and worship the heads of oxen and of
wethers, and you dedicate gods mingled also of a goat and
a man, and gods witli the faces of dogs and lions. Do you
not adore and feed Apis the ox, with the Egyptians ? And
1 " To urge them " is the reading in some texts.
2 " Of all men" is another reading. ^ Otherwise, " Hippona."
* Otherwise, " devote," and other readings.
MINUCIUS FELIX. 499
you do not condemn tlicir sacred rites instituted in honour
of serpents, and crocodiles, and other beasts, and birds, and
fishes, of which if any one were to kill one of these gods, he
is even punished with death. These same Egyptians, to-
gether with very many of you, are not more afraid of Isis
than they are of the pungency of onions, nor of Serapis
more than they tremble at the basest noises produced by
the foulness of their bodies. He also who fables against us
about our adoration of the secret parts of the priest, tries to
confer upon us what belongs really to himself. [Ista enim
impudiciti33 eorum forsitan sacra sint, apud quos sexus omnis
membris omnibus prostat, apud quos tota impudicitia vocatur
urbanitas ; qui scortorum licentijB invident, qui medios viros
lambunt, libidinoso ore inguinibus inhaerescunt, homines
maljB linguse etiam si tacerent, quos prius taBdescit impudi-
citioe sua3 quam pudescit.] Abomination ! they suffer on
themselves such evil deeds, as no age is so effeminate as to
be able to bear, and no slavery so cruel as to be compelled to
endure.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Argument. — Nor is it more true that a man fastened to a
cross on account of his crimes is worshipped hy Christians^
for they believe not only that He was innocent, hut with
reason that He ivas God, But, on the other hand, the
heathens invoke the divine powers of kings raised into gods
hy themselves ; they pray to images, and heseech their genii.
" These, and such as these infamous things, we are not at
liberty even to hear ; it is even disgraceful with any more
words to defend ourselves from such charges. For you pre-
tend that those things are done b}^ chaste and modest persons,
which we should not believe to be done at all, unless you
proved that they were true concerning yourselves. For in
that you attribute to our religion the worship of a criminal
and his cross, you wander far from the neighbourhood of the
500 THE OCTAVIUS OF
truth, in thinking either that a criminal deserved, or that an
earthly being was able, to be believed God. Miserable in-
deed is that man whose whole hope is dependent on mortal
man, for all his help is put an end to with the extinction of
the man. The Egyptians certainly choose out a man for
themselves whom they may worship ; him alone they propi-
tiate; him they consult about all things; to him they slaughter
victims ; and he who to others is a god, to himself is certainly
a man whether he will or no, for he does not deceive his own
consciousness if he deceives that of others. Moreover, a
false flattery disgracefully caresses princes and kings, not
as great and chosen men, as is just, but as gods ; whereas
honour is more truly rendered to an illustrious man, and
love is more pleasantly given to a very good man. Thus
they invoke their deity, they supplicate their images, they
implore their Genius, that is, their demon ; and it is safer to
swear falsely by the genius of Jupiter than by that of a
king. Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for.
You, indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden
crosses perhaps as parts of your gods. For your very stan-
dards, as well as your banners, and flags of your camp, what
else are they but crosses gilded and adorned ? Your victo-
rious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple
cross, but also that of a man affixed to it. We assuredly see
the sign of a cross naturally, in the ship when it is carried
along with swelling sails, when it glides forward with ex-
panded oars ; and when the military yoke is lifted up, it is
the slo-n of a cross ; and when a man adores God with a
pure mind, with hands outstretched. Thus the sign of the
cross either is sustained by a natural reason, or your own
religion is formed with respect to it.
CHAPTER XXX.
Argument. — Octavius sJiows ^^Zam/y that the story aJjout
Christians drinking the blood of an infant that they have
murderedj is a most barefaced calumny. But the Gentiles,
MINUCIUS FELIX. 501
he says, loth cmelly expose their children newly horn, and
before they are horn destroy them hy a cruel ahortion.
Cliristians are neither alloived to see nor to hear of man-
slaughter.
" And now I sliould wish to meet him who says or believes
tliat we are initiated by the sLanghter and blood of an infant.
Think you that it can be possible for so tender, so little a
body to receive those fatal wounds ; for any one to shed,
pour forth, and drain that new blood of a youngling, and of
a man scarcely come into existence ? No one can believe this,
except one who can dare to do it. And I see that you at one
time expose your begotten children to wild beasts and to birds;
at another, that you crush them when strangled with a miser-
able kind of death. There are some women who, by drink-
ing medical preparations,^ extinguish the source of the future
man in their very bowels, and thus commit a parricide before
they bring forth. And these things assuredly come down
from the teaching of your gods. For Saturn did not expose
his children, but devoured them. . With reason were infants
sacrificed to him by parents in some parts of Africa, caresses
and kisses repressing their crying, that a weeping victim
might not be sacrificed. Moreover, among the Tauri of
Pontus, and to the Egyptian Busiris, it was a sacred rite
to immolate their guests, and for the Galli to slaughter to
Mercury human, or rather inhuman, sacrifices. The Roman
sacrificers buried living a Greek man and a Greek woman,
a Gallic man and a Gallic woman ; and to this day, Latiaris
Jupiter is worshipped by them with murder ; and, what is
worthy of the son of Saturn, he is gorged with the blood of
an evil and criminal man. I believe that he himself taiiMit
Catiline to conspire under a compact of blood, and Bellona
to steep her sacred rites with a draught of human gore, and
taught men to heal epilepsy with the blood of a man, that is,
with a worse disease. They also are not unlike to him who
devour the wild beasts from the arena, besmeared and stained
with blood, or fattened with the limbs or the entrails of men.
^ By medicaments and drinks.
502 THE OCTAVIUS OF
To Tis it is not lawful either to see or to hear of homicide ;
and so much do we shrink from human blood, that we do not
use the blood even of eatable animals in our food.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Argument. — The cliarge of our entertainments heing polluted
with incest, which is objected to Christians, is entirely
opposed to all prohahility, ivhile it is plain that Gentiles
are actually guilty of incest. The banquets of Christians
are not only modest, but temperate. In fact, incestuous
lust is so unheard of, that ivith many even the modest asso-
ciation of the sexes gives rise to a blush.
" And of the incestuous banqueting, the plotting of demons
has falsely devised an enormous fable against us, to stain the
glory of our modesty, by the loathing excited by an outrageous
infamy, that before inquiring into the truth it might turn men
away from us by the terror of an abominable charge. It was
thus your own Fronto acted in this respect : he did not pro-
duce testimony, as one who alleged a charge, but he scattered
reproaches as a rhetorician. For these things have rather
originated from your own nations. Among the Persians, a
promiscuous association between sons and mothers is allowed.
Marriages with sisters are legitimate among the Egyptians and
in Athens. Your records and your tragedies, which you both
read and hear with pleasure, glory in incests : thus also you
worship incestuous gods, who have intercourse with mothers,
with daughters, with sisters. With reason, therefore, is
incest frequently detected among you, and is continually
permitted. Miserable men, you may even, without knowing
it, rush into what is unlawful : since you scatter your lusts
promiscuously, since you everywhere beget children, since
you frequently expose even those who are born at home to
the mercy of others, it is inevitable that you must come back
to your own children, and stray to your own offspring. Thus
you continue the story of incest, even although you have no
MINUCIUS FELIX. 503
consciousness of your crime. But we maintain our modesty
not in appearance, but in our heart we gladly abide by the
bond of a single marriage ; in the desire of procreating, we
know either one wife, or none at all. We practise sharing
in banquets, which are not only modest, but also sober : for
we do not indulge in entertainments nor prolong our feasts
with wine ; but we temper our joyousness with gravity, with
chaste discourse, and with body even more chaste — several
of us unviolated ; enjoy rather than make a boast of a per-
petual virginity of body. So far, in fact, are they from
indulging in incestuous desire, that with some even the
modest intercourse of the sexes causes a blush. Neither do
we at once stand on the level of the lowest of the people, if
we refuse your honours and purple robes ; and we are not
fastidious, if we all have a discernment of one good, but are
assembled together with the same quietness with which we
live as individuals; and we are not garrulous in corners,
although you either blush or are afraid to hear us in public.
And that day by day the number of us is increased, is not a
ground for a charge of error, but is a testimony which claims
praise ; for, in a fair mode of life, our actual number both
continues and abides undiminished, and Strangers increase it.
Thus, in short, Ave do not distinguish our people by some
small bodily mark, as you suppose, but easily enough by the
sign of innocency and modesty. Thus we love one another,
to your regret, with a mutual love, because we do not know
how to hate. Thus we call one another, to your envy,
brethren, as being men born of one God and Parent, and
companions in faith, and as fellow-heirs in hope. You, how-
ever, do not recognise one another, and you are cruel in your
mutual hatreds ; nor do you acknowledge one another as
brethren, unless indeed for the purpose of fratricide.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Argument. — Nor can it he said that the Christians conceal
what they ivorship because they have no temj^les and no
504 THE OCTAVIUS OF
altars^ inasmuch as they are persuaded that God can he
circumscribed by no temple^ and that no likeness of Him
can he made. But He is everyivhere jyresent, sees all
things, even the most secret thoughts of our heart; and ice
live near to Him, and in His protection.
" But do you think that we conceal what we worship, if we
have not temples and altars ? And yet what image of God
shall I make, since, if you think rightly, man himself is the
image of God ? What temple shall I build to Him, when
this whole world fashioned by His work cannot receive Him ?
And when I, a man, dwell far and wide, shall I shut up the
might of so great majesty within one little building ? Were
it not better that He should be dedicated in our mind, con-
secrated in our inmost heart? Shall I offer victims and
sacrifices to the Lord, such as He has produced for my use,
that I should throw back to Him His own gift ? It is un-
grateful Avhen the victim fit for sacrifice is a good disposition,
and a pure mind, and a sincere judgment.-^ Therefore he
who cultivates innocence supplicates God ; he who cultivates
justice makes offerings to God ; he who abstains from fraudu-
lent practices propitiates God ; he who snatches man from
danger slaughters the most acceptable victim. These are
our sacrifices, these are our rites of God's worship; thus,
among us, he who is most just is he who is most religious.
But certainly the God whom we worship we neither show
nor see. Verily for this reason we believe Him to be God,
that we can be conscious of Him, but cannot see Him ; for
in His works, and in all the movements of the world, we
behold His power ever present when He thunders, lightens,
darts His bolts, or when He makes all bright again. Nor
should you wonder if you do not see God. By the wind and
by the blasts of the storm all things are driven on and
shaken, are agitated, and yet neither wind nor tempest comes
under our eyesight. Thus we cannot look upon the sun,
which is the cause of seeing to all creatures : the pupil of
the eye is withdrawn from his rays, the gaze of the beholder
^ According to some editions, "conscience."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 505
is dimmed ; and if you look too long, all power of sight is
extinguished. What ! can you sustain the Architect of the
sun Himself, the very source of light, when you turn your-
self away from His lightnings, and hide yourself from His
thunderholts ? Do you wish to see God with your carnal
eyes, when you are neither able to behold nor to grasp your
own soul itself, by which you are enlivened and speak ? But,
moreover, it is said that God is ignorant of man's doings ; and
being established in heaven. He can neither survey all nor
know individuals. Thou errest, O man, and art deceived;
for from where is God afar off, when all things heavenly and
earthly, and which are beyond this province of the universe,
are known to God, are full of God ? Everywhere He is not
only very near to us, but He is infused into us. Therefore
once more look upon the sun : it is fixed fast in the heaven, yet
it is diffused over all lands equally ; present everywhere, it is
associated and mingled with all things ; its brightness is never
violated. How much more God, who has made all things,
and looks upon all things, from whom there can be nothing
secret, is present in the darkness, is present in our thoughts,
as if in the deep darkness. Not only do we act in Him, but
alsOj I had almost said, w^e live with Him.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Argument. — That even if God he said to have nothing availed
the Jeios^ certainly the writers of the Jewish annals are the
most sufficient witnesses that tlieij forsook God before they
IV ere forsaken hy Him,
" Neither let us flatter ourselves concerning our multitude.
We seem many to ourselves, but to God we are very few.
We distinguish peoples and nations ; to God this whole world
is one family. Kings only know all the matters of their
kingdom by the ministrations of their servants ; God has no
need of information. We not only live in His eyes, but also
in His bosom. But [it is objected] that it availed the Jews
506 THE OCTAVIUS OF
nothing that they themselves worshipped the one God with
altars and temples, with the greatest superstition. You are
guilty of ignorance if you are recalling later events while
you are forgetful or unconscious of former ones. For they
themselves also, as long as they worshipped our God — and
He is the same God of all — with chastity, innocency, and
religion, as long as they obeyed His wholesome precepts, from
a few became innumerable, from poor became rich, from
being servants became kings ; a few overwhelmed many ; un-
armed men overwhelmed armed ones as they fled from them,
following them up by God's command, and with the elements
striving on their behalf. Carefully read over their Scrip-
tures, or if you are better pleased with the Roman writings,
inquire concerning the Jews in the books (to say nothing
of ancient documents) of Flavins Josephus or Antoninus
Julianus, and you shall know that by their wickedness they
deserved this fortune, and that nothing happened which had
not before been predicted to them, if they should persevere
in tlieir obstinacy. Therefore you will understand that they
forsook before they were forsaken, and that they were not,
as you impiously say, taken captive with their God, but they
were given up by God as deserters from His discipline.
CHAPTER XXXIY.
Argument. — Moreover, it is not at all to he wondered at if
this ivorld be at length to he consumed hy fire, since every-
thing which has a beginning has also an end. And the
ancient philosophers are not averse from the opinion of the
probable burning up) of the ivorld. Yet it is evident that
God having made man from nothing, can raise him up
from death into life. And all nature suggests a future
resurrection.
" Further, in respect of the burning up of the world, it is
a vulgar error not to believe either that fire will fall upon it
in an unforeseen way, or that the world will be destroyed
MINUCIUS FELIX. 507
by it.^ For who of wise men doiibtSj who is ignorant, that all
things which have had a beginning perish, all things wliicli
are made come to an end ? The heaven also, with all things
which are contained in heaven, will cease even as it beo-an.
The nourishment of the seas by the sweet waters of the
springs shall pass away into the power of fire.^ The Stoics
have a constant belief that, the moisture being dried up, all
this world will take fire ; and the Epicureans have the very
same opinion concerning the conflagration of the elements
and the destruction of the world. Plato speaks, saying that
parts of the world are now inundated, and are now burnt up
by alternate changes ; and although he says that the world
itself is constructed perpetual and indissoluble, yet he adds
that to God Himself, the only artificer,^ it is both dissoluble and
mortal. Thus it is no wonder if that mass be destroyed by
Him by wdiom it was reared. You observe that philosophers
dispute of the same things that we are saying, not that we
are following up their tracks, but that they, from the divine
announcements of the prophets, imitated the shadow of the
corrupted truth. Thus also the most illustrious of the wise
men, Pythagoras first, and Plato chiefly, have delivered the
doctrine of resurrection with a corrupt and divided faitli ;
for they will have it, that the bodies being dissolved, the
souls alone both abide for ever, and very often pass into
other new bodies. To these things they add also this, by
way of misrepresenting the truth, that the souls of men
return into cattle, birds, and beasts. Assuredly such an
opinion as that is not worthy of a philosopher's inquiry, but
of the ribaldry of a buffoon."* But for our argument it is
sufficient, that even in this your wise men do in some measure
harmonize with us. But who is so foolish or so brutish as to
^ This passage is very indefinite, and probably corrupt ; the meaning
is anything but satisfactory. The general meaning is given freely thus :
" Further, it is a vulgar error to doubt or disbelieve a future conflagra-
tion of the world."
2 This passage is very variously read, without substantial alteration of
the sense.
^ Otherwise, " to God Himself alone, the artificer."
* This is otherwise read, " the work of the mimic or buflfoon."
508 THE OCTAVIUS OF
dare to deny that man, as he could first of all be formed by
God, so can agam be re-formed; that he is nothing after
death, and that he was nothing before he began to exist; and
as from nothing it was possible for him to be born, so from
nothing it may be possible for him to be restored? Moreover,
it is more difficult to begin that which is not, than to repeat
that which has been. Do you think that, if anything is
withdrawn from our feeble eyes, it perishes to God? Every
body, whether it is dried up into dust, or is dissolved into
moisture, or is compressed into ashes, or is attenuated into
smoke, is withdrawn from us, but it is reserved for God in
the custody of the elements. Nor, as you believe, do we
fear any loss from sepulture,^ but we adopt the ancient and
better custom of burying in the earth. See, therefore, how
for our consolation all nature suggests a future resurrection.
