The treatises of S. Caecilius Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and martyr

BR 60 .L52 V.3

1

Cyprian,

The treatises of S.

[

Caecilius Cyprian,

Bishop

LIBRARY OF FATHERS

HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH,

ANTERIOR TO THE DIVISION OF THE EAST AND WEST.

TRANSLATED BV WEMBKRS OF THE KNOI.ISH CHURCH.

YET SHALL NOT THY TEACHERS BE REMOVED INTO A CORNER ANY MORE, BUT
THINE EVES SHALL SEE THY TEACHERS. IsCtioJl XXX. 20.

VOL. III.

OXFORD,

JOHN HENRY PARKER;

J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, LONDON.

MDCCCXXXIX.

BAXItK, PIUMEK, OXFOliU.

TO lilK
MO.ST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD

WILLIAM

l.OKl) ARCHBISHOP OF CANTE11I5U KY,

itj:mate ov all England,

FORMEllLy HEOIUS I'ROFESSaR OK DIVINITY IN THK UNIVEUSITY OK OXKOIiP,

THIS LIBKAUV

OF

ANCIENT BISHorS, FATHERS, DOCTOKS, MARTYRS, CONFESSORS,

OF Christ's holy catholic church,

I?

WITH HIS grace's permission

RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

IN TOKEN OF

REVERENCE FOR HIS PERSON AND SACRED OFFICE,

AND OF

GRATITUDE FOR HIS EPISCOPAL KINDNESS.

THE

TREATISES

S. CJLCILIUS CYPRIAN,

UISHOP OF ( AirrilACK, AND MAHTVR.

THE

TREATISES

OF

/
S. C^<:CIL1US 'CYPRIAN,

BISHOP OF CARTHAGE, AND MARTYR,
THANSLATKl),

WITH NOTES AND INDICES.

OXFORD,

JOHN HENRY PARKER;

J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, LONDON.

MDCCCXXXIX.

BAXTKR, riUNTF.lt, OXFORD.

PREFACE.

The Treatises of St. Cyprian may suitably be preceded by
the short Memoir of his life written by his Deacon Pontius,
and the Proconsular Acts of his Martyrdom.

The Memoir is recommended to our attention, not so much
by any special excellence in itself, as by the circumstance
that it is written by one who was about the Bishop's person,
who attended him in exile, and who was a witness of his
death*. The reader need scarcely be reminded, that the
Deacon in St. Cyprian's age, as afterwards, was the personal
attendant and minister of the Bishop; thus St. Laurence is
celebrated as Deacon or Archdeacon to Sextus or Xystus,
Bishop of Rome and Martyr, the contemporary of St. Cyprian ;
and St. Athanasius as Deacon to Alexander, Bishop of Alex-
andria, in the Council of Nicsea.

The Proconsular Acts are considered to be the substance
of the original, with the incidental additions of subsequent
times'*.

» S. Jerome (Script, de Vir. Illust. 68.)
praises this life as an "'egregium volu-
men."AncientMartyrologies record that
Pontius eventually followed his master
in Martyrdom. The BoUandists, how-
ever, distinguish between him and
the Martyr Pontius, vs^ho was a Priest,
and suffered in Piedmont.

•> The substantial authenticity of
these Acts seems to be generally al-
lowed ; by the Benedictines, by t'ave,
Lit. Hist. art. Pontius, and by Gibbon,

who says that they and Pontius' life
" are consistent with each other and
with probability." The Bollandists
consider that the Confession and
Martyrdom were " extracted by the
faithfiil from the public Acts, and then
a few words added in order to form
them into a continuous narration. And
that in like manner some additions
were made at the end concerning the
mode and circumstances of the Martyr-
dom, &c."

ii PREFACE.

What has further to be said of St. Cyprian is reserved for
the second part of the Vohime, which will contain his
Letters. It shall only be added here, that he was converted
to the Christian faith about A.D. 246, consecrated A.D. 248,
and martyred A. D. 258.

The JAfe of St. Cyprian, hy Pontius his Deacon.

Cyprian, that religious Priest and glorious Witness of God,
composed many works, whereby may survive the memory of
so worthy a name; the abundant fecundity of his eloquence,
and of God's grace in him, so widely spread itself in copious-
ness and richness of speech, that perchance even to the end
of the world he will speak on; and yet, forasmuch as his works
and merits claim as a right that they should become an example
to us in writing, it has seemed good to draw up this brief sum-
mary of it; not as if the life of so great a man were unknown
to any of the heathen, but that even to our posterity may be
handed on his singular and high example unto an immortal
memory. Certainly it were hard, when even laymen and
catechumens, who have obtained martyrdom, have been
honoured by our forefathers for their very martyrdom's sake,
with a record of many, nay of all details of their passion, in
order to our acquaintance with it who were yet unborn, hard
M^ere it to pass over Cyprian's passion, so great a Priest and so
great a Martyr, who even over and above his martyrdom had
lessons to teach; and hard again to hide the deeds which he did
in his life. Those in truth were such, so great and wonderful,
as to deter me by the very contemplation of their greatness,
and to urge me to a confession of my incapacity to do justice to
my subject, or to represent his high deeds in correspondent
terms, except that the multitude of his achievements tells its
own tale without heralding from others. It has to be added,
that you too are longing to hear much, or, if possible, the
whole concerning him, having a burning desire at least to
know his deeds, though his word of mouth be silent. In
which respect to say that I am deficient in the resources of

PREFACE. iii

eloquence, is to say little. Eloquence itself tails of the
means of fully satisfying your longing. Thus we arc sorely
pressed on either side; by the weight of his excellences, by
the importunity of your entreaties.

2. From what shall I commence? where enter upon hisA.D.
excellences, but from faith as a first principle, and from"'*®-
his heavenly birth? considering that the deeds of a man

of God should be reckoned from no other point than that of
his being born of God. He might have employments before
it, and a heart engaged and imbued with liberal arts; still 1
pass over all this, as up to this date tending merely to
advantage of this life^ But after he had learned sacred
knowledge and had emerged out of the clouds of this world
into the light of spiritual wisdom, whatever I was witness to,
whatever I have discovered of his preferable works, I will
relate; with the request that those deficiencies of my narrative,
which I feel will occur, should be charged upon my ignorance
rather than on his fame.

3. While he was yet in the rudiments of his faith, he felt i.e. be-
that nothing was more fitting towards God than the observance [°^'^^^^"'^"
of continence ; for the breast became what it should be, and

the understanding reached the full capacity of truth, when
the lust of the flesh was trampled on with the healthy and
unimpaired vigour of sanctity. Who has ever recorded such
a marvel? the second birth had not yet given eyes to the new
man in the full radiance of divine light, yet he was now con-
quering the old and previous darkness by the mere outskirts
of that light. Next, what is greater still, when he had gained
from Scripture certain lessons not according to the measure
of his noviciate but with the rapidity of faith, he at once

•= S. Gregory Nazian/en, in his vit.) and Tillemont refer it to a Cyprian,

oration in praise of S. Cyprian, (Orat. Bishop of Antioch in Phoenicia, who

18.) states, that before his conversion has a place in both the Roman and

he was addicted to magical arts, which Greek calendars. S. Cyprian was a

he made use of against a Christian teacher of rhetoric, of great reputation ;

female, named Justina, of whom he Jerom. de Vir. Illustr. 67. and before

was enamoured ; that she however be- his conversion seems to have plunged

took herself to Christ and St. Mary, into the usual excesses of heathenism,

and the attempt ended in his burning vid. Treatise i. 2, 3. He seems not to

his books, and professing CJhristianity. have been a native of Carthage, vid.

Fell rejects the account altogether as a Ep. 7. ed. Fell. St. Austin seems to speak

mere fiction, (Monit. in Conf.S.Cypr.); of him as a Senator, Serm. 311. c. 7-
Maranus, the Benedictine Editor, (in

1) 2

iv PREFACE.

appropriated to himself what he there read to be profitable
in meriting of the Lord. Diverting his property to the
maintenance of the indigent, and distributing whole estates in
money, he secured two benefits at once, both renouncing the
pursuit of this world, than which nothing is more pernicious,
and observing mercy; — mercy, which God has preferred even
to llis sacrifices, in which even he failed who said that he had
kept all the commandments of the law, and by which Avith an
vid.iufra anticipating haste of piety, he arrived at perfection almost
'•^' before he had learned how'. Who, let me ask, of the ancients,
has done this? who of the most esteemed elders in the faith,
whose minds and ears have through ever so many years
been assailed by the words divine, ventured any thing such as
he, this man of an unformed faith and perchance unrecog-
nized profession, did achieve, surpassing the old time by
glorious and admirable works? No one reaps as soon as he
has sowed. None treads out the , vintage from a young
plantation. None yet ever sought ripe fruit of bushes freshly
planted. In him all things incredible met together. In him
the threshing anticipated, (if it can be said, for the thing
surpasses belief,) anticipated, I say, the sowing; the vintage
the tendril; the fruit, the firm root.
1 Tim. 4. The Epistle of the Apostle says, that novices should be
"^ passed by; lest the drowsiness of heathenism hanging on the