The sun sinks down and arises, the stars pass away and
return, the flowers die and revive again, after their wintry
decay the shrubs resume their leaves, seeds do not floui'ish
again unless they are rotted : thus the body in the sepulchre
is like the trees which in winter hide their verdure with a
deceptive dryness. Why are you in haste for it to revive and
return, while the winter is still raw? We must wait also
for the spring-time of the body. And I am not ignorant that
many, in the consciousness of what they deserve, rather desire
than believe that they shall be nothing after death ; for they
would prefer to be altogether extinguished, rather than to
be restored for the purpose of punishment. And their error
also is enhanced, both by the liberty granted them in this life,
and by God's very great patience, whose judgment, the more
tardy it is, is so much the more just.
CHAPTEE XXXV.
Argument. — Octavius i^roceeds to sJioiu that rigJiteoiis and
pious men shall he reicarded icith never-ending felicity , hnt
that wirighteous men shall he visited ivith eternal punish-
^ Sell. " by burning."
MINUCIUS FELIX, 509
ment Then he thoroughly demonstrates that the morals
of Christians are far more hohj than those of the Gentiles.
" And yet men are admonished in the books and poems of tlie
most learned poets of that fiery river, and of the heat flowing
in manifold turns from the Stygian marsh, — things which,
prepared for eternal torments, and known to them by the
information of demons and from the oracles of their prophets,
they have delivered to us. And therefore among them also
even king Jupiter himself swears religiously by the parching
banks and the black abyss ; for, w4th foreknowledge of the
punishment destined to him, with his worshippers, he shudders.
Nor is there either measm-e or termination to these torments.
There the intelligent fire ^ burns the limbs and restores them,
feeds on them and nourishes them. As the fires of the
thunderbolts strike upon the bodies, and do not consume
them ; as the fires of Mount Etna and of Mount Vesuvius,
and of burning lands everywhere, glow, but are not wasted ;
so that penal fire is not fed by the waste of those wdio burn,
but is nourished by the unexhausted eating aw^ay of their
bodies. But that they who know not God are deservedly
tormented as impious, as unrighteous persons, no one except
a profane man hesitates to believe, since it is not less wicked
to be ignorant of, than to offend the Parent of all, and the
Lord of all. And althouo-h imiorance of God is sufficient
for punishment, even as knowledge of Him is of avail for
pardon, yet if we Christians be compared with you, although
in some things our discipline is inferior, yet we shall be found
much better than you. For you forbid, and yet commit, adul-
teries ; we are born " men only for our own wives : you punish
crimes wdien committed ; wdtli us, even to think of crimes is
to sin : you are afraid of those who are aware of what you
do ; we are even afraid of our own conscience alone, witliout
which we cannot exist : finally, from your numbers the prison
^ rrvp aaippo'jovv is an expression of Clemens Alexandrinus, so that
there is no need for the emendation of " rapiens" instead of " sapiens,"
that is suggested by one editor.
2 ' ' Are known as " is another reading.
510 THE OCTAVIUS OF
boils over ; but there is no Christian there, unless he is accused
on account of his religion, or a deserter.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Argument. — And he teaches with no less clearness that fate
is nothing, except so far as FATE is GoD. Mans 7nind
is free, and therefore so is his action : his birth is not
brought into judgment. Afterwards he makes it ve7y
evident that it is not a matter of infamy, but of glory, that
Christians are reproached for their poverty ; and the fact
that they suffer bodily evils is not as a penalty, but as a
discipline,
" Neither let any one either take comfort from, or apologize
for what happens from fate. Let what happens be of the dis-
position of fortune, yet the mind is free ; and therefore man's
doing, not his dignity, is judged. For what else is fate than
what God has spoken \_fatus'\ of each one of us ? who, since
He can foresee our constitution, determines also the fates for
us, according to the deserts and the qualities of individuals.
Thus in our case it is not the star under which we are born
that is punished, but the particular nature of our disposition
is blamed. And about fate enough is said ; or if, in conside-
ration of the time, we have spoken too little, we shall argue
the matter at another time more abundantly ^ and more fully.
But that many of us are called poor, this is not our disgrace,
but our glory ; for as our mind is relaxed by luxury, so it is
strengthened by frugality. And yet who can be poor if he
does not want, if he does not crave for the possessions of
others, if he is rich towards God ? He rather is poor, who,
although he has much, desires more. Yet I will speak ^
according as I feel. No one can be so poor as he is born.
Birds live without any patrimony, and day by day the cattle
are fed ; and yet these creatures are born for us — all of which
1 Otherwise read, " both more truly."
2 Some read, " I will speak at length."
MINUCIUS FELIX, 511
things, if we do not lust after, we possess. Therefore, as he
who treads a road is the happier the lighter he walks, so
happier is he in this journey of life who lifts himself along
in poverty, and does not breathe heavily under the burden of
riches. And yet even if we thought w^ealth useful to us, we
should ask it of God. Assuredly He might be able to indulge
us in some measure, whose is the whole ; but we would rather
despise riches than possess them : ^ we desire rather innocency,
we rather entreat for patience, we prefer being good to being
prodigal ; and that we feel and suffer the human mischiefs
of the body is not punishment — it is warfare. For fortitude
is strengthened by infirmities, and calamity is very often the
discipline of virtue ; in addition, strength both of mind and
of body grows torpid without the exercise of labour. There-
fore all your mighty men whom you announce as an example
have flourished illustriously by their afflictions. And thus
God is neither unable to aid us, nor does He despise us, since
He is both the ruler of all men and the lover of His own
people. But in adversity He looks into and searches out each
one ; He weighs the disposition of every individual in dangers,
even to death at last ; He investigates the will of man,
certain that to Him nothing can perish. Therefore, as gold
by the fires, so are we declared by critical moments.
CHAPTER XXXVIL
Argument. — Tortuy^es most unjustly inflicted for the confes-
sion of Chrises name are spectacles worthy of God, A nd
this indeed Octavius most j^lainly showsy by a comparison
instituted between some of the bravest of the heathens and
the holy martyrs. He declares that Christians do not
present themselves at public shows and processionSj because
they know them^ with the greatest certainty, to be no less
impious than cruel.
" How beautiful is the spectacle to God when a Christian
1 Probably a better reading is " strive for tliein."
512 THE OCTAVIUS OF
does battle with pain ; when lie is drawn up against threats,
and punishments, and tortures ; when, mocking ^ the noise of
death, he treads under foot the horror of the executioner ;
when he raises up his liberty against kings and princes, and
yields to God alone, whose he is ; when, triumphant and
victorious, he tramples upon the very man who has pro-
nounced sentence against him ! For he has conquered who
has obtained that for which he contends. What soldier
would not provoke peril with greater boldness under the eyes
of his general? For no one receives a reward before his
trial, and yet the general does not give what he has not : he
cannot preserve life, but he can make the warfare glorious.
But God's soldier is neither forsaken in suffering, nor is
brought to an end by death. Thus the Christian may seem
to be miserable ; he cannot be really found to be so. You
yourselves extol unfortunate men to the skies ; Mucins
Scggvola, for instance, who, when he had failed in his attempt
against the king, would have perished among the enemies
unless he had sacrificed his right hand. And how many of
our people have borne that not their right hand only, but
their whole body, should be burned — burned up without any
cries of pain, especially when they had it in their po^yer to be
sent away ! Do I compare men with Mucins or Aquilius, or
with Regulus ? Yet boys and young women among us treat
with contempt crosses and tortures, wild beasts, and all the
bugbears of punishments, with the inspired ^ patience of suf-
fering. And do you not perceive, O wretched men, that
there is nobody who either is willing without reason to
undergo punishment, or is able without God to bear tor-
tures ? Unless, perhaps, the fact has deceived you, that those
who know not God abound in riches, flourish in honours, and
excel in power. Miserable men ! in this respect they are
lifted up the higher, that they may fall down lower. For
these are fattened as victims for punishment, as sacrifices
1 " Arridens," but otherwise " arripiens," scil. "snatching at," sug-
gesting possibly the idea of the martyrs chiding the delays of the exe-
cutioners, or provoking the rush of the wild beasts.
2 Otherwise, " unhoped-for."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 513
thcj are crowned for the slaughter. Tims in this respect
some are lifted up to empires and dominations, that the un-
restrained exercise of power might make a market of their
spirit to the unbridled licence that is characteristic of a ruined
soul.^ For, apart from the knowledge of God, what solid
happiness can there be, since death must come ? Like a
dream, happiness slips away before it is grasped. Are you a
king ? Yet you fear as much as you are feared ; and however
you may be surrounded with abundant followers, yet you are
alone in the presence of danger. Are you rich ? But fortune
is ill trusted ; and with a large travelling equipage the brief
journey of life is not furnished, but burdened. Do you boast
of the fasces and the magisterial robes ? It is a vain mistake
of man, and an empty worship of dignity, to glitter in purple
and to be sordid in mind. Are you elevated by nobility of
birth ? do you praise your parents ? Yet w^e are all born with
one lot ; it is only by virtue that we are distinguished. We
therefore, wdio are estimated by our character and our modestv,
reasonably abstain from evil pleasures, and from your pomps
and exhibitions, the origin of which in connection with
sacred things we know, and condemn their mischievous en-
ticements. For in the chariot o;ames who does not shudder
at the madness of the people brawling among themselves ?
or at the teaching of murder in the gladiatorial games ? In
the scenic games also the madness is not less, but the de-
bauchery is more prolonged : for now a mimic either expounds
or shows forth adulteries ; now a nerveless player, while he
feigns lust, suggests it ; the same actor disgraces your gods
by attributing to them adulteries, sighs, hatreds; the same
provokes your tears with pretended sufferings, with vain
gestures and expressions. Thus you demand murder, in fact,
while you weep at it in fiction.
1 This passage is peculiar; the original is, "Ut ingenium eornm pcr-
ditre mentis licentire potcstatis liberse nundinentur," with various modi-
fications of reading.
CYr. — VOL. IT. 2 K
514 THE OCTAVIUS OF
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Argument. — Moreover, the Christians abstain from things
connected with idol sacrifices, lest any one shoidd think
either that they yield to demo7is, or that they are ashamed
of their religion. They do not indeed despise all the colour
and scent of flowers, for they are accustomed to use them
scattered about loosely and 7iegligently, as ivell as to entivine
their necks with garlands ; bat to crown the head of a
corpse they think superfluous and useless. Moreover, with
the same tranquillity loith which they live they bury their
dead, waiting ivith a very captain hope the crown of eternal
felicity. Therefore their religion, rejecting all the supersti-
tions of the Gentiles, should be adopted as true by all men.
" But that we despise the leavings of sacrifices^ and the cups
out of which libations have been poured, is not a confession
of fear, but an assertion of our true liberty. For although
nothing which comes into existence as an inviolable gift of
God is corrupted by any agency, yet we abstain, lest any
should think either that we are submitting to demons, to
whom libation has been made, or that we are ashamed of our
religion. But who is he who doubts of our indulging our-
selves in spring flowers, when we gather both the rose of
spring and the lily, and whatever else is of agreeable colour
and odour among the flowers'? For these we both use scattered
loose and free, and we twine our necks with them in garlands.
Pardon us, forsooth, that we do not crown our heads ; we are
accustomed to receive the scent of a sweet flower in our nos-
trils, not to inhale it with the back of our head or with our
hair. Nor do we crown the dead. And in this respect I
the more wonder at you, in the way in which you apply to
a lifeless person, or to one who does not feel, a torch ; or a
garland^ to one who does not smell it, when either as blessed
he does not want, or, being miserable, he has no pleasure in,
^ The probable reading here is, " You apply to a lifeless person, either
if he has feeling, a torch ; or, if he feels not, a garland."
MINUCIUS FELIX. 515
flowers. Still we adorn our obsequies with the same tran-
quilHty with which we live; and we do not bind to us a
withering garland, but we wear one living with eternal
flowers from God, since we, being both moderate and secure
in the liberality of our God, are animated to the hope of future
felicity by the confidence of His present majesty. Thus we
both rise again in blessedness, and are already living in con-
templation of the future. Then let Socrates the Athenian
buffoon see to it, confessing that he knew nothing, although
boastful in tlie testimony of a most deceitful demon ; let
Arcesilaus also, and Carneades, and Pyrrho, and all the mul-
titude of the Academic philosophers, deliberate ; let Simonides
also for ever put off the decision of his opinion. We despise
the bent brows of the philosophers, whom we know to be
corrupters, and adulterers, and tyrants, and ever eloquent
against their own vices. We who^ bear wisdom not in our
dress, but in our mind, we do not speak great things, but we
live them ; we boast that we have attained what they have
sought for with the utmost eagerness, and have not been able
to find. Why are we ungrateful ? why do we grudge if the
truth of divinity has ripened in the age of our time? Let us
enjoy our benefits, and let us in rectitude moderate our judg-
ments; let superstition be restrained; let impiety be expiated;
let true religion be preserved."
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Argument. — When Octavius had finished this address^ Mimi-
cius and Cceciliiis sate for some time in attentive and silent
wonder. And Minucius indeed hept silence in admiration
of Octavius, silently revolving what he had heard.
When Octavius had brought his speech to a close, for some
time Ave were struck into silence, and held our countenances
fixed in attention ; and as for me. I was lost in the greatness
1 "We who do not," etc., is a conjectural reading, omitting the sub-
sequent " we."
516 THE OCTAVIUS OF
of my admiration, that he had so adorned those things which
it is easier to feel than to say, both by arguments and by
examples, and by authorities derived from reading ; and that
he had repelled the malevolent objectors with the very
weapons of the philosophers with which they are armed, and
had moreover shown the truth not only as easy, but also as
agreeable.
CHAPTER XL.
Aegument. — Then Ccecilius exclaims that he is vanquished
hy Octaviiis ; and that, being now conqueror over error,
he professes the Christian religion — postponing, hoicever,
till the morrow a training in the fuller belief of its mys-
teries.
While, therefore, I was silently turning over these things in
my own mind, Csecilius broke forth : " I congratulate as well
my Octavius as myself, as much as possible on that tran-
quillity in which we live, and I do not w^ait for the decision.
Even thus we have conquered : not unjustly do I assume to
myself the victory. For even as he is my conqueror, so I
am triumphant over error. Therefore, in what belongs to
the substance of the question, I both confess concerning pro-
vidence, and I yield to God ; ^ and I agree concerning the
sincerity of the way of life wdiich is now mine. Yet even
still some things remain in my mind, not as resisting the
truth, but as necessary to a perfect training ; of which on the
morrow, as the sun is already sloping to his setting, we shall
inquire at length in a more fitting and ready manner."
CHAPTER XLI.
ARGUMENT. — Fi7ially, all are p)leased, and joyfully depart :
Ca'cilius, that he had believed ; Octavius, that he had con-
^ Otherwise read, " and I believe concerning God."
MINUCIUS FELIX, 517
quered; and Minuciiis, that the former had believed, and
the latter had conquered.
'' But for myself," said I, " I rejoice more fully on behalf of
all of us ; because also Octavius has conquered for me, in
that the very great invidiousness of judi:^iiig is taken away
from me. Nor can I acknoAvledge by my praises the merit
of his words : the testimony both of man, and of one man
only, is weak. lie has an illustrious reward from God, in-
spired by wdiom he has pleaded, and aided by whom he has
gained the victory."
After these things we departed, glad and cheerful : Ci^ci-
lius, to rejoice that he had believed ; Octavius, that he had
conquered ; and I, that the one had believed, and the other
had conquered.
INDEXES.
I.— INDEX OF TEXTS.
ren. i. 4,
Vol. ii. 211
Ex. ix. 28, .
Vol. ii. 349
i. 26, . i. 314, ii. 338,. 362
xii. 3-12,
. ii. 114
i. 27, .
. ii. 338
xii. 4,
. ii. 190
i. 31, .
ii. 305, 386
xii. 6, .
. ii. 219
iii. 14, 15,
. ii. 108
xii. 11, .
. ii. 147
iii. 16, .
. i. 348, ii. 116
xii. 1,3, .
i. 440, ii. 122
iii. 17-19,
ii. 29, 177
xii. 46, .
i. 305, 384
V. 24, .
i. 446, ii. 177
xiii. 21, .
. ii. 103
vi. 5-7, .
. ii. 434
xiv. 11-14,
. ii. 61
viii. 21, .
. ii. 309
xiv. 19, .
. ii. 103
xi. 7, .
. ii. 338
XV. 1,
. ii. 103
xii. 1-3, .
. ii. 93
xvii. 9-14,
. ii. 121
xii. 7,
. ii. 339
xvii. 11-14,
. ii. 63
xiv. 18, .
. i. 210
xix. 10, 11,
. ii. 123
XV. 6, .
i. 85, 171
xix. 15, .
. ii. 167
xvii. 8, .
. ii. 316
xix. 18, .
. ii. 194
xix. 11, .
. i. 212
xix. 22, .
i. 233, 236, 259
xix. 24, .
li. 108, 342, 362
XX. 3, .
. ii. 57
xxi. 1, 2,
. ii. 152
XX. 4,
ii. 56, 179
xxi. 17, .
. ii. 343
XX. 12, .
. i. 271
xxi. 18, .