scarcely rallied senses, unlearned freshness might offend in
aught against God. He was the first, and, I suppose, the sole
instance, that greater progress is made by faith than by time.
That Eunuch indeed in the Acts of the Apostles is described as
being baptized at once by Philip, because he believed with
his whole heart; but the parallel does not hold. For the one
was both a Jew, and in his way from the Lord's Temple was
reading the Prophet Isaiah, and had hope in Christ, though
he thought Him not yet come ; the other, coming of the un-
learned heathen, had as ripe a faith at first, as few perhaps
have at last. In a word, there was no delay in his case as to
i.e. Hap- the grace of God, no postponement. I have said too little:

tism.

d S. Cyprian himself attributes his also, " after that lifegiving water

change of heart and life to his baptism ; succoured me, what was dark began to

and while confessing with Pontius " to shine, what seemed impossible, now

sin no more has come of faith," declares could be achieved." i. 3.

PREFACE. V

he forthwith received the Presbyterate and Priesthood. A. D.
Who indeed would not commit all the ranks of honour to""*^'
such a mind believing? Many are the things he did when yet
a layman, many when a Presbyter, many after the example
of just men of old, with a close imitation, earning of the Lord,
and surrendering himself to all the duties of religion. And
whenever he read of any one who had been mentioned with
praise by God, this w^as his ordinary advice, that we should
inquire on account of what deeds he had pleased God. If
Job, glorious by the testimony of God, is called a true
worshipper of God, one to whom no one might be compared
on earth, he taught that " one ought to do whatever Job had
done before; that, while we too do the same, we may obtain
the same testimony of God upon ourselves. Job, despising the
ruin of his estate, was so strong in practised virtue, as not to
feel even temporal losses of his benevolence. Penury broke him
not, nor grief, neither his wife's prayers, nor his bodily suffer-
ings shook his resolution. Virtue remained fixed in her own
home; and resignation established upon deep foundations, was
moved by no assault of the devil who tempted, from blessing his
Lord with a thankful faith even amid adversity. His house
Was open to any one who came. No widow returned with
her lap empty; nor blind, but was guided by him as a com-
panion; nor feeble in step, but was lifted by him as by a carrier;
nor helpless under the hand of the powerful, but had him for
a champion. These things," he used to say, " must they do
who would please God*"." And thus running through the
specimens of all good men, while he ever imitated the best,
he set forth himself also for imitation.

5. He had an intimacy with one among us, a just and
memorable man, by name Caacilius^, a Presbyter both by age
and order, who had converted him from his wanderings in
this world to the acknowledgment of the true divinity : him
he loved with full honour and all observance, looking up to
him with dutiful veneration, not merely as the friend and
brother of his soul, but as though the parent of liis new life.

« This passage does not occur in any name, the name of one to whom he owed

of S. Cyprian's extant Treatises ; it so much ; vid. Jeroni. 1. e. Hence

resembles them in style. his full names are Thascius Caecilius

f S. Cyprian, adopted as a Christian Cyprianus.

248

vi PREFACE.

And so it was that Caecilius, comforted by such attentions, was
led, and reasonably, to such a fulness of affection, that, on
departing from this world, when his summons was near, he com-
mended to him his wife and children, and thus, from making
him a member of his communion, in the event made him the
heir of his affection e. It were long to go through details; it
were a toil to enumerate his holy deeds.
A.I). 6. For evidence of his good woi'ks, I suppose this is enough,