, ii. 343
XX. 23, .
. ii. 179
xxi. 20, .
. ii. 343
xxi. 33, .
. ii. 253
xxii. 11, 12,
i. 103, 158
xxii. 20, . i. 17
0, 222, 356, 435,
XXV. 23,
. ii. 91
ii. 57
xxvii. 27-29,
. ii. 93
xxii. 28,
. ii. 151
xxxi. 11-13,
. ii. 103
xxiii. 7, .
. ii. 113
xxxii. 24-27,
. ii. 346
xxiii. 20, 21,
. ii. 103
xxxii. 30, 31,
. ii. 346
xxviii. 43,
i. 223, 236, 259
XXXV. 1,
. ii. 103
xxix. 3, .
. i. 427
xxxvii. 19, 20, .
. i. 249
xxxi. 18,
. ii. 309
xxxviii. 14, 15, .
. ii. 170
xxxii. 1,
. ii. 81
xlviii. 14, 15,
. ii. 347
xxxii. 6,
. ii. 182
xlviii. 17-19,
. ii. 93
xxxii. 31,
. i. 364
xlix. 8-12,
. ii. 94
xxxii. 31-33,
ii. 58, 81'
xlix. 10,
. ii. 316
X xxiii. 20,
. ii. 339
xlix. 11,
. ii. 352
Lev. vi. 4,
. ii. 338
X. i. 12, .
. ii. 65
vii. 20, .
i. 362, ii. 192
iii. 2,
. ii. 194
X. 20, .
. ii. 257
iii. 2-6, .
. ii. 119
xix. 2, .
. i. 252
iii. 14, .
. ii. 306
xix. 13, .
. ii. 189
iv. 11, 12,
. ii. 66
xix. 18, .
. i. 26, ii. 195
iv. 13, .
. ii. 316
xix. 27, . i
. 272, ii. 189 l/is
vii. 1, .
. ii. 349
xix. 32, .
. ii. 189
519
520
INDEX OF TEXTS.
Lev. XX. 7, .
Vol. i. 406
1 Sam. i. 13,
Vol. i. 401
xxi. 17, .
i. 223, 236
ii. 3, 4, .
. ii. 143
xxi. 21, .
. i. 258
ii. 3-8, .
. ii. 440
xxiv. 13, 14,
. ii. 151
ii. 5,
. ii. 92
Num. V. 2, .
. ii. 433
ii. 25, .
ii. 58, 164
viii. 5-7,
. i. 312
ii. 30, .
i. 406, ii. 49
xi. 17, .
. ii. 423
ii. 35, 36,
. ii. 90
xii. 3, .
. i. 142
viii. 7, .
i. 163, 226, 245
xvi. 26, .
i. 237, 309
ix. 2,
. ii. 441
xvii. 5, .
. i. 309
xvi. 7, .
i. 870, ii. 176
xvii. 10,
i. 459, ii. 152
xxi. 4,
. ii. 168
xix. 2, .
. i. 251
2 Sam. vii. 4, 5, 12-]
6, ii. 89, 109
xix. 8, 12, 13, .
. i. 312
1 Kings xi. 4,
. ii. 184
xix. 9, .
. i. 312
xi. 14, .
. i. 416
XX. 25, 26,
. i. 238
xi. 23, .
. ii. 189
xxiii. 14,
. ii. 94
xi. 31, .
. i. 383
xxiii. 19,
. ii. 120
xvii. 14,
. ii. 13
xxiv. 7-9,
. ii. 109
xviii. 21,
. ii. 211
xxiv. 17,
. ii. 108
xix. 10, .
. ii. 82
Deut. iv. 20, .
. ii. 158
2 Kings xvii. 21,
. i. 307
iv. 24, .
. i. 265
xxiv. 11,
. i. 415
iv. 39, .
. ii. 303
2 Chron. xv. 2,
ii. 62, 164
vi. 4,
. ii. 377
xix. 16, .
. ii. 309
vi. 5, .
. ii. 156
xxiv. 20,
. i. 177
vi. 13, . i. 356,
427, ii. 57, 147
Neh. ix. 26, .
. ii. 82
viii. 2, .
. i. 459
Job i. 5,
. ii. 14
viii. 3, .
. ii. 392
i. 8,
i. 458, ii. 158
xiii. 3, . i.
459, ii. 64, 152
i. 12, .
. i. 416
xiii. 5, .
. i. 109
i. 21, .
. i. 457
xiii. 6-10,
. ii. 59
i. 21, 22,
. ii. 145
xiii. 12-18,
. ii. 59
ii. 9, 10,
. ii. 151
xiii. 19, .
ii. 174, 175
ii. 10, .
. i. 458
xvii. 12,
. i. Ill
xiv. 4, 5,
. ii. 176
xvii. 12, 13, ]
. 163, 207, 236,
xxix. 12, 13,
. ii. 196
245
xxix. 12, 13, 15,
16, . ii. 136
xviii. 10,
. ii. 189
Ps. i. 1, 2, .
. ii. 196
xviii. 15,
. ii. 316
i. 5,
. ii. 90
xviii. 18, 19,
. ii. 91
ii. 1-3, .
ii. 88, 198
xxii. 29,
. ii. 57
ii. 6, .
. ii. 127
xxiii. 21-23,
. ii. 106
ii. 7, 8, .
ii. 107, 362
xxiv. 26,
. i. 150
ii. 8, .
. ii. 317
xxvii. 8,
. ii. 118
ii. 10, .
. ii. 196
xxviii. 14,
. ii. 94
ii. 11, .
. ii. 158
xxviii. 66,
ii. 120, 316
ii. 12, . i.
205, 334, ii. 185
XXX. 6, .
. ii. 86
iii. 5,
. ii. 123
xxxii. 8,
. ii. 339
iv. 4, .
. i. 401
xxxii. 17,
ii. 57, 81
iv. 5, .
. ii. 90
xxxii. 35,
. ii. 195
V. 2,
. 1. 422
xxxiii. 9,
i. 404, ii. 12, 60
V. 2, 3, .
. ii. 127
Josh. i. 8,
. i. 278
vi. 5, .
. ii. 196
ii. 18, 19,
. i. 305
xi. 10, .
. ii. 157
ii. 19, .
. i. 384
XV. 6, .
. ii. 174
V. 2, .
. ii. 86
xvi. 10, .
. ii. 123
V. 13-15,
. ii. 119
xvii. 25, 26,
. i. 252
xxiv. 26, 27,
. ii. 116
xviii. 25, 2(5,
. ii. 192
Judg. ii. 11-13,
. ii. 81
xviii. 43, 44,
. ii. 94
iv. 1, .
. ii. 81
xix. 5, 6,
. ii. 118
INDEX OF TEXTS.
521
. xix. 6, 7, . Vc
)1. ii. 326
Ps. Ixviii. 5,
Vol. ii. 190
xix. 9, .
. ii. 161
Ixviii. 6, i. 29, 307, 384, 403,
xix. 12, .
. ii. 176
ii. 190
XX. 7, 8,
. ii. 64
Ixviii. 18,
. ii. 315
xxii. G-S,
. ii. 112
Ixix. 21,
. ii. 368
xxii. 15,
. ii. 112
Ixxii. 1, .
ii. 105, 146, 317
xxii. lC-22,
. ii. ]20
Ixxii. 1, 2,
ii. 128, 16S
xxii. 17, IS,
. ii. 368
Ixxii. 6, 7,
. ii. 105
xxii. 27, 28,
. ii. 127
Ixxiii. 27,
. i. 287
xxiii. 5, .
. i. 215
Ixxiv. 12,
. ii. 128
xxiv. 3-6,
. ii. 152
Ixxxii. 1,
. ii. 349
xxiv. 7-10,
. i. 127
Ixxxii. 5,
ii. S3, 105
xxiv. 12, 13, .
. ii. 151
Ixxxii. 8,
. ii. 126
XXV. 4, 5,
. ii. 106
Ixxxiv. 1,
. i. 46(;
xxvii. 3, 4,
. ii. 65
Ixxxiv. 1, 2,
. ii. 178
xxviii. 4, 5,
. ii. S3
Ixxxiv. 8-10,
. ii. 95
xxix, 13,
. i. 279
Ixxxiv. 12, 13,
. i. 39(>
XXX. 3, .
. ii. 122
Ixxxviii. 9,
. ii. 120
XXX. 9, .
. ii. 169
Ixxxix. 27-33,
. ii. 100
xxxiii. 6,
ii. 101
Ixxxix. 30, i.
355, ii. 264, 437
xxxiv. 1,
. ii. 152
Ixxxix. 30-32,
. i. 146
xxxiv. 3, 4,
. ii. 189
Ixxxix. 32, 33,
. ii. 177
xxxiv. 9,
. ii. 161
Ixxxix. 33,
. i. 28
xxxiv. l;>.
i. 115
xciii. 11,
. ii. 187
xxxiv. 15,
ii. 309
xcvi. 5, .
. ii. 179
xxxvii. 25, 26, . ii
15, 138
xcvii. 1, .
. ii. 128
xxxNai. 35,
i. 412
ciii. 24, .
. ii. 30;5
xxxviii. 35, 36, .
i. 162
ciii. 32, .
. ii. 30;i
xli. 1, . . i
i. 4, 138
civ. 4,
. ii. 427
xlv. 1, . ii. 101, 325
his, 331
cvii. 20, .
. ii. 101
xlv. 1-4,
ii. 127
ex. 1, .
. ii. 362
xlv. 6, 7,
ii. 104
ex. 1, 2,
ii. 124, 317
xlv. 7, .
ii. 373
ex. 3, .
. ii. 90
xlv. 9-11,
li. 128
ex. 4, .
. i. 210
xlv. 10, .
ii. 105
cxii. 9, .
. ii. 138
xlv. 11, .
i. 295
cxiii. 1.3,
. ii. 2.34
1.1-6, .
ii. 125
exv. 4-8,
ii. oij
1. 3-6, .
ii. 37
cxvi. 5, . i.
34, ii. 153, 179
1. 13-15, .
ii. 90
cxvi. 12, 13, 15,
. i. 319
1. 14, 15,
ii. 166
cxvi. 15,
i. 326, ii. 75
1. 16, .
ii. 185
cxviii. 6,
ii. 64, 14G
1. 16-18, .
i. 220
exviii. 8,
. ii. 146
.1. 17, .
i. 335
exviii. 18,
. ii. 177
1. 17, 18,
i. 242
cxviii. 21-26, .
. ii. 115
1. 18, .
ii. 186
exviii. 22,
. i. 422
1. 19, 20,
i. 115
cxviii. 26,
. Ji. 10.3
1. 20, .
ii. 195
cxix. 1, 2,
ii. 75, 155
1. 23, .
ii. 90
cxix. 120,
. ii. 120
H.,
ii. 176
cxix. 176,
. ii. 442
Ii. 4, . . .
ii. 443
cxxvi. 5, 6,
ii. 75, 153
li. 17, .
i. 459
exxxii. 11,
. ii. 110
li. 18, .
i. 318
exxxiii. 1,
i. 190, 286
li. 19, .
i. 326
cxxxv. 15-18, .
. ii. 56
liii. 5, . . i. 337
, ii. 176
cxxxv. 15-18, .
. ii. 179
Ivi. 11, .
ii. 146
cxxxvi. 12,
. ii. 309
Ixviii. 1-7,
ii. 126
cxxxix. 8, 9, 10,
. ii. 310
Ixviii. 4,
ii. 105
exxxLx. 16,
. i. 370
522
INDEX OF TEXTS,
P.'. cxli. 2, . Vol. i. 219, ii. 120 i
cxlviii, 5,
. ii. 303
Prov. i. 28, 29,
. ii. 83
iii. 11, 12,
i. 334, ii. 185
iii. 18, .
. i. 265
iii. 28, .
. ii. 137
viii. 22, .
. ii. 99
ix. 1-5, .
. i. 211
ix. 1-6, .
. ii. 100
ix. 8, .
. ii. 194
ix. 12, .
. ii. 202
ix. 19, . i.
251, 299, ii. 202
X. 3, .
. i. 412
X. 9, .
. ii. 175
X. 19, .
. ii. 194
xi. 26, .
. ii. 182
xii. 10, .
. i. 208
xii. 16, .
. ii. 146
xii. 22, .
. ii. 194
xiii. 24, .
. ii. 194
xiv. 9, .
. ii. 203
xiv. 25, .
. ii. 152
XV. 1, .
. ii. 51
XV. 3, .
i. 401, ii. 176
xvi. 6, .
ii. 2, 137
xvi. 27, .
. i. 179
xvi. 32, .
. ii. 146
xvii. 4, .
i. 179, 247
xviii. 19,
. i. 143
xix. 5, .
. i. 299
xix. 17, .
. ii. 137
xix. 18, .
. ii. 194
XX. 7, .
ii. 15, 137
XX. 9, .
. ii. 3
XX. 13, .
. ii. 195
XX. 22, .
. i. 436
xxi. 1, .
. ii. 189
xxi. 13, .
ii. 4, 137
xxiii. 9,
. i. 424, ii. 174
xxiv. 15,
. ii. 192
XXV. 21,
. ii. 137
xxvi. 4, .
. i. 424
xxvi. 27,
. ii. 195
XX viii. 14,
. ii. 157
xxviii. 27,
ii. 7, 137
xxviii. 28,
. ii. 145
xxix. 22,
. i. 300
Cant. iv. 8, .
. i. 295
iv. 12, .
. i. 304
iv. 12, 13,
i. 284, 295
V. 1, .
. i. 295
V. 2, .
. i. 419
vi. 9, .
i. 304, 381
Eccles. i. 14,
. ii. 147
V. 4, .
. ii. 165
V. 10, .
. ii. 182
vii. 17, .
. ii. 175
Eccles. X. 9, .
Isa. i. 2,
i. 2-4, .
i. 3, .
i. 7-9, .
i. 11, 12,
i. 15-20,
i. 17, IS,
i. 19, .
i. 20, .
ii. 2,
ii. 2, 4, .
ii. 3, 4, .
ii. 5, 6, .
ii. 8, .
ii. 8, 9, .
ii. 12, .
iii. 1, 2,
iii. 12, .
iii. 16, .
V. 8, .
V. 25, 20,
V. 26, 27,
vi. 9, 10,
vi. 10, .
vii. 9, .
vii. 13, .
vii. 14, .
viii. ], .
viii. 3, .
viii. 16, 17,
ix. 1, 2, .
ix. 6, .
X. 22, .
x. 23, .
xi. 1, 3, .
xi. 1-3, .
xi. 2, 3, .
xi. 10, .
xiii. 6-9,
xiv. 13, 14,
xiv. 15, 16,
xiv. 16, .
xxvi. 11,
xxviii. 16,
xxix. 10,
xxix. 11-18,
xxix. 13,
xxix. 14,
XXX. 1, .
XXX. 15,
xxxi. 6,
xxxiii. 10, 11
xxxiii. 14-17,
XXXV. 3,
XXXV. 3-6,
222,
11.
Vol. ii. 190
ii. 49
ii. 82
i. 405
ii. 85
ii. 90
ii. 97
ii. 196
ii. 175
ii. 309
i. 286
ii. 117
ii. 87
ii. 85
i. 435
56, ii. 57
i. 162
ii. 96
9, 361, ii. 197
i. 343
ii. 183
ii. 95
ii. 96
ii. 83
ii. 234
84, 171
i. 35, ii. 316
i. 35, ii. 323
ii. 3
. ii. 368
. ii. 87
. ii. 94
ii. 121, 344, 350,
368 his
. i. 417
. ii. 101
. ii. 316
. ii. 110
. ii. 373
ii. 94, 317
. i. 439
. i. 162
. i. 162
. ii. 196
. ii. 102
. ii. 115
i. 172, 374
. ii. 84
. i. 218
ii. 22, 175
264, ii. 432
79, 376, ii. 264
. ii. 234
. i. 124
. ii. 127
. ii. 324
ii. 106, 316
165
INDEX OF TEXTS.
523
Isa, xxxvii. 20,
xl. 3-5, .
xl. 6, .
xl. 6, 7,
xl. 12, .
xl. 22, .
xli. 15-20,
xlii. 2, 3,
xlii. 2-4,
xlii. 6-8,
xlii. 8, .
xlii. 13, 14,
xlii. 19, .
xlii. 24, .
xliii. 1-3,
xliii. 18-21,
xliii. 25,
xliii. 25, 20,
xliv. 6, 7,
xliv. 21, 22,
xlv. 1, .
xlv. 7, .
xlv. 14-16,
xlv. 22,
xlvi. 1, 2, 5,
xlvi. 6, 7,
xlvi. 8, .
xlviii. 21,
1. 5, 6, .
1. 5-7, .
li. 1, .
Hi. 10, .
lii. 11, .
lii. 15, .
liii. 1, .
liii. 1-7, •
liii. 2, .
liii. 5,
liii. 7, .
liii. 7-0, 12,
liv. 1-4,
liv. 7, 8,
Iv. 3, .
Iv. 4, .
Iv. 4, 5,
Iv. 5, .
Iv. 6, 7,
Ivii. 1, 2,
Ivii. 0,
Ivii. 10-15
Ivii. 15,
Ivii. 16,
Ivii. 17,
Ivii. 19,
Iviii. 1-9,
Iviii. 6-9,
Iviii. 7,
Vol. ii. 376
. ii. 104
. i. 338
. ii. 177
ii. 304, 376
. ii. 304
. ii. 102
. ii. 316
. ii. Ill
. ii. 106
. ii. 304
. ii. 126
. ii. 432
i. 366, 415
. ii. 65
i. 212, ii. 88
. ii. 264
. ii. 445
. ii. 376
. li. 265
ii. 95, 362
ii. 304
ii. 104
ii. 304
ii. 180
ii. 181
ii. 265
i. 213, ii. 88
. i. 25
. ii. Ill
. ii. 193
. ii. 102
i. 358, ii. 109
. ii. 95
. ii. 101
. ii. Ill
. ii. 317
. ii. 317
25, ii. 317, 368
. ii. 114
. ii. 92 1
. ii. 265 i
. ii. 316 j
. ii. 94
. ii. 317
. ii. 94
ii. 147, 265
. ii. 113
170, 222, ii. 57
. ii. 108
. ii. 265
. ii. 438
. ii. 438
. ii. 438
ii. 844, 136
. i. 480
. ii. 1S8
Isa.
Jer
lix. 1. .
lix. 1-4,
Ixi. 1, .
Ixi. 1, 2,
Ixiii. 2, .
Ixiii. 9, .
Ixv. 1, .
Lxv. 2, .
Ixv. 13-15,
Ixvi. 1, .
Ixvi. 12,
Ixvi. 2, . i. 24
Ixvi. 15, 16,
Ixvi. 18, 19,
Ixvi. 24,
. i. 5, .
ii. 12, 13, 19, 20
ii. 13, .
ii. 25, .
ii. 30, .
ii. 32, .
iii. 6,
iii. 9, 10,
iii. 12, .
i. 204,
iii. 14,
iii. 15,
iii. 22, .
iv. 3, 4,
iv. 14, .
V. 3,
vi. 10, .
vi. 18, .
vii. 6,
vii. 16, .
%'iii. 25, .
viii. 4, .
viii. 6-9,
viii. 7-9,
ix. 23, 24,
X. 2, .
X. 2-5, 9, 11,
X. 24,
xi. 18, 19,
xi. 19, .
XV. 9, .
XV. 18, .
xvi. 9, .
xvii. 5, .
xvii. 5-7,
xvii. 9, .
xviii. 7, .
xviii. 12,
xxiii. 16-21,
xxiii. 20,
xxiii. 23,
xxiii. 23, 24
xxiii. 28, 30, 32,
Vol. i. 366,
ii. 101,
. ii.
. ii.
. i.
. ii.
ii
120, 317,
ii
ii. 304,
ii. 101,
55, ii. 157,
ii
ii
. i.
i. 365, ii
27, ii.
251, 386, ii
ii
. i.
. ii.
. ii.
. i.
. ii.
• ii.
335, ii. 89,
. ii.
ii
. ii.
. ii.
ii
ii
ii
. 365, ii
ii
ii. 197,
. ii.
. 11
. ii.
. ii.
. ii.
. ii.
. ii.
. ii.
. ii.
. i.
. ii.
. i.
. ii.
. ii.
. ii.
. ii.
. i.
ii
. i.
i. 401, ii.
. i.
432
173
373
109
212
106
. 95
368
. 96
309
142
304
. 37
I. 95
441
. 94
180
. 83
. 64
428
266
267
220
266
266
185
266
, 86
266
428
. 83
. 94
. 58
. 58
. 82
266
267
. 83
146
168
ISO
438
114
120
263
118
363
147
108
266
267
386
. 84
370
176
220
524
INDEX OF TEXTS.
Jei'. XXV. 4, . V
ol. ii. 82
Hos. vi. 3, .
. Vol. ii. 317
XXV. 6,
. i. 428
vi. 6, .
. ii. 138
XXV. 6, 7,
ii. 82
viii. 4, .
i. 165, 239
XXX. 8, 9,
ii. 88
ix. 4,
i. 165, 237, 309
xxxi. 10, 11, .
ii. 89
xi. 9, 10,
. ii. 104
xxxi. 31-34, . ii
87, 158
xiv. 2, .
. ii. 269
xxxiii. IG, 17, .
i. 108
Joel ii. 12, .
. i. 372
xlviii. 10,
ii. 166
ii. 12, 13,
. i. 146, ii. 437
Ii. 15-18,
ii. 180
ii. 13, .
. ii. 24
Ii. 16-19,
ii. 181
ii. 15, 16,
. ii. 118
Lam. ii. 18, .
ii. 267
ii. 28, .
. ii. 371
iii. 26, .
i. 35
ii. 28, 29,
. ii. 272
iii. 31, .
ii. 267
Amos iv. 7, .
. i. 428
iii. 40, .
ii. 267
iv. 11, .
. ii. 342
Ezck. ix. 4, . . i. 43^
), ii. 121
V. 6,
. ii. 440
ix. 4-6, .
ii. 122
viii. 9, 10,
. ii. 122
ix. 5,
i. 439
Mic. ii. 5,
. ii. 110
xiv. 12-14,
ii. 58
iv. 2, 3, .
. ii. 87
xiv. 13,
i. 365
vi. 6-9, .
. ii. 161
xvii. 24,
ii. 268
vii. 1, 2, 3,
. ii. 269
xviii. 4,
ii. 443
vii. 8, .
. ii. 269
xviii. 7, 8,
ii. 174
vii. 8-10,
. ii. 439
xviii. 20,
i. 150
vii. 14-18,
. ii. 161
xviii. 21, . ii.
268, 440
Nahum i. 5-7,
. ii. 161
xviii. 30, . li.
268, 436
Hab. ii. 4, .
ii. 85, 172
xviii. 30-32,
ii. 445
ii. 5,
i. 162, 234
xviii. 32,
ii. 24
iii. 5,
. ii. 324
xxiii. 10,
i. 376
iii. 3-5, .
. ii. 121
xxxiii. 10,
ii. 268
iii. 17, .
. i. 438
xxxiii. 10, 11, .
ii. 437
Zeph. i. 1, 2, 3,
. ii. 173
xxxiii. 11,
ii. 199
i. 7, .
. ii. 120
xxxiii. 12, ii. 31, G2,
268, 440
i. 13, 14,
. ii. 183
xxxiv., .
ii. 442
ii. 1,
. ii. 169
xxxiv. 3, 4,
i. 14
iii. 1, 2, 3,
. ii. 434
xxxiv. 3-6, 10-16,
i. 158
iii. 8,
ii. 36, 195
xxxiv. 4-6, 10, 16,
ii. 89
Hag. i. 9, .
. i. 428
xxxiv. 10-16, .
ii. 89
°i. 12, .
. ii. 161
xxxvi. 17-23, .
ii. 437
Zech. i. 3, .
. ii. 269
xxxvi. 25, 26, i.
251, 312
i. 1, 3, 5,
. ii. 112
xxxvi. 36,
ii. 268
iii. 8, 9, .
. ii. 115
XXX vii. 11-14, .
. ii. 178
vii. 6, .
. ii. 392
xliv. 10-13,
. ii. 432
ix. 9, .
. ii. 127
Dan. ii. 31-35,
ii. 117
X. 11, 12,
. ii. 104
iii. 16-18, i. 104, 328, ii
. 69, 146
xi. 16, .
. ii. 442
iv. 27, .
ii. 4
xii. 10, .
. ii. 120
iv. 34, .
ii. 269
Mai. i. 10, 11,
. ii. 90
vi. 24-28,
. ii. 160
i. 14, .
. ii. 127
vii. 9, 10,
. ii. 444
ii. 1, 2, .
i. 173, 282
vii. 13, 14,
. ii. 123
ii. 5, .
. i. 161
ix. 4, .
. i. 373
ii. 5-7, .
. ii. 103
xii. 4-7,
. ii. 84
ii. 10, .
. ii. 141
Hos. i. 7, .
. ii. 323
ii. 11, .
. ii. 81
i. 10, .
. ii. 91
iii. 3,
. ii. 177
ii. 23, .
. ii. 91
iii. 6,
. ii. 306
iv. 1-4, . . i. 43
0, ii. 173
iii. 7, .
. ii. 24
vi. 1, .
. i. 422
iv. 1, . ii.
439, ii. 37, 125
vi. 2,
ii. 123
iv. 2,
. i. 422
INDEX OF TEXTS.
i)2o
APOCRYPHA,
1 Esdras iv. 38-40,
Tobit ii. 2, .
ii. 14, .
iv. 5-11,
iv. 10, .
iv. 12, .
xii. 8, 9,
xii. 11-15,
xii. 12-15,
xiii. 6, .
xiv. 10, 11,
XX. 8, .
Wisd. i. 1, .
i. 13, .
ii. 12-22,
iii. 1,
iii. 4,
iii. 4-8, . i
iii. 11, . i.
iv. 11, .
iv. 11-14,
V. 1-9, .
V. 8,
vi. 6,
xiii. 1-4,
XV. 15-17,
Ecclus. i. 1, .
i. 14, .
ii. 1-4, .
ii. 4, .
ii. 4, 5, .
ii. 5,
ii. 10, 11,
iii. 21, .
iii. 30, .
iv. 10, .
iv. 29, .
V. 4,
V. 7, .
vi. IG, .
vii. 29, .
vii. 31, .
vii. 39, .
ix. 13, .
ix. 16, .
X. 20, .
xi. 28, .
xiv. 11, .
xvi. 1, 2,
xvii. 26,
XX. 3, .
xxii. 24,
xxiii. 11,
xxiv. 3-7,
XXV. 9, .
205,
Vol. i. 283
. ii. 136
458, ii. 145
16, 137
i. 145
ii. 183
i. 441
11.
i. 458
i. 420
ii. 69
ii. 15
i. 419
ii. 175
i. 146
ii. 113
ii. 238
ii. 242
74, 152
334, ii. 185
i. 146
ii. 178
, ii. 153
i. 340
ii. 196
56, 179
56, 179
ii. 240
ii. 157
i. 457
ii. 241
ii. 33
i. 457
ii. 445
ii. 175
i. 2, 137
ii. 196
ii. 192
ii. 169
ii. 193
ii. 192
i. 227
i." 227
ii. 195
ii. 192
ii. 192
ii. 174
i. 21
ii. 137
i. 175
ii. 270
ii. 270
ii. 41
ii. 150
ii. 99
ii. 192
Ecclus. xxvii. 5, Vol. i. 400, ii
xxviii. 15, . . ii.
xxviii. 24, i. 179, 247, 391, ii.
ii
XXIX. 12,
xxxiv. 19,
xxxiv. 25,
Baruch iii. 35-37,
Song of the Three Children
ver. 2, .
14-19,
28, .
Susanna, vers. 1-3,
Bel and the Dragon
ver. 5, ,
1 Mace. ii. 52,
ii. 60, .
ii. 62, 63,
2 Mace. vi. 30,
vii. 9, .
vii. 14, .
vii. 16, .
vii. 16, 17,
vii. 18, .
vii. 18, 19,
97.
Vll.
ix. 12, .
Matt. i. 20, 21,
i. 23, .
ii. 1, 2, .
iii. 9, .
iii. 10, .
iii. 11, .
V. 4,
V. 5, .
V. 6,
V. 7,
V. 8,
V. 9, .
V. 10, .
V. 10-12,
V. 13, .
V. 16, .
V. 19, .
V. 21, 22,
V. 22, .
V. 23, 24,
V. 26, .
V. 34-37,
V. 36, .
V. 37, .
V. 42, .
V. 43-45,
V. 43-48,
V. 44, 45,
vi. 2,
vi. 3, 4, .
i. 184, ii,
. ii.
. ii.
i. 162, ii.
ii. 73,
ii. 70,
ii. 71,
ii
. ii.
ii
. ii.
ii
. ii.
. 04
195
192
137
196
254
104
373
160
403
160
. 69
152
175
143
156
156
156
71
156
71
156
, 72
143
. ii. 107
. ii. 357
ii. Ill, 128
. i. 211
. ii. 249
. ii. 404
. ii. 145
. ii. 143
ii. 138, 213
. ii. 138
!, ii. 189, 370
. i. 397
ii. 75, 153
. i. 73
377, ii. 190, 203
i. 24, ii. 164
218, 319, ii. 192
. ii. 146
i. 163, ii. 151
. ii. 142
ii. 9, 177
. ii. 150
. i. 345
. i. 174
. ii. 138
. ii. 49
. ii. 25
. ii. 174
. ii. 171
. ii. 171
526
INDEX OF TEXTS,
Matt. vi. 9,
vi. 10, .
vi. 12, .
vi. 19-21,
vi. 20, 21,
vi. 24, .
vi. 26, .
vi. 31, .
vi. 31-33,
vi. 34, .
vii. 2, .
vii. 7, .
vii. 9-11,
vii. 12, .
vii. 13, 14.
vii. 21, .
vii. 22, .
vii. 22, 23,
vii. 24, .
vii. 24-27,
vii. 26, 27,
viii. 4, .
viii. 11, .
viii. 11, IS
viii. 20, .
viii. 22, .
viii. 29, .
ix. 2, .
ix. 9, .
ix. 12, .
X. 5,
X. 8,
X. 16, .
X. 18, .
X. 19, .
X. 19, 20,
i. 41
i. 414, ii. 440
i. 424, ii. 174
. i. 146
. i. 417
. ii. 145
i. 269, ii. 157
. i. 390
ii. 164, 436 Us
. i. 379
. ii. 193
. ii. 434
i. 162, 227
. i. 407
. ii. 96
. ii. 148
. i. 404
. ii. 126
. ii. 427
. i. 404
i. 142, 234
. i. 307
. ii. 193
. ii. 190
. i. 73
. i. 35
158, 184, 319, 361,
ii. 65, 153
X. 22, . i. 21, 102, ii. 30, 62
X. 25, . . . ii. 188
X. 28, i. 186, 327, ii. 60, 154, 444
X. 29, . . i. 164, 243
X. 29, 30, . . ii. 314
X. 32, . . i. 102, ii. 417
X. 32, 33, i. 38, ii. 60, 154
X. 33, . i. 91, 170, ii. 435
X. 37, . . . ii. 12
X. 37, 38, . i. 73, ii. 60
X. 39, . . ii. 242, 250
X. 42, . . . ii. 138
xi. 25, 26, . . ii. 162
xi. 28-30, . ii. 88, 198
xii. 29-31, . . i. 417
xii. 30, i. 382, ii. 190, 204, 207
xii. 32, . . ii, 164, 374
Vol. i. 402
. ii. 157
. ii. 162
. ii. 6
. ii. 138
. i. 370
. ii. 148
. i. 412
ii. 8, 148
ii. 148
xii. 34, 35,
xii. 36, 37,
xii. 39, 40,
i. 163
ii. 151
ii. 123
Matt. xiii. 17,
xiii. 45, 46,
xiv. 31, .
XV. 4,
XV. 13, .
XV. 14, .
XV. 26, .
xvi. 17, .
xvi. 18, 19,
xvi. 19, .
xvi. 22, .
xvii, 5, .
xvii. 18, 19,
xvii. 20, .
xviii. 17,
xviii. 19,
xviii. 19, 20,
xviii. 20,
xviii. 32,
xix. 5,
xix. 11, .
xix. 11, 12,
xix. 17, .
xix. 17-21,
xix. 21, .
XX. 36, .
xxi. 13, .
xxi. 22, .
xxii. 32,
xxii. 37,
xxii. 37-40,
xxii. 39,
xxii, 40,
xxiii. 9, .
xxiii. 9, 10,
xxiii. 12,
xxiii. 37, 38,
xxiii. 42,
xxiv. 2, .
xxiv. 4, etc.,
xxiv. 4-31,
xxiv. 5, 25,
xxiv. 23, 24,
XXV. 31-36,
xxv. 34,
XXV. 36,
xxvi. 28, 29,
xxvi. 39,
xxvii. 3, 4,
xxvii. 45,
xxviii. 9,
xxviii. 18,
xxviii. 18, 10,
xxviii. 18-20,
xxviii. 19,
xxviii. 20,
Mark iii. 28, 29,
Vol. ii. 125
ii. 6, 138
. ii. 171
. i. 271
i. 129, 166, 271
i. 109, 391
. ii. 242
. ii. 363
. i. 77
. i. 296
. ii. 414
i. 217, ii. 87
. i. 380
. ii. 171
i. 179, 303
. i. 29
i. 387, ii. 141
. i. 386
i. 91, 413
. ii. 256
. i. 337
. ii, 166
i. 378, ii. 376
. ii. 139
i. 359, ii. 6
. ii. 190
. ii. 193
. i. 73
. i. 77
. ii. 421
. ii. 57
. i. 26
. i. 417
i. 404, ii. 70
. ii. 377
. ii. 440
. ii. 85
. ii. 322
. ii. 89
. ii. 419
. ii. 68
. i. 169
. ii. 419
.ii. 18, 129, 140
i. 407, ii. 49
. i. 201
. i. 214
. i, 408, ii. 157
. ii. 113
. ii. 122
. ii. 432
. ii. 208
i. 69, 263, ii. 203
. i. 221, ii. 124
ii. 204, 210, 412
. i, 326, ii. 323
. i. 28, ii. 164
INDEX OF TEXTS.