that by the judgment of God and the good will of the people,
he was chosen for the office of the Priesthood, and the rank
of the Episcopate, while yet a neophyte, and, as was con-
sidered, a novice''. Although still in the first days of his
faith, and in the rudimental season of his spiritual life, in such
sort did his noble disposition shine out, that, resplendent in
the brightness at least of hope, though not of office, he promised
a full performance of the duties of the priesthood, which was
coming on him. Nor will I pass over that special circum-
stance, how, while the whole people, God influencing, poured
itself out in love and honour of him, he on the other hand
humbly withdrew himself, yielding to older men, and deem-
ing himself unworthy of the title of such honour, whereby he
became the more worthy. For he is but made more worthy/
who declines what he deserves. With such emotion was
the excited people at that time agitated, longing with
spiritual desire, as the event proves, not a Bishop merely;
but in him who had hid himself, and whom it was by a
divine presage so demanding, seeking, not a Priest only,
but a Martyr to come. A numerous bi'otherhood had beset
the doors of his house; solicitous love poured itself around
all the approaches. What befel the Apostle might then
perhaps have been granted to him, as he wished it, to be
let down through a window; had he already shared with the
Apostle tlie honour of ordination. One might see all others

S Ck'ricSjhowcvcr, "by the Canons of Treatise vi.-l .infra. "NunierousBishops,

tlie African Church, could not become despipinsi: their sacred calling, engaged

trustees to the property of their brethren, themselves in secular vocations, ""divina

on the ground that they were boun(l procuratione contempta, proairaforcs

to serve nouL,'ht but the altar and reruin seciilarium fieri."
sacrilice, and to keep their time for h Vid. I Tim. iii. (). S. Ambrose,

.sujiplications and prayers." Fell in Cypr. Nectarius, Ensebius of Ciesarea in

Epist. 1. vid. Cone. Cartliag. A.D. 8-18. Cappadocia, and others, were made

'iiie same rule iiiiiy be alluded to in l)ishops under the same circumstances.

PREFACE. vii

in anxious suspense waiting foi- his coming, and receiving
him with excess of joy when he came. I say it unwillingly,
but I must say it. Some resisted him', even that he might
obtain his wish. Whom however, how forbearingly, how
patiently, how kindly he bore with ! how indulgently he
forgave, reckoning them afterwards among his most intimate
and familiar friends, to the wonder of many ! for who, but
might count it miraculous that so retentive a memory should
become go oblivious?

7. How henceforth he bore himself, who would suffice to
relate ! how great was his loving-kindness, his strength of
mind ! his mercy, his severity ! Such sanctity and grace
shone forth from his countenance as to confuse the gazer.

4fiis look was grave and glad ; neither a sternness which was
sad, nor overmuch good nature ; but a just mixture of both ;
so that one might doubt whether he claimed more our rever-
ence or our love, except that he claimed both. Nor did his
dress belie his countenance, subdued, as it was, to the
middle course. ^He was not the man to be inflated with the
pride of the world's fashions ; yet neither to grovel in a
studious penury; in that the latter style of dress is as boastful,
as that so ambitious frugality is ostentatious. How, when a
Bishop, he acted towards the poor, whom he already loved as a
catechumen, let the priests of mercifulness consider ; whether
taught in the office of good works by the discipline of their very
order, or obliged to the duty of love by the general bond of
the Gospel Sacrament. As for Cyprian, what he was, such his
Bishop's seat found him ready made, and did not make him.

8. And so it was that for such merits he forthwith obtained A. D.
also the glory of proscription. Nor was it other than fitting
that one, who within the retreat of conscience so abounded in
the full honours of religion and faith, *Should also have a public
name among the Gentiles. Indeed he might even then, for

the rapidity with which he developed into all things, have
hastened to the appointed crown of Martyrdom; especially

1 Five Priests opposed his conse- tise v.) and joined the party of Felicis-

cration, one of them hein.i; Novatus ; simus. This they did when S. Cypnan

they afterwards fomented the disorders was in concealment during the perse-

of which the Confessors were made the cution. vid. Ep. 43. init. ed. Fell,
instrument, (vid. infra Introd, to Trea-

vid.

'i'reat. i.

vi.l.

iv.

vid.

vi.

vid.

vii.

vid.

ii-.

and

viii.

viii PREFACE.

since the cries were frequent which called him "to the lion'';"

had it not been meet that he should pass through all degrees

of glory before he came to the highest, and had not the ruin

of the Church which then threatened needed the aid of

so fertile a mind. For imagine him taken hence at that

time by the high reward of Martyrdom ; who was there to

shew the gains of grace making progress by faith? who to

curb the single women as it were with the bridle of the

Lord's lessons into a congruous rule of chastity, and a dress

becoming their holiness? who to teach penitence to the

Lapsed ? truth to heretics, unity to schismatics ? to the sons

of God peace and the law of Gospel prayer ? who to be the

instrument of overthrowing blaspheming Gentiles, by retorting

on them their charges on us? by whom were Christians, grieved

vid. xi. at loss of friends with excess of fondness or (what is worse)

defect of faith, by whom to be comforted with the hope of

vid. X. things to come? from whom should we else learn mercy?

vid. xi. from whom patience ? who was there to I'epress the evil

vid. xii. feeling springing from the malignity of poisonous envy, with

vid. xiii. f\^Q sweetness of a salutary remedy ? who to cheer the host of

Martyrs with the exhortation of a divine discourse, — who

lastly to hasten with a stirring heavenly trumpet those many

confessors, signed with a second inscription on their brow,

and reserved as living examples of Martyrdom ? Well surely

it was ordered then, well and indeed divinely, that a man so

necessary for so many and so good objects, w^as retarded from

a Martyr's consummation'.

9. You wish to be sure that that retirement of his which
now took place, was not from fear"'; not to allege other

•' " Christianos ad Leoneni." Ter- "" On the subject of flight in perse-

tiillian Apnl. 40. de Spect. 26. cution, vid. infra note g, on vi. 8. vid.

1 S.Jerome relates, that he had seen also Ep. 34. fin. ed. Fell. Tertullian
an old man, viho professed to have seen in in his Montanistic Tract De fitgd in
his youth an amanuensisof S.Cyprian's, Persentfimie maintains that flight is
who was in the habit of relating that unlawful. The Eoman Clergy (Ep. 8.)
the latter never passed a day without find fault with S. Cyprian's flight : he
reading Tertullian, continually saying to defends himself, (Ep. 20.) saying he
him, Da Magistrum ; Hand me my withdrew to hinder a riot. His warrant
Master, vid. Jerom. de Vir. Illustr. for doing so was a divine direction.
53. also Introd. to Treatise iv. That vid. Ep. 16. " When a persecution
S. Cyprian however did not follow impended, the Bishops used to assemble
Tertullian implicitly is plain from his the people, and exhort them to con-
retiring from the persecution, not to stancy. Then they baptized infants and
mention other points of difference. catechumens and divided the Eucha-

PREFACE. ix

evidence, he did suffer afterwards ; which suffering of course
he would have shrunk from according to his wont, had he
shrunk from it before. But in truth, fear it was, but right
fear ; fear of offending the Lord, fear which had rather be
dutiful to God's precepts, than be crowned together with the
breach of them. -A mind surrendered in all things to God,
and a faith enslaved to the divine directions, considered that
it would be sinning in very suffering, unless it had obeyed
the Lord who then ordered that retreat. Something more
must here be said on the advantage of the postponement,
though already I have touched on the subject. By what
seems shortly to have taken place, we may prove, as follows,
that that retirement did not issue from human pusillanimity,
but, as is the case, was really divine. The people of God
had been ravaged with the extraordinary and fierce assaults
of a harrassing persecution ; and, whereas the crafty enemy
could not deceive all by one and the same artifice, therefore
raging against them in manifold ways, wherever the incautious
soldier exposed his side, there he worsted each by various
overthrows. Some one was required who, when wounds had
been received, and darts cast by the changeful art of the
torturing enemy, had heavenly remedies at hand according to
the nature of each, now to pierce and now to sooth ; and then
was preserved a man of a mind beyond all others divinely tem-
pered, to steer the Church in a steady middle course between
the rebounding waves of colliding schisms. Let me ask then,
is not such design divine ? could it have been without God's
governance ? Let them look to it who think that such things
happen by chance. The Church answers to them with loud
voice, declaring that she does not allow, does not believe, that
these her necessary champions are reserved without the pro-
vidence of God.

10. However, let me be allowed to run through the rest. A. D.
. 252

A dreadful pestilence broke out afterwards % and the extra-

rist among the faithful." Vales, in Dionysius of Alexandria (Euseb. Hist.