527
Mark iv. 24,
Vol. ii. 162
Luke xii. 48,
Vol. i. 394
vii. 9,
i. 109, 393, 400
xii. 50, .
. i. 273, ii. 421
vii. 13,
i. 218, 237, 279
xiii. 1-5,
. ii. 443
viii. 38,
. i. 218
xiv. 11, .
. i. 22
ix. 22,
. ii. 172
xiv. 12-14,
. ii. 241
ix. 30,
. ii. 414
xiv. 33, i
411, ii. 62, 148
X. 29,
. i. 360
XV. 6-10,
ii. 442, 443
X. 38,
. ii. 421
XV. 7, .
i. 124, 146
xi. 24,
. ii. 172
xvi. 4, .
.' ii. 9
xi. 25,
i. 388, 414
xvi. 8, .
. i. 271
xii. 29-31
. i. 390, ii. 57
xvi. 11, 12,
. ii. 7
xiii. 6, .
i. 291, 389
xvi. 15, ,
. i. 234
xiii. 23, .
. i. 391
xvi. 25, .
. ii. 183
xiv. 27, .
ii. 411, 412
xvii. 7-10,
. ii. 175
xiv. 38,
. i. 416
xvii. 10,
. i. 78
xiv. 58,
. ii. 89
xvii. 21,
. ii. 175
xvi. 17, ]
8, . . ii. 210
xvii. 31, 32,
. ii. 62
Luke i. 25,
. ii. 357
xviii. 8, .
i. 282, 307
i. 30-33,
. ii. 110
xviii. 10-14,
. i. 402
i. 35, .
. ii. 109
xviii. 14,
. i. 394
i. 41-43,
. ii. 107
xviii. 29, 30, i.
182, ii. 76, 154
i. 67-0^),
. ii. 107
xix. S, 9,
ii. 7, 40
ii. 10, 11
. ii. 107
xix. 9, .
. i. 211
ii. 29, .
. i. 454
XX. 34-38,
. ii. 167
ii. 29, 30
. ii. 178
XX. 35, 36,
. i. 349
ii. 37, .
. i. 422
xxi. 14, 15,
i. 319, ii. 65
iii. 10, .
. ii. 428
xxi. 17, .
. ii. 165
V. IG, .
. i. 417
xxi. 31, .
. i. 454
vi. 5,
. ii. 322
xxii. 8, .
. ii. 238
vi. 12, .
i. 30, 417
xxii. 31, .
. i. 418
vi. 22, 23
, i. 182, 360, ii. 76, 154
xxii. 31, 32,
. i. 30
vi. 32,
. ii. 174
xxiv. 20, 21,
. ii. 415
vi. 36, .
. ii. 142
xxiv. 44-47,
. ii. 84
vi. 37,
. ii. 162
John i. 1,
li. 105, 326, 331
vii. 39, .
. ii. 438
i. 1, 2, .
. ii. 377
vii. 47, .
. ii. 197
i. 1-5, .
. ii. 110
vii. 48, .
. ii. 426
i. 3, . ii. 32
5, 331, 337, 350
vii. 50, .
ii. 427 his
i. 9, 10, .
. ii. 85
ix. 24, .
. ii. 76
i. 10, 11,
. ii. 326
ix. 25,
. ii. 183
i. 11, .
. i. 404
ix. 48,
i. 25, ii. 45, 143
i. 11, 12,
. ii. 83
ix. 56,
. i. 196
i. 14, ii. 319, Zi
J4, 337, 357, 377
ix. 62,
i. 32, ii. 62, 148
i. 15, .
. ii. 329
X. 16,
i. 163, 246
i. 26, 27,
. ii. 119
X. 19,
. ii. 435
i. 29, .
. ii. 115
X. 22
. ii. 363
i. 36, 37,
. ii. 128
xi.~i6.
. i. 28, ii. 443
ii. 19, .
ii. 89, 350
xi. 23,
i. 253, 295, 303
iii. 3, 5, .
. ii. 406
xi. 40, 4]
. ii. 140
iii. 5, i. 257, 1
273, ii. 202, 424
xi. 41,
. ii. 2
iii. 5, 6, .
ii. SS, 163
xii. 8,
. i. 365
iii. 6,
. ii. 203
xii. 9,
. i. 91
iii. 8, .
. ii. 427
xii. 20,
i. 412, ii. 10, 183
iii. 13, .
. ii. 326
xii. 33,
ii. 6, 140
iii. 14, 15,
. ii. 120
xii. 35,
. i. 398
iii. 16, .
. ii. 421
xii. 35-3'
r, ii. 62, 119, 148
iii. 18, 19,
ii. 86, 166, 213
xii. 47,
. i. 48, ii. 157
iii. 28, 29,
. ii. lis
528
INDEX OF TEXTS.
a iii. 31, .
Vol. ii. 328 1
Jolin X. 36, .
, Vol. ii. 366
iii. 31, 32,
. ii. 350
xi. 12, .
. ii. 363
iii. 34, 35,
. ii. 349
xi. 25, .
. i. 465
iii. 36, .
. ii. 125
xi. 26, .
. ii. 334
iv. 4, .
. i. 33
xii. 25, i.
327, ii. 60, 153, 363
iv. 13, 14,
. i. 213
xii. 34, .
. ii. 414
iv. 21, .
. ii. 310
xii. 35, .
. ii. 249
iv. 23, .
. ii. 400
xiii. 14, 15,
. i. 21, ii. 171
iv. 24, .
. ii. 310
xiii. 16,
. i. 25
iv. 32, 34,
. ii. 182
xiv. 6, i. 269, 283, ii. 124, 208,
iv. 34, .
. ii. 392
367
iv. 38, .
. ii. 350
xiv. 7, .
. ii. 367
V. 14, . i. 24,
149, 335, ii. 164
xiv. 8, .
. ii. 367
V. 17, .
. ii. 368
xiv. 9, .
. ii. 367
V. 19, .
. ii. 329
xiv. 12, .
. ii. 368
V, 22 23
ii. 126, 168
xiv. 15, .
. i. 378
V. 26^ .'
. ii. 329
xiv. 15, 16,
. ii. 369
V. 31, .
. i. 244
xiv. 16, 17,
ii. 370, 372
V. 39, 40, 45-47,
. ii. 91
xiv. 23, .
. ii. 3G9
V. 43, .
. ii. 103
xiv. 25, .
. i. 186
vi. 26, 27,
. ii. 392
xiv. 26, .
. ii. 369
vi. 35, .
. ii. 96
xiv. 27, .
. i. 397, ii. 141
vi. 38, ii. 339,
108, ii. 157, 363
xiv. 28, i.
456, ii. 179,363,369
vi. 46, .
. ii. 329
XV. 1, .
i. 209, 269
vi, 51, .
. ii. 329
XV. 9, 10,
. ii. 369
vi. 53, .
ii. 96, 163, 410
XV. 12, .
i. 29, 389
vi. 58, .
. i. 410
XV. 12, 13,
. ii. 141
vi. 62, .
. ii. 329
XV. 14, .
. ii. 334
vi. 65, .
. i. 271
XV. 14, 15,
. i. 217
vi. 67, .
. i. 166, ii. 436
XV. 15, .
. ii. 369
vi. 67-69,
. i. 248
XV. 18-20,
i. 135, ii. 66, 165
vii. 37, 38,
. i. 266, ii. 96
XV. 20, .
. ii. 373
vii. 37-39,
. i. 213
XV. 21, .
. ii. 369
vii. 38, .
. ii. 422
xvi. 2, 3,
. ii. 153
vii. 39, .
. ii. 422
xvi. 2-4,
. i. 181, ii. 66
viii. 12, . i.
220, ii. 46, 107
xvi. 7, .
. ii. 372
viii. 14, 15,
. ii. 330
xvi. 13, .
. ii. 372
viii. 17, 18,
. ii. 63
xvi. 20, .
. i. 455, ii. 66
viii. 23, .
. ii. 330
xvi. 22, .
. i. 455
viii. 24, .
. ii. S4
xvi. 23, .
. i. 400
viii. 31, 32,
ii. 30, 62
xvi. 24, .
. ii. 290
viii. 34, .
. i. 405
xvi. 33, .
. ii. 30, 67, 145
viii. 42, .
. ii. 331
xvii. 3, .
i. 269, 417, 440,
viii. 44, .
. i. 405
ii. 57, 335
viii. 51, ,
. ii. 332
xvii. 3-5,
. ii. 100
viii. 58, .
. ii. 332
xvii. 5, .
ii. 326, 335, 363
ix. 31, .
i. 223, 237, 252
xvii. 20,
. i. 418
X. 1,
. ii. 431
xvii. 21,
. i. 287
X. 8,
. ii. 431
xvii. 24,
. i. 466, ii. 178
X. 9, .
ii. 124, ]63
xviii. 22,
. i. 163
X. 11, 12,
. i. 15
xviii. 28,
i. 164, 227, 245
X. 16, .
i. 306, 383
xix. 11, .
. i. 416, ii. 189
X. 18, .
ii. 123, 350
xix. 23, 24,
. i. 383
X. 27, 28,
. ii. 332
XX. 17, .
. ii. 363
X. 30, i. 306,
382, ii. 327, 333
XX. 21, .
. i. 380
X. 33, .
. ii. 366
XX. 21-23,
. i. 2(54
X. 35, 36,
. ii. 333
XX. 22, 23,
. i. 296, ii. 370
INDEX OF TEXTS.
529
John XX. 27-29, . Vol
. ii. 105
XX. 28, . . ii. .
m, 377
xxi. 15, .
i. 380
xxi. 17, .
i. 15
Acts i. 4, 5, .
ii. 405
i. 5, .
i. 428
i. 7, .
ii. 191
i. 14, . . i.
397, 403
i. 15, .
i. 238
ii. 2-4, .
i. 193
ii. 17, .
ii. 371
ii. 17, 18,
ii. 423
ii. 38, 39,
i. 270
iii. 6, .
ii. 183
iv. 8-12,
ii. 117
iv. 12, .
ii. 410
iv. 32, . i. 29, 397, ii.
19, 142
V. 3, 4, .
ii. 166
vi, 2,
i. 238
vii. 60, .
ii. 32
viii. 20, . . ii.
193, 270
viii. 20, 21,
ii. 425
viii. 3C, 37,
ii. 172
ix. 40, .
ii. 5
X. 2, 4, .
i. 420
X. 28, .
i. 198
X. 44-48,
ii. 409
xi. 15-17,
ii. 205
xiii. 4G, 47,
ii. 95
XV. 7, 8,
ii. 405
XV. 9, .
ii. 409
XV. 13-17,
ii. 418
XV. 28^ 29,
ii. 198
xvi. 25, ,
ii. 152
xxiii. 4, .
i. 164
xxiii. 4, 5, . i.
227, 245
xxiii. 5, .
i. 164
Ptom. i. 8, .
. i. 86
i. 20, .
. ii. 305
i. 25, 26,
. ii. 147
i. 30-32, ,
. i. 243
ii. 1-3, .
. ii. 162
ii. 4-6, . . ii
. 24, 169
ii. 11, .
. ii. 443
ii. 12, .
. ii. 193
ii. 13, .
. ii. 192
ii. 24, .
. i. 24
iii. 3, .
. i. 395
iii. 3, 4, . i. 107, 212,
248, 295
iii. 8, .
. ii. 193
iii. 23, 24,
. ii. 125
V. 2-5, . . ii
. 64, 145
V. 8, 9, .
. i. 144
vii. 14, .
. ii. 384
viii. 3, 4,
. i. 141
viii. 9, .
. ii. 373
viii. 12, .
. ii. 106
CYP. — VOL. II.
Ptom. viii. 12-14,
Vol. ii. 48
viii. 16, 17, i.
181, 327, ii. 63,
155
viii. 18, i. 188,
320, 327, ii. 77,
156, 246
viii. 24, 25,
ii. 31, 172
viii. 35, .
i. 31, 73
viii. 35-37,
ii. 61, 157
ix. 3-5, .
. ii. 105
ix. 5,
ii. 305, 315
x. 34-38,
. ii. 106
xi. 20, 21,
. i. 25
xi. 33, .
ii. 305, 315
xi. 33-36,
. ii. 176
xii. 1, 2,
i. 318, ii. 63
xii. 14, .
. ii. 151
xii, 17, .
. ii. 162
xii. 19, .
. i. 436
xii. 21, .
. ii. 162
xiii. 3, ,
• ^i-.i'?
xiii. 12, 13,
ii. 45
xiv, 4, . i.
143, ii. 162, 439
xiv. 12, 1.3,
. i. 315
xiv. 17, .
ii. 182, 191
1 Cor. i. 10, .
ii. 190, 404
i. 17-24,
. ii. 186
i. 22-24,
. ii. 100
ii. 9,
. ii. 312
ii. 12, .
. ii. 374
iii, 1-3, .
ii. 47, 142
iii. 3, .
. ii. 441
iii. 6, 7, S,
. ii. 365
iii. 12, .
. ii. 435
iii. 16, .
. i. 20
iii. 16, 17,
. ii. 164
iii. 18-20,
ii. 22, 187
iv. 7, .
. ii. 143
iv. 20, .
. ii. 192
V. 7, .
. i. 345, ii. 261
V. 7, 8, .
. ii. 150
vi. 1, 2, .
. ii. 172
vi. 4,
. ii. 250
vi. 7-9, .
. ii. 172
vi. 9, .
. i. 406
vi. 9-11,
. ii. 185
vi. 10, .
. i. 163
vi. 13, .
. ii. 391
vi. 15, .
. ii. 257
vi. 15-17,
. ii. 184
vi. 18, .
. i. 149
vi. 18-2(>,
• ii- 1S4
vi, 19, .
i. 335
vi. 19, 20,
. ii. 148
vi. 20, .
i. 406, ii. G
vii. 1-7, .
. ii. 167
vii. 7,
. ii. 250
vii. 10, 11,
. ii. 191
2L
530
INDEX OF TEXTS.
1 Cor. vii. 29-31, .
Vol. ii. 148
2 Cor. ix. 10,
Vol. ii. 8
vii. 30, 31,
. i. .341 !
ix. 12, .
ii. 8, 140
vii. 32, .
. i. 337
xi. 2,
. i. 294
vii. 32-34,
. i. 167
xi. 29, .
i. 43, 199
vii. 39, 40,
. ii. 184
xii. 7-9, .
i. 460, ii. 145
vii. 40, .
. ii. 374
xii. 21, .
i. 149, ii. 270
viii. 2, .
. ii. 162
xiii. 2, .
. ii. 271
viii. 8, .
. ii. 182
Gal. i. 1, 12,
. ii. 327
viii. 13, .
. i. 206
i. 6-9, .
i. 66, 215
ix. 22, .
. i. 142
i. 10, . i. 167
, 208, 219, 337,
ix. 24, .
i. 35, ii. 249
ii. 176
ix. 24, 25,
ii. 63, 163
iii. 6-9, .
. i. 211
X. 1, 2, 6,
. i. 314
iii. 20, • .
. ii. 376
X. 12, .
i. 143, ii. 162
iii. 27, .
i. 200, 280, 294
X. 13, .
. ii. 191
iv. 4, .
ii. 107, 322
X. 21, .
i. 38, ii. 362
iv. 16, .
. i. 208
X. 23, .
. i. 340, ii. 191
V. 14, 15,
. ii. 142
X. 25, .
. ii. 391
V. 15, .
. i. 26
X. 38, .
. i. 142
V. 17-22,
. i. 409
xi. 1, .
. i. 142
V. 17-24,
. ii. 185
xi. 10, .
. i. 385
V. 19, 20,
. ii. 203
xi. 17, .
. ii. 441
V. 24, .
. i. 338
xi. 19, .
. ii. 191
vi. 1, 2, .
i. 143, ii. 146
xi. 23-26,
. i. 214
vi. 7,
i. 239, 371
xi. 26, .
. i. 219
vi. 10, 9,
ii. 19, 31
xi. 27, i. 39, 41,
299, 362, ii. 192
vi. 14, . i. :
338, ii. 149, 250
xi. 33, .
. ii. 182
Eph. ii. 17, 18,
. i. 125
xii. 3, .
. ii. 374
iv. 1-6, .
. i. 302
xii. 26, .
i. 43, 142, 199
iv. 2, 3, .
i. 408, ii. 32
xiii. 2-5, 7, 8,
. i. 389
iv. 3, .
. i. 384
xiii. 2-8,
. ii. 142
iv. 3-6, .
. i. 202
xiii. 3, .
. i. 272, ii. 420
iv. 4, .
. i. 381
xiii. 4, .
. ii. 47
iv. 5,
ii. 19, 214, 217
xiii. 4-7,
. ii. 32
iv. 5, 6, .
. i. 301
xiii. 12, .
. ii. 175
iv. 10, .
. ii. 339
xiv. 29, 30,
. i. 256
iv. 22-24,
. ii. 149
xiv. 30, .
. i. 283
iv. 26, .
. ii. 146
xiv. 32, .
. ii. 374
iv. 27, .
. i. 205
xiv. 34, 35,
. ii. 173
iv. 29, .
i. 115, ii. 151
XV. 33, . i.
179, 391, ii. 192
iv. 30, 31,
ii. 33, 145
XV. 36, . ii.
178, 391, ii. 192
V. 4,
. ii. 171
XV. 41-44,
. ii. 178
V. 5, .
. i. 149
XV. 47, .
. i. 350
V. 6,
. ii. 396
XV. 47-49,
ii. 48, 109, 149
V. 6, 7, . i.
110, 225, ii. 445
XV. 50, .
. ii. 50
V. 25, 26,
i. 281, 304
2 Cor. ii. 10,
. ii. 270
V. 28, 29,
. ii. 256
iii. 14-16,
. ii. 84
V. 31, 32,
. i. 127
iii. 17, .
. ii. 373
vi. 1-3, .
. ii. 187
iv. 13, .
. ii. 371
vi. 4, .
. ii. 187
V. 10, .
ii. 126, 177
vi. 5, 6, .
. ii. 187
V. 15, .
. ii. 61
vi. 9,
. ii. 187
vi. 14, .
. i. 268, ii. 184
vi. 12, .
. ii. 383
vii. 10, .
. ii. 270
vi. 12-17,
i. 187, ii. 197
viii. 12, i;^,
. ii. 141
Phil. i. 18, .
. i. 267
viii. 14, 15,
. ii. 140
i. 21, .
i. 457, ii. 240
ix. 6, 7, .
. ii. 140
ii. 6-11, . ]
i. 112, 171, 353
ix. 9, .
. ii. 140
ii. 9, 10,
. ii. 38
INDEX OF TEXTS.
531
Phil. ii. 14, 15,
ii. 15,
ii. 21,
iii. 2,
iii. 14,
iii. 21,
iv. 18,
Oul. i. 2,
i. 15,
i. 16,
i. 18,
ii. 8,
ii. 8-10,
ii. 11,
ii. 15,
ii. 18,
ii. 20,
ii. 21, 22
ii. 28,
iii. 1-4,
iii. 5, 6,
iv. 2,
1 Thess. iii. 8
iv. 3,
iv. 6,
iv. 13,
iv. 13, 14
V. 2, 3,
2 Thess. ii. 10
iii. 6,
1 Tim. ii. 5,
ii. 9, 10,
ii. 11-14
iv. 1,
iv. 1, 2,
iv. 4, 5,
iv. 12,
V. 3, 6,
V. 8,
V. 11, 12,
V. 19,
V. 20,
vi. 3-5,
vi. 7,
vi. 7-10,
vi. 8,
vi. 9,
vi. 10,
vi. 16,
2 Tim. ii. 4,
ii. 4, 5,
ii. 11, 12,
ii. 16,
ii. 17,
ii. 20,
ii. 23, 24,
ii. 24, .
-12.
Vol. ii. 152
2 Tim. iii. 1-9,
Vol. i. 391
i. 24, ii. 164
iv. 6-8, .
i. 35, ii. 155
. ii. 149
Tit. i. 7,
. i. 240
. ii. 431
i. 13, .
. i. 267
. ii. 383
i. 15, .
i. 197, 391
i. 318, 466
iii. 2,
. ii. 195
. i. 421
iii. 5,
. i. 280
. i. 419
iii. 10, 11,
i. 179, ii. 188
100, 350, 351
Heb. V. 7, .
. ii. 381
. ii. 325
X. 30, .
. ii. 436
. ii. 100
xii. 6, .
. i. 30
. i. 142
Jas. iv. 6,
. ii. 440
. ii. 22
1 Pet. ii. 11, 12,
. i. 25
. ii. 86
ii. 21, .
. ii. 46
. ii. 351
ii. 21-23,
ii. 28, 170
. ii. 392
iii. 3, 4, .
. i. 340
. ii. 250
iii. 4, .
. ii. 170
. ii. 392
iii. 18, .
. ii. 125
. ii. 149
iii. 20, 21,
i. 284, 304
ii. 148, 149
iii. 21, .
. i. 295
. i. 150
iv. 1-6, .
. ii. 125
;0, 258, ii. 198
iv. 12-14,
i. 182, ii. 64
. i. 22
iv. 15, 16,
. ii. 170
. ii. 257
V. 8, .
. ii. 40
. ii. 190
2 Pet. ii. 11, 12,
. ii. 149
. i. 465
1 John i. 8, .
i. 413, ii. 176
. ii. 178
i. 8, 9, .
. ii. 3
. ii. 190
ii. 1, 2, .
. i. 143
i. 172, 374
ii. 3, 4, .
. i. 70
9, 396, ii. 186
ii. 6, . i. 181
339, ii. 27, 150
. i. 351
ii. 9,
. ii. 143
i. 340, ii. 170
ii. 9-11, .
. ii. 46
. ii. 73
ii. 11, .
. ii. 440
. ii. 374
ii. 15, .
. i. 467
. ii. 391
ii. 15-17, i.
339, 408, ii. 150
. ii. 391
ii. 17, .
. ii. 157
. i. 228
ii. 18, 19,
i. 253, 303
. ii. 187
ii. 19, . i.
107, 385, ii. 188
. ii. 188
ii. 21, 22,
. ii. 189
. ii. 188
ii. 23, .
ii. 60, 125
. ii. 188
iii. 10-15,
. ii. 142
. ii. 188
iii. 15, .
i. 415, ii. 46
i. 110, 279
iii. 17, .
ii. 13, 140
. i. 412
iii. 27, .
. ii. 143
ii. 9, 183
iv. 2, 3, .
. ii. 107
. ii. 293
iv. 3, .
. i. 268
. i. 358
iv. 4,
ii. 64, 147
. ii. 293
iv. 7, 8, .
. ii. 421
ii. 339, 376
iv. 12, .
. ii. 339
. i. 229
iv. 16, .
i. 389, ii. 142
. ii. 149
iv. 20, .
. ii. 142
. ii. 60
V. 6,
. ii. 423
. ii. 271
v. 7, .
. . ii. 382
i. 268, ii. 188
V. 8,
. ii. 428
i. 132, 149
2 John 10, 11,
. ii. 217
. ii. 176
Jude 14, 15,
. ii. 441
. i. 283
Ptev. i. 12-18,
. ii. 124
532
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Eev. i. 14, .
Vol. i. 345
Eev. xiv. 6, 7, '.
Vol. ii. 57
ii. 5, . i. 47, 78, 145, 270, 363
xiv. 9-11, i. 186, 222, ii. 58, 182
ii. 7, .
. ii. 155
xiv. 16, 17,
. ii. 159
ii. 10, . i. 21, 132, ii. 65, 155
XV. 2-4, .
. ii. 159
ii. 23, . i. 36, 401,
463, ii. 176
xvi. 15, .
. ii. 155
ii. 28, .
. i. 370
xvii. 1, .
. i. 342
iii. 11, .
i. 31, 63
xvii. 1-4,
. ii. 169
iii. 17, .
. ii. 431
xvii. 15,
i. 216, ii. 432
iii. 19, .
. i. 361
xvii. 18,
. ii. 11
iii. 21, .
. i. 73
xviii. 4, .
. i. 358
V. 1-5, .
. ii. 110
xviii. 4-9,
. ii. 169
V. 2, .
. ii. 440
xix. 6, 7,
. ii. 119
V. 6-10, .
. ii. 115
xix. 11-13,
. ii. 101
vi. 9-11, .
ii. 37, 154
xix. 11-16,
. ii. 129
vi. 10, .
. i. 364
xix. 13, .
. ii. 325
vi. 12-17,
. ii. 444
XX. 4, 5,
. ii. 76
vii. 9-17,
. ii. 155
XX. 11-13,
. ii. 445
ix. 1, 13-21,
. ii. 182
xxi. 6, .
. ii. 100
xi. 16, 17,
. ii. 159
xxi. 6, 7,
ii. 105, 194
xii. 15, .
. ii. 441
xxi. 9-11,
. ii. lis
xiii. 11, .
. i. 394
xxii. 9, .
. ii. 38
xiv. 1, .
. ii. 122
xxii. 10-12,
ii. 36, 163
xiv. 4, . . i
. 337, ii. 168
xxii. 13, 14,
. ii. 122
IL— INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTEPS.
Actor, an, to be forLidden tlie com-
raunion of the church while he
continues his disgraceful employ-
ment, i. 202 ; and even if he
has given up the stage, if he con-
tinues to teach the art to others,
203.
Adulterers, is peace to be granted
to, when penitent, i. 144, 145.
Adultery, the sinfulness of, ii. 257.
Afflictions, the use and design of,
ii. 63 ; ought to be patiently en-
dured, 144.
Agrippinus, bishop of the pro\'ince
of Africa and Numidia, i. 256.
Alms, the use and efficacy of, ii. 1,
etc. ; the reward of those who
give, 20 ; the benefit of, proved
by Scripture testimonies, 135-
141.
Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, 1. 183,
184 ; their courage and constancy,
328, 373.
Angel, the, who appeared to Jacob,
ii. 344, etc.
Anger, to be restrained, ii. 146.
Animals, clean and unclean, Nova-
tian's views respectinsr, ii. 384,
etc., 386.
Antiquity, an ignorant, ought not to
rule us, ii. 481, 482.
Antonianus, Cyprian's ej)istle to,
respecting Cornelius and Nova-
tian, i. 133.
Apostles, the attitude of the, to-
wards heretics, i. 268.
Ark, the, of Noah, an emblem of the
church, i. 295, 304, ii. 434
Assur^e, an epistle of the people of,
respecting Fortunatianus, their
lajjsed bishop, i. 22, etc.
Aurelius, the confessor, raised to be
a reader, i. 93.
Auspices and auguries, the, of the
heathen, ii. 493.
Baptism, various references to, i. 3,
26, 66, 91, 145 ; cleanses from sin,
i. 311, ii. 2 ; necessarj^, 163 ; to be
followed by good works, 163, 164;
sin put away in, 185.
Baptism, a threefold, ii. 421-423.
MDEX OF SUBJECTS.
533
Baptism by sprinkling, i. 311, 312.
Daptism, the cessation of the old,
and the beginning of the new,
foretold, ii. 87.
Baptism, evangelical and saving, ii.
4U4.
Baptism, the, of infants, i. 196.
Baptism, the, of heretics, on their
repentance, asserted and defended
in varioixs epistles, i. 250, etc., 253,
etc., 257, etc., 260, etc., 276, etc.,
285, etc., 303, etc. ; the judgment
of eighty-seven bishops on, ii. 199,
etc. ; acts and records respecting
the controversy relating to, 396,
397.
Baptism of blood, the, i. 157.
Baptism by lire, heretical perver-
sion of the meaning of, ii. 425.
Baptismal regeneration, i. 280, 281,
294, ii. 2.
Baptized, the, may lose the grace
which they have received, ii. 164.
Baptizing of Novatians, the, an
epistle on, i. 302.
Baptizing, the, of persons on a sick-
bed, i. 311. _
Basilides and Martial, lapsedbishops,
an epistle respecting, i. 235-242.
Baths, promiscuous, censured, i. 346,
347.
Battle, the Christian's, with the
devil, i. 455.
Believer, the, should not live as the
Gentiles, i. 168.
Birth, the new, effected in baptism,
]. 2, 3, 280, 281.
Bishop, the fall of a, various refer-
ences to, i. 17, 38, 44, 145, 226,
227, 246, 248, 249.
Bishops, chosen bv popular suffrage,
i. 106, 165, 238," 239.
Boasting, to be avoided, ii. 143.
Bread, daily, to be prayed for, i.
410.
Brother, on helping a fallen and
wounded, i. 144.
Brotherly affection, ii. 141.
Brothers, the seven, of the Maccabees,
ii. 69-73.
Burdens, bearing one another's, i. 143.
Cnecilius, a heathen, salutes an image
of Serapis, ii. 452, 453 ; disputes
with Octavius in defence of his
religion, 454, 455.
Creoilius, an epistle to, on the sacra-
ment of the cup of the Lord. i.
208, etc.
Cain and Abel, their offering, i. 414,
415.
Caldonius, an epistle of, to Cyprian,
respecting certain of the lapsed
who had in a new persecution
confessed Christ, i. 5Q ; Cyprian's
reply to, 57.
Calumniators, an epistle to Flavins
Pupianus on, i. 243.
Candida and Numeria, lapsed sisters,
i. 59, 60.
Captives, Christian, an epistle on
the redemption of, i. 199, etc.
Cirnal and spiritual things, ii. 184.
Catechumens who suffer martyrdom
before they are baptized, the case
of, i. 273.
Caution, the need of, i. 378.
Celerinus, an epistle of, to Lucian,
entreating peace for his lapsed
sisters, from the confessors of
Carthage, i. 58, etc. ; extolled —
ordered to be made a reader, 95.
Certificate, a written, in the name
of the martyrs by Lucianus, i. 54.
Certificates from tlae martyrs to the
lapsed, no account to be made of,
before the peace of the church is
restored, i. 55, etc.
Certificates received from the hea-
then in times of persecution con-
demned, i. 370 ; the difference be-
tween those who receive and those
who sacrifice, 140, 141.
Charity and brotherly affection, ii.
141.
Chastity, ii. 253 ; the praises of, 255;
degrees of, 255, 256; the precepts of
ancient, 256 ; Joseph and Susanna
examples of, 258-260 ; the plea-
sures of, 260 ; the real nature of,
261 ; things inconsistent with, 261,
262 ; to be cultivated by both men
and women, 262, 263.
Children, the three, in the fiery fur-
nace, i. 403.
Christ, the source of salvation to
men, i. 449 ; predicted, 450 ; cast
out demons, 450 ; His death and
resurrection, 450, 451 ; His patience
and compassion, ii. 25 ; foretold
as the temple of God, 89 ; the First-
born and Wisdom of God, 99, 100 ;
the Word of God, 101 ; the Hand
and Arm of God, 101, 102 ; at
534
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
once angel and God, 102-106 ; the
Enlightener and Saviour, 106 ;
although existing from the begin-
ning, yet begotten according to
the flesh, 107 ; born of a virgin,
108 ; God and man, 108, 109 ; of
the seed of David, 109 ; to be born
in Bethlehem, 110; His first advent
in a low estate. 111 ; the Righteous
One whom the Jews would put to
death, 112; called a sheep and a
lamb — His passion, 113 ; called a
stone, 115 ; a stone destined to
become a mountain, 117 ; the
Bridegroom of the church, 118 ;
His crucifixion foretold, 120 ; the
power of the passion and cross of,
121 ; other prophecies respecting,
122, etc. ; shall come as Judge,
125, etc. ; Judge and King, 128 ;
our example, 170 ; really the Son
of God and' truly man, 318, etc. ;
truly God, Son of God, and Son
of man, 320, etc. ; His Godhead
proved from the Old Testament
Scriptures, 323, etc. ; and from
the writings of the JSTew Testa-
ment, 325, etc., 328, etc., 330, etc.
Christian, the, greater than the
world, i. 12.
Christians born again in baptism, i.
280, 281.
Christians, the, accused of being the
cause of famines, etc., i. 424, etc. ;
the madness of cruelty to, 433,
etc. ; their quiet submission to
persecution, 436, etc. ; avenged
on their persecutors, 436 ; con-
trast between the heathen and
the, in suffering the same outward
evils, 437, etc. ; in the coming
judgment their cause will be up-
held, 439 ; attacked by disease as
well as the heathen, 456 ; destined
to suffer more than others, 457 ;
the abominable charges brought
against, by the heathen refuted,
463, 464 ; heathen charges against
the religion of the, 464, 465, 466-
471 ; refutation of such charges
against, 471, etc., 497, etc., 501,
etc. ; the belief of, in the Crucified
One, 499, etc. ; do not conceal the
object of their worship, 502, etc. ;
the morals of, far superior to those
of the Gentiles, 510.
Chrrch, the, compai'ed to a ship, i.
86 ; the unity of the, 108, 127,
147, 148, 284, 304, 305, 306, 377,
378 ; hearing the, 303 ; predic-
tions respecting, ii. 91.