Euseb. Hist. viii. 11. S. Dionysius vii. 22.) and S.Gregory Nyssen's life

was accused of having retired without of Gregory of Neo-Ca-.sarea, in fin. In

first attending to these necessary duties, the year 262 it was especially destruc-

ibid. five in Rome and in the cities of

" For a description of the pestilence, Greece, carrying off in Rome ;us many

vid. infra ix. 9. vid. also the letters of as 5000 persons daily. Half the popu-

X PREFACE.

ordinary ravages of a hateful sickness entered house after
house of the trembling populace in succession, carrying oft"
with sudden violence numberless people daily, each from his
own home. There was a general panic, flight, shrinking from
the infection, unnatural exposure of infected friends; as
though to carry the dying out of doors, were to rid one's self of
death itself. Meanwhile multitudes lay about the whole city,
not bodies, but by this time corpses; and called on the pity of
passers-by from the view of a fortune common to both
parties. No one looked to aught beyond his cruel gain. No
one was alarmed from the recollection of parallel instances.
No one did to another what he wished done to himself. It
were a crime to pass over what in such circumstances was the
conduct of this Pontiff of Christ and God, who had surpassed
the Pontiffs of this world as much in benevolence as in truth
A of doctrine. First he assembled the people in one place,
urged on them the excellence of mercifulness, taught them by
instances from holy Scripture how much the offices of bene-
volence avail to merit with God. Then he subjoined that
there was nothing wonderful in cherishing our own with the
fitting dutifulness of charity; that he became the perfect man,
who did somewhat more than publican or heathen, who, over-
coming evil with good and exercising what resembled a divine
clemency, loved even his enemies, who prayed, as the Lord
admonishes and exhorts, for the well-being of those who are
persecuting him. He then makes His sun rise, and bestows
rain from time to time to foster the seed, shewing forth all
these benefits not only to His own, but to strangers also; and
he, who professes himself even God's son, why follows he not
the example of his Father? " We should answer to our
birth," he says; " it is not fit that they should be degenerate
who are known to have been born again by God; rather the
seed of a good Father should be evidenced in the ofl['spring,
by our copying of His goodness." I pass over many other
things and those important, which my limits will not allow
me to detail ; about which let it suffice to have noticed thus

lation of Alexandria pcri(<hed in it, family of the Roman empire, from

according to Gibbon, who says that it 250 to 26r>." Hist. x. fin. Its duration

" raged without interruption in every is variously estimated,
province, every city, and almost every

PREFACE. xi

much. If the very Gentiles, had they heard them in the
rostrum, would probably have believed forthwith, what should
a Christian people do, whose very name begins in faith?
Accordingly ministrations are divided among them at once,
according to the ranks and circumstances of such. Many
who from stress of poverty were unable to shew forth benefits
of cost, shewed forth what was more than costliness ; by their
personal toil doing other services more precious than all
riches. Who indeed under such a teacher but must haste to
be occupied in some part of that warfare, by which he would
be pleasing God the Father, and Christ the Judge, and so
good a Priest besides? Accordingly they did good in the
profusion of exuberant works to all, and not only to the
household of faith. They did somewhat more than is recorded
of the incomparable benevolence of Tobias. He must pardon
the word, again pardon it, pardon it often; or, to speak more
truly, he must in equity grant, that, although there was room
for very much before Christ, yet after Him there has been
room for somewhat more, since to Christ's times the fulness is
ascribed. The slain of the king and the outcasts, whom
Tobias gathered together, were of his own kin only.

11. To these so good and so merciful deeds banishment A. d.
succeeded. For unbelief ever makes such return, recom-
pensing the worse for the better. Nor need I mention what
God's Priest answered the proconsul who questioned him, for
there are Acts which relate it. Any how he is forbidden the
city, he who had done some good towards its health; he who
had toiled lest the eyes of the living should suffer the horrors
of the infernal abode ; he, I say, who sleepless in the watch-
ings of benevolence had by a blameless kindness, (O the
crime !) secured a deserted state and destitute country from
the sight of many exiles, when all were flying from the loath-
some look of the city. But this is the world's concern in it,
with whom exile is a punishment. To us our country is less
dear, who have a name in common, who abhor even our
own parents if they would persuade us contraiy to the Lord.
To them it is a heavy punishment to live away from their city.
To the Christian the whole world is our home. Wherefore,
though he be sent away into ever so hidden and remote a

xii PREFACE.

place, having share in the things of his God, he cannot count
it banishment. Besides, while he serves God entirely, even
in his own city he is a stranger. For