Clean and unclean animals, the rea-
son of the distinction of, ii. 384,
etc., 386, etc., 389, etc. ; the dis-
tinction of, abolished by Chiist,
390, etc.
Clementius, i. 14.
Clergy, the duty of the, in times of
persecution, i. 16, 18, 20, 21.
Clinic baptism, i. 311.
Coat, the seamless, of Christ, i. 382.
Confessing Christ, i. 72, 73, 87, 365,
393, 394.
Confession of sins, i, 371.
Confessors, i. 19, 21 ; the bad con-
duct of some, 22, 25, 26, 27 ; an
epistle to, 23, etc. ; exhorted,
stimulated, and eulogized, 51-54 ;
a certificate of the, to the peni-
tent lapsed, 54 ; kindness to be
shown to, in prison, 101 ; the
days of their departure to be com-
memorated, 102 ; exhortation to
the Eoman, seduced by Novatian,
to return to unity, 117 ; Cornelius
informs Cyprian of the return of
the Roman, to the church, 121 ;
Cyprian's congratulation on the
return of the, 124 ; a letter to
Cyprian informing him of the re-
turn of, to the church, 130 ; Cy-
prian's letter of congratulations
to, 130 ; an epistle to certain, in
prison, encouraging, 325, etc. ;
the constancy of, lauded, 352.
Confirmation, i. 257.
Continency, everything opposed to,
to be avoided, i. 346 ; and mar-
riage, 349.
Contest, the, of the martyrs, 1. 34,
35, 36, 186, 187.
Cornelius, letter of Cyprian to, re-
specting his ordination, i. 113; an
epistle to, respecting his confes-
sion, 189; a blessed martyr, 194.
Council, the, assembled at Carthage
to consider the baptism of heretics,
ii. 199; other coimcils held for the
same purpose, 396, 397.
Courage required in a bishop, i. 160,
161.
Covenant, the new, foretold, ii. 87.
Creation, the works of, described, ii.
298.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
535
Cross, the potency of the, ii. 121.
Cup of the Lord, the, not to be water,
but wine mixed with water, i. 209,
etc.
Cursing, to be avoided, ii, 151.
Custom and truth, i. 298, 299.
Cyprian, an epistle of the Roman
clergy respecting the retirement of,
i. 14, 49, etc.; conspiracy against,
106 ; exile of, 108 ; his character,
137, 138; defence of himself, 243,
etc. ; explains the reason of his re-
tirement, 331.
Daily bread, prayed for, i. 410-413.
Deacon, an epistle respecting one
who contended against his bishop,
i. 225, etc.
Death, the door to immortality, i.
465.
Death, none should be made sad by,
ii. 177.
Deluge, the, of Noah, ii. 434,
Demetriamxs, proconsul of Africa, an
epistle to, defending Christians
from the calumnies of, i. 424.
Demons, lurk under statues and
images, but flee from Christians,
ii. 495 ; bring false charges against
Christians, 497, etc.
Demons, impure wandering spirits,
seeking to ruin men, i. 446, 447.
Departed, the, not to be lamented,
i. 444, 445.
Devil, the, his work to wound God's
servants with lies, i. 139 ; his
malignity prevails up to the sav-
ing water, not further, 314 ; the
Christian's warfare with, 455 ; has
no power over man unless allowed
by God, ii. 189.
Diagoras, the Melian, ii. 461.
Dinocrates, brother of Perpetua, de-
livered from purgatory through
his sister's prayers, ii. 281, 282.
Dionysius of Alexandria, the frag-
ment of aletter of, to Pope Stephen,
ii. 399.
Disease attacks Christians as well as
heathens ; the uneasiness this fact
causes to some persons, i. 456.
Discipline, to be maintained, i. 86,
87, 88, 162, 242; its excellency,
334, 335.
Discipline of God, the, to be observed
in church precepts, 185 ; that men
should despise, foretold, 185, 186;
those who act contrary to, to be
shunned, 191.
Divinity of Jesus Christ, the, proved,
ii. 320, etc.
Donatus, i, 1.
Dove, the, of Noah, of what an em-
blem, ii. 344, 345.
Dove, the Holy Spirit under the
emblem of a, i. 384.
Dress, the, of virgins, i. 334, 335 ;
Avhen it pleases men, it offends
God, 337 ; when line, is a proof of
glorying in the flesh, 338 ; wealth
no excuse for indulging in costly,
339 ; fine, does not befit virgins,
but rather immodest women, 342;
indulgence in rich, denounced by
Isaiah, 342, 343 ; fine, an inven-
tion of the devil, 343-345 ; indul-
gence in, renders liable to divine
rejection, 345; exhortations against
the love of, 347, etc.
Duties, relative, ii. 187.
Duties' of the clergy in times of per-
secution, i. 16, 18, 20, 21.
Elements, the, not to be worshipped
as gods, ii. 56.
Eli as and the widow of Zarephath,
ii. 13.
Enemy, the, the craft of, i. 379.
Enoch, the translation of, i. 466.
En\'y, a heinous sin, ii. 39 ; of the
devil, 40, etc. ; the forms of,
manifold, 43 ; a source of misery,
43, 44 ; indications of, 44 ; Christ
fortifies us against, 45; is homicide,
46 ; exhortation against, 46-51.
Eternal generation, the, of the Son
of God, ii. 378.
Ethics, a compendious system of, ga-
thered from Scripture, ii. 130-198.
Euchratius, an epistle to, respecting
a Christian who was an actor, i.
202-208.
Evaristus, superseded in the episco-
pate by Zetus, i. 126, 127.
Evil, deliverance from, asked, i. 416.
E vil, not to be rendered for evil, ii. 1 62.
Fabian, i. 89.
Faith, the advantage of, ii. 171.
Father, we are taught to pray to
God as our, i. 404-406.
Father, the, the first person in the
Trinity, ii. 298 ; and the Sou,
distinct, 360.
536
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Faustimis, Geminius, a presbyter,
wrongly appointed executor by
Geminius Victor, i. 228-230.
Fear, the foundation and strength of
hope and faith, ii. 157.
Felicissimus and his companions in
sedition, the excommunication of,
i. 103, 104 ; epistle concerning
live schismatical presbyters of
the faction of, 105 ; character and
conduct of, 160.
Felicitas, and Perpetua, martyrs, ii.
275 ; brings forth in prison, 2S7 ;
exposure of, in the amphitheatre,
sufferings and death, 289-292.
Pidus, an epistle to, on the baptism
of infants, i. 196, etc.
Fire, baptism with, the perverse in-
terpretation of, by heretics, ii. 427.
Firmilian, bishop of Cffisarea in
Ca^Dpadocia, an epistle of, against
the letter of Stephen on the
baptism of heretics, i. 285, etc.
Florentius Pupianus, an epistle to,
on calumniators, i. 243, etc.
Food, the first given to man, ii. 385.
Food, the lust of, ii. 182.
Forgiveness asked of God, i. 413.
Forgiveness of injuries, ii. 162.
Fortunatianus, the lapsed bishop of
Assurre, i. 221, etc.
Fortunatus, i. 167, 174; an exhortation
to martyrdom addressed to, ii. 52.
Forum, the depravity abounding in
the, i. 8, 9.
Free-will, the, of man, ii. 299.
Furni, an epistle to the clergy and
people of, respecting Geminius
Victor, who appointed a presbyter
his executor, i. 228, etc,
Futurus, i. 85.
Gaius, presbyter of Didda, rejected
from communion for rashly commu-
nicating with the lapsed, i. 79, etc.
Gehenna, ii. 245.
Gentiles, the, their faith in Christ
foretold, ii. 92.
Gladiatorial games, the, i. 6.
God, is one, i. 448 ; His greatness,
448, 449 ; Plis patience, ii. 23 ;
alone to be worshipped, 56 ; His
threatenings against the worship-
j)crs of idols, 57 ; does not easily
pardon the worshippers of idols,
58 ; His anger against idolatry illus-
trated, 59 ; His secrets cannot be
seen through, 175 ; nothing can
be hidden from, 176 ; the Father
Almighty, description of, 298,
etc. ; the immensity of, 301 ; tLe
Founder, Lord, and Parent of all
things, 303 ; the goodness and im-
mutability of, 305 ; the name of,
cannot be declared, 307 ; described
in Scripture anthropomorphically,
309, etc. ; the terms — spirit,
brightness, and light, cannot ex-
press Him, 311 ; adored by the
church, and witnessed to by
nature, 313 ; the Son of, 315 ; al-
though Christ is God, yet there
is but one God, not two Gods,
375 ; discovered from His works,
474-476 ; takes care of the universe
and of all its parts, 476 ; incom-
prehensible, yet acknowledged by
men, 4-78 ; acknowledged by poets
and philosophers, 479, etc. ; not
confined to temples, 503-505 ; for-
saken by the Jews before He
forsook them, 491.
Godhea,d of Christ, the, ii. 320, etc.
Gods, the, of the heathen, how re-
presented in theatres, i. 7 ; the
vanity of the worship of, 435 ;
can't avail their own worshipj)ers,
445 ; idols not gods, ii. 56 ; the
worship of, silly, 482; men adopted
as, 483 ; ridiculed, 484, etc. ; the
fables relating to, celebrated by
poets, mischievous and corrupting,
486, 487 ; kings feigned to be, 488,
489 ; ridiculous, obscene, and cruel
rites practised in celebrating the
mj'steries of certain, 489, 490 ; the
Homans did not attain to power
by the worship of, but by arms
and terror, 491.
Hair, dyeing the, censured, i. 345.
Hallowed be Thy name, i. 406.
Hannah, the prayer of, i. 491.
Heresies permitted by God, why ?
i. 385.
Heretic, the, not benefited by con-
fessing Christ, or even by baptism
in his own blood, i. 272.
Heretics, an epistle directed against,
i. 159-180 ; on the baptizing of,
and its necessitj^, 250, etc., 253,
etc., 257, etc., 260, etc. ; ve^Aj to
the letter of Pope Stephen re-
specting the baptizing of, 276, etc. ;
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
537
second reply, addressed to Fir- j
niilian, bishop of Cappadocia, 285, j
etc. ; epistle to Magnus on tlie |
baptizing of, 302, etc. I
Heretics execrated by the apostles, !
i. 268. _ . . 1
Iliero, his question to Simonides, I
and Simonides' reply, ii. 4G9. I
Holy Spirit, those onh'' who have
the, can remit sins in baptism,
i. 310 ; given equally to all in the
church, 313 ; to be believed in
equally with the Father and the
Son, ii. 371, etc. ; given by the
imposition of the bishop's hands, j
400, 407.
Holy Spirit, the, under the emblem i
of a dove, i. 384. j
Holy Spirit, grieving the, ii. 145. 1
Home, the joy of going, i. 467, 4GS.
Hours of prayer, i. 421-423. |
Humility, to be cultivated, ii. 143.
Idols, the vanity of, i. 443-451 ; not
gods, ii. 56 ; divine threatenings
against the worshippers, 57 ; God
does not easily pardon the worship-
pers of, 59 ; more resj)ecting, 170.
Idolatry, necessarily involved in the
public shows, ii. 224.
Idols, things offered to, not allowed
to be eaten, ii. 304, 305.
Immensity of God, the, ii. 301.
Immortality, reachcdby death, i. 465.
Impatience, the mischiefs of, i. 465.
" Increase and multiply," God's first
decree, His second continency, i.
340.
Infant, a curious story of a Christian,
to which bread mixed with Avine
was given in the presence of an
idol, i. 368.
Infants, the baptism of, i. 196.
Intemperance in Christians detest-
able, ii. 394.
Isaiah, his denunciation of the
daughters of Zion for their dress
and ornamentation, i. 342.
Januarius, an epistle to, on the
baptism of heretics, i. 250, etc.
Januarius of Vicus Ciusaris, ii. 206,
207.
Jealousy and envy, ii. 39, etc.
Jesus Christ. See Christ.
Jewish meats, Novatian on, ii. 382,
etc.
Jews, three books against, summary
of, ii. 78, etc. ; their treatment of
the prophets, 81, etc. ; their un-
belief and ignorance foretold, 82 ;
other predictions respecting their
sins and calamities, 85, etc., 95,
etc. ; how they may obtain par-
don, 96, 97 ; forsook God before
He forsook them, 505-507.
Job, alUicted, but not conquered by
atlliction, i. 457 ; an example of
jjatience, ii. 33.
Joseph, an example of chastit}', ii.
258.
Julianus, an epistle to, on the bap-
tizing of heretics, i. 260, etc.
Judah, the blessing of, i. 211.
Judas, the painful example of, i. 395.
Judgment, the coming, i. 493, etc.
Judgments, rash, to be avoided, ii.
163.
Kingdom of God, the prayer for the
coming of the, i. 406 ; in what it
consists, ii. 186.
Kingdoms, the rise of, i. 446.
Kings, often feigned by the heathen
to be gods, ii. 487-489.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the
sin of, i. 226, 237, 308, 309.
Lapsed, the, an epistle to certain pres-
byters who had too soon granteiL
peace to, i. 37, etc. ; an epistle to
certain martyrs and confessors,
who sought that peace should be
granted to, 40, etc. ; an epistle to
the people respecting, 43, etc. ; an
epistle to the clergy respecting, 4.5,
etc. ; peace to be granted to, only
on repentance, 47 ; the daring con-
duct of some, 50 ; the seditious
demand of some to be restored to
peace, 64 ; how to be purged, 75 ;
an epistle to, 77, etc. ; none to
communicate with, 80 ; epistle of
the lloman clergy respecting, 82 ;
prayer for, 89, 90 ; proper conduct
required of, 90 ; how to be dealt
with, 91 ; an epistle concerning
granting peace to, 154, etc. ; un-
christian severity of Xovatiau to-
ward, 150, 151, 171, 173 ; an
epistle concerning Basilides and
Martial, who were of the number
of, 235, etc.; bewailed, 353; the
causes of the fall of, 354, etc..
538
INDEX OF SUBJECTS,
S58-360 ; some of, fell at tlie first
word of threatening, 356 ; some
overcome by tortures, 360 ; com-
munion sinfully granted to, before
full repentance, 361, etc. ; must
appease the Lord by atonement
before reception to communion,
363 ; mercy to, can be granted by
God alone, 363, 364-366 ; the
temerity of some of the, 367 ; the
punishment inflicted on some of,
367, 368 ; a curious case of an in-
fant, 368, 369 ; the supernatural
punishment of certain women of
the number of, 369, 370 ; certifi-
cates received by some who had
not actually sacrificed, 370 ; all
exhorted to repentance, 371 ; the
genuine fruits of repentance in,
372 ; the stupor of some who are
to be avoided — the depth of the
repentance required of, 374, 375 ;
a worse crime than that of, 393 ;
hope of pardon must not be denied
to, ii. 430.
Law, abolition of the old, and giving
of a new, foretold, ii. SQ, 87.
Lord's Prayer, the, expounded, i.
399-423 ; the preface of, 403, 404 ;
first petition, 406 ; second petition,
406, 407 ; third petition, 407-410 ;
fourth petition, 410-413 ; fifth pe-
tition, 413-416; sixth petition, 416.
L:>rd's Supper, the, the cup in, not
to be water, but -vvine mixed with
water, i. 208, etc. ; the institution
of, 214.
Love of God and Christ, the, to be
preferred to everything, ii. 156.
Lucian, the forwardness of, to grant
peace to the lapsed, i. 64, etc.
Lucius, bishop of Eome, an epistle
to, i. 193.
Lust of food, and of possessing, ii.l82.
Luxury, ii. 390, 393.
Maccabean brothers, the seven he-
roic, ii. 69-73.
Maccabees, the, i. 184.
Magisterial office, the, the depravity
which characterized, i. 10.
Magnus, an epistle to, respecting the
baptizing of Novatians, etc., i. 302,
etc.
Mappalicus, the African martyrs
exhorted to perseverance by the
example of, i. 35, 36.
Man, created free, but subject to law,
ii. 299.
Manna, the equality observed in the
distribution of, a type, i. 313.
Marcian, bishop of Aries, who had
joined himself to JSTovatian, i. 231,
etc.
Marcion, those who come from, to be
baptized, i. 262 ; the faith of, dif-
ferent from the faith of the church,
263.
Marriage, and continency, i. 349 ;
not to be contracted with the Gen-
tiles, ii. 183; chastity in, 256.
Marriage of Cana, the, i. 216.
Martialis and Basilides, lapsed
bishops, i. 235-242.
Martyr, no one can be a, who is not /
in the church, i. 388. V
Martyrdom, exhortation and en-
couragements to, i. 180-188, ii.
52, etc. ; examples of, i. 183 ; not
in man's will, but in God's conde-
scension— the spirit of, the main
thing, 463; the benefits of, ii. 152,
etc. ; the glory of, 231-252 ; the
nature of, 233, etc. ; how great it
is, 239; the advantage of, 244, etc.
Martyrdom, the, of the seven Mac-
cabean brothers, ii. 69-73.
Martyrs, the African, an epistle to,
i. S3, etc. ; the tortures and con-
test of the, 34, 35 ; some of, seek
that peace be granted to the lapsed,
40, etc. ; no account to be made
of certificates from, to the lapsed
till the peace of the church is re-
stored, 55 ; an epistle to those in
the mines, 316 ; the replies of
those in the mines, 321, 323, 324 ;
the hope and reward of the, ii. 74-
78; PerpetuaandFelicitas, 275, etc.
]\Iaximus and Jovinus, i. 168, 169.
Meat, the true, ii. 391, 392.
Meats, the distinction of clean and
unclean, how explained by Nova-
tian, ii. 384, etc. , 386 ; why cer-
tain, were prohibited to the Jews,
389 ; the distinctions of clean and
unclean, abolished, 390, etc. ; the
abolition of the distinction be-
tween, does not allow luxury, 393,
etc. ; offered to idols not allowed
to be eaten, 394, 395.
Melchizedek, i. 210.
Mercy, the benefit of, ii. 135.
Mimes, the, i. 7, ii. 227.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
539
Minesf, an epistle to the martyrs in
the, i. 316, etc.
Minucius Felix, anotice of, i. 449, 450.
Modesty demanded of the lapsed, i.
90.
Money, the lust of possessing, ii. 282.
Moses, the prayer of, for his people,
i. 364, 365.
Moses, the Prophet like unto, fore-
told, ii. 90, 91.
Mortality, a treatise on the, i. 453-468.
Mother, the noble, of the seven
heroic brothers, ii. 71-73.
Moyses and Maximus, confessors, i.
51, &S, 70, 135.
Murmuring under affliction, to be
avoided, i. 458, 459.
Name, hatred of the, predicted, ii.
164, 165.
Name of God, hallowing the, i. 406.
Nature, the beauties of, a noble ex-
hibition for the Christian, ii. 229.
Nicostratus, i. 126, 127.
Noah a type, i. 210.
Noah, the ark of, a type of the unity
of the church, i. 295, 304.
Novatianon JeAvishmeats, ii. 382, etc,
Novatian, the messengers sent to
announce the ordination of, re-
jected by Cyprian, i. Ill, etc. ;
Cornelius' account of the faction
of, 125, etc. ; account of the dis-
turbance betvreen Cornelius and,
133, etc. ; his character and arro-
gance, 147 ; presumes to search
the heart, 148 ; acts unequally,
149; further referred to, 191 ; he
and his followers re-baptize the
Catholics who come to them, 261 ;
a biographical sketch of, ii. 295 ;
works of, 296 ; treatise on the
Trinity, 297, etc. ; on Jewish
meats, 382, etc. ; an anonymous
treatise against, 429, etc.
Novatus, the crimes of, i. 126, 127. '
Numidian bishops, an epistle to the,
on the redemption of captives, i.
199.
Numidicus ordained presbyter, i. 98.
Octavius reproves Felix for a super-
stitious act of his friend Crccilius,
ii. 453 ; disputes with Ccecilius,
455 ; his reply to the argument of
Csecilius against Christianity, 472,
etc.
Oil used in baptism, i. 252.
Ornaments, unbefitting virgins, i. 342.
Painting the face, condemned, i. 3-14.
Pardon, can be granted by God alone
for sins committed against Himself,
i. 363.
Passions must be subdued, ii. 262.
Patience, the advantage of, ii. 21 ;
true and false, 22 ; an imitation
of God, 23, 24 ; taught and exem-
plified by Jesus Christ, 25 ; the,
of righteous men, 28 ; and per-
severance, 30 ; repels evil, 31 ;
r.ecessary to the fulfilment of
Christian duty, 32 ; necessary to
bear afflictions, 33 ; mischiefs re-
sulting from the want of, 34.
Patience of God, the, i. 169, ii. 23.
Paulus the martyr, i. 62.
Peace, Pope Stephen accused by
Firmilianus of breaking the, i. .301.
Peace to the lapsed, various refer-
ences to the granting of, i. 37, 40,
44,47.
People, the, C3rprian's letter to, re-
specting the lapsed, i. 43, etc.
Perpetua and Felicitas, martyrs, the
passion of, ii. 275-292.
Perpetua, Vivia, apprehended and
cast into prison ; she resists her
father's entreaties, ii. 277, 278 ;
her vision, 279 ; visited by her
father, whom she comforts, 280 ;
before the tribunal avows herself
a Christian, 281 ; prays for her
brother Dinocrates, who was dead,
281, 282 ; is again tempted by her
father, 283 ; her vision of Pom-
ponius the deacon, and of her con-
flict -with an Egyptian enemy, 283,
284 ; the vision of, granted to St.
Saturus, 285-287 ; the courage of,
288; the cruel treatment of, and of
Felicitas in the amphitheatre, 2S9 ;
is tossed by a wild cow, 290, 291 ;
is slain with the sword, 292. '
Persecution, the, at Home under
Valerian, i. 329.
Persecution, exhortation to endur-
ance under, i. 15 ; duties of tlie
clergy in times of, 16, IS, 21 ; tlio
duty of rejoicing in, 182; the
madness of, as directed against
Christians, 438 ; designed to provo
us, ii. 63 ; not to be feared — fore-
told, and to be expected, 06.
540
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Perseverance, exhortations to, i. lo,
23, 24 ; necessary to obtain tlie
crown, ii. 62.
Pestilence, a deadly, considerations
to supj)ort and cheer Christians
under it, i. 453-468 ; the terrible
nature of it, 460 ; the influence of,
on various classes, 461 ; the com-
plaint that it robs of the glory of
martyrdom ansv/ered, 462, etc.
Peter claimed no superiority over
Paul, i. 255.
Peter, the church built on, i. SSO.
Pharaoh pursuing Israel as far as the
Ptcd Sea, and there discomfited, a
type, i. 314.
Pharisee and publican, the, their re-
spective prayers, i. 402.
Philosophers and Christians, the dif-
ference between, i. 142.
Play, the, the abominations of, ii. 226.
Polycarj) the Adrumetine, an epistle
to Cornelius respecting, i. 49, etc.
Pompey, an ei^istle to, against Pope
Stephen's letter respecting the
baptizing of heretics, i. 276, etc.
Pomponius, an epistle to, respecting
the disgraceful conduct of certain
Adrgins, i, 204, etc.
Poor, the care of the, i. 100.
Popular suffrage in the election of
bishops, i. 106, 165, 239.
Prayer, Lord's. See Lord's Prayer.
Prayer, i. 28, 29, 30, 32 ; instituted
by God— what to pray for, 399 ;
to be made as we are taught, 400 ;
to God as our Father — the example
of Christ in, 417 ; watchfulness in,
418 ; not to be fruitless or naked,
419 ; ascends to God, 420 ; times
of, 421, 422.
Prayer of the three children, i. 403.
Pra5''er, the, of Hannah, i. 401.
Prayer, the, of the Pharisee and the
publican, i. 402.
Prayer for the lapsed, i. 89, 90.
Prayer of the Lord for us, i. 418.
Presbyter, one who has joined the
heretics, on his return to the
church, to be received as a lay-
man, i, 258.
Priesthood, the new, foretold, ii. 90.
Priests, reverence to be showar to, i.
163 ; the evil consequences of dis-
obeying, 164, 226, etc., 248, 249;
insult offered to, 171 ; bearing
labour incumbent on, 172 ; hold-
ing fast the gospel, cannot be con-
quered, 176 ; who are sinners, not
to be communicated with by the
people, 237 ; how to be chosen, 238.
Privatus, i. 85, 168.
Prophet, the, like unto Moses, ii.
90, 91.
Prophetess, a false, in the days of
the Emperor Alexander, described
by Firmilianus, i. 292, 293.
Protagoras of Abdera, denies the
gods, ii. 461.
Punishment, supernatural, inflicted
on certain of thelai)sed, i. 367-309.
Pupianus, an epistle to, i. 2J3.
Quintus, an epistle to, on the baptiz-
ing of heretics, i. 253.
Quirinus, Cyprian's dedication of
his third book against the Jews
to, ii. 130.
Eahab gathering her relatives into
her house for safety, a type, i.
305.
Ptaphael, the words of, to Tobias,
i. 420.
Pe- baptism, the, of heretics con-
demned by an anonymous author,
ii. 401, etc.
Redeemed, the, should prefer Christ
to everything, ii. 60 ; should not
return to the world, 61 ; should
persevere in virtue to obtain the
crown, 62.
Pedemption, the, of Christian cap-
tives, i, 199.
Remission of sins through the
church, i. 251 ; given in baptism,
264, 296, 310 ; cannot be granted
in the church to those who have
sinned against God, ii. 164.
Repentance, must be sincere, i. 143;
a time of, granted to the greatest
sinners, 144, 145, 146 ; the error
of Xovatian and his follow^ers as
to, 150, 151, 171 ; the lapsed ex-
horted to, 371 ; the lapsed re-
quired to show the sincerity of
their, 372 ; the depth of the, re-
quired in the lapsed, 374-376 ;
efficacy of sincere, 376 ; exhorta-
tion to, ii. 264, etc.
Repostus of Saturnica, i. 169.
Resurrection, nature suggests a, ii.
507, 508.
Retirement, the, of Cyprian in a
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
541
time of persecution, an epistle
explaining the reason of, i. 3ol.
Tiich, the, exhorted to impart of
their riches to those who are in
need, ii. 7, etc.
Eich man, the, the misery of, i. 10, 11.
Ilich women, addressed on the right
use of their wealth, i. 3oS-312.
Riches, i. 412.
Eighteous, the, the afflictions of, ii.
144 ; the rewards of, o09.
Eogatianus, i. 23 ; an epistle to,
respecting a deacon who contended
against his bishop, 225, etc. ; an
epistle to, and other confessors in
prison, encouraging them, 325, etc.
Eomans, the, how they acquired
their power over the world, ii.
491-493.
Sabellians, the, refuted, ii. 3G2.
Sacrament, the, of the cup of the
Lord, an epistle on, i. 20S, etc.
Sacrifice, the abolition of the old,
and the introduction of the new,
foretold, ii. 89.
Saturninus, i. 61 ; and Eevocatus,
martyrs, ii, 277, 290.
Saturus, and Optatus, i, G7 ; the
vision granted to, ii. 285 ; suffer-
ings of, in the amphitheatre, 290,
291.
Schism, i. 164, ii. 190.
Scriptures, the sacred, the exhibi-
tions contained in, worthy of the
Christian's faith, ii. 229, 230.
Secrets of God, the, cannot be seen
through, ii. 175.
Secundulus, ii. 277, 287.
Serapis, Crccilius salutes an image
of, ii. 453.
Ship, the, of the church, ii. B>Q.
Shows, public, ii, 221 ; attempted
defence of, by some, 222 ; refuta-
tion of the arguments for, 223 ;
forbidden by the Scriptures when
idolatry is forbidden, 224 ; the
unnatural sacrifices and scenes
exhibited in, 225 ; the shameless
corruption of, 220 ; the nobler
exhibitions which Christians have,
228-230,
Sick persons, the baptism of, on
their beds, i, 311.
Simeon, i. 454,
Simonides, the question which Hiero
asked, ii. 469.
Sins, committed against God can be
pardoned by God alone, i. '.^I6:^,
'j64, 365 ; all, may be forgiven the
penitent, proved by Scripture, ii.
264, etc.
Sins, the remission of, in the church,
i. 251 ; given in baptism, 264,
Sins, alms purge from, ii. 2,
Son of God, the, the rule of- truth
teaches us to believe in, after the
Father, ii. 315 ; Jesus Christ is
truly, 318; is the Angel which
appeared to Jacob, 344 ; one, and
the Father one, 355 ; objections
of heretics refuted, 364, 367 ; be-
gotten from eternitj', the second
person in the Trinity, 378, etc. ;
his community of substance with
the Father, 381.
Son of man, and Son of God, the
difference between, ii. 359, etc.
Soul, the, the charioteer of the body,
ii. 263.
Spectacles, public, exposed and con-
demned, ii. 221, etc.
Spirit, the freedom and power of, i. 45.
Sprinkling, baptism by, i. 311,
Stage, the shameless corruption of
the, ii. 226, etc.
Stephanus, bishop of Eome, an
epistle to, respecting Marcian,
bishop of Aries, i, 231, etc, ; an
epistle to, respecting the baptiz-
ing of heretics, 257, etc, ; an
epistle against, on the baptizing
of heretics, 276, etc, ; forbids the
baptizing of heretics on their re-
turn to the church, 277 ; Fir-
milianus' letter against, on the
same question, 285, etc.
Stupor, the, into which some of the
lapsed fall, i. 374.
Succcssus, an epistle to, respecting
a persecution which had broken
out at Eome, i. 329.
Sufferings for Christ, the rcAvard of,
ii. 74, 76 ; of less account than the
reward promised, 155.
Suffrage, popular, in the election of
bishops, i, 106, 165, 239.
Susanna, an example of chastity, ii.
259.
Swearing, to be avoided, ii. 150, 151.
Temptation, the prayer not to be led
into, i. 415.
Ten tribes, the, i, 307.
542
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Tertullus, i. 20, 102.
Thacius, Cyprian so named, why ? i.
243 (note).
Theatres, the abominations of, i, 6.
\_See Shows — Spectacles. ]
Theodoras of Cyrene, ii. 461.
Thibaris, an epistle to the people of,
exhorting to martyrdom, i. 180.
Tobias, his prayers, i. 420 ; his suf-
ferings and stedfastness under
them, 458.
Torture, an epistle respecting those
who have been overcome by, i.
152, etc. ; alleged by some of the
lapsed as an excuse for their fall,
360, 361.
Trials, God's purpose in sending, ii.
152.
Trinity, the, Novatian's treatise on,
ii. 297 ; the Father, 298, etc. ; the
Son, 315, etc. ; the Holy Spirit,
371, etc, ; one God, 375, etc.
Trophimus, i. 139.
Trust in God, ii. 146, 147.
Truth, to be preferred to custom, i.
298, 299.
Two or three met together in the
name of Christ, i. 386, 387.
Unity of the church, the, i. 108,
127, 147, 284, 304, 305, 306 ; dis-
cussed at length, 377-398 ; argued
from the appointment of Peter,
880 ; illustrations of, 381 ; argued
from the church being the spouse
of Christ, 382 ; from the seamless
robe of Christ, 382, 383; one flock,
383 ; objection met, 386 ; evils of
discord and schisms, 388, etc.
Usury forbidden, ii. 173.
Valerian, the Emperor, decrees the
persecution of the Christians, i.
329, 330.
Vengeance, to be left to God, ii. 36, 38.
Vices, the secret, which abounded
in the heathen world, i. 8.
Victor of Furni, who appointed a
presbyter his executor, excluded
from the benefit of offerings or
' commemoration, i. 228-230.
Virgins, the disgraceful conduct of
some, sleeping with men, etc.,
i. 204-208 ; warned against in-
dulging in dress, 337, etc. ; impro-
perly present at wedding parties,
^46 J mixing in promiscuous baths,
XT
346, 347 ; faithfully warned and
exhorted, 347-350 ; the great re-
ward of faithful, 348.
Virginity, the excellency and glory
of, i. 336, 337 ; the benefit of, ii.
166; its praises again set forth, 257.
Vows to be paid, ii. 165.
Warfare, the, of the Christian, i. 455.
Watchfulness in prayer, i. 418.
Water, the saving, i. 3.
Water, in Scripture, always denotes
baptism, i. 212.
Water for baptism must be first
sanctified by the priest, i. 251.
Water, the cup of the Lord not to
be of, 209, etc. ; the custom of
making the cup of the Lord of,
condemned, 216-220.
Wedding parties, virgins improperly
present at, i. 346.
Wicked men, the punishment of,
ii. 509, 510.
Widow of Zarephath, the, an ex-
ample, ii. 13.
Will of God, the, the prayer that it
may be done on earth, i. 407-410 ;
the duty of submission to, 463 ;
to be obeyed, not our own, ii. 157.
Vv^ine mixed with water, the cup of
the Lord is to consist of, i. 209,
210 ; the reason of this, 216 ; the
contrary custom condemned, 217.
Woman, a Christian, ought not to be
adorned in worldly fashion, ii. 169;
to be silent in the church, 172.
Woman, the, who was a sinner, ii.
438, 439.
Women, rich, shown the right use
of riches, i. 338-342.
Women confessors, i. 327.
Wood, the sacred, i. 317.
Works, good, and alms, propitiate
God, ii. 4; the benefit of good,
135 etc.
World, the, the beauty of, ii. 229 ;
at last to be consumed by fire, ii.
506-508.
World, the, the wish to remain long
in, reproved, i. 466, 467 ; the end
of, drawing near, 467.
World, the, a survey of the moral
condition of, i, 5, etc.
Xistus the martyr, i. 330.
Yoke, the old and the new, ii. 88.
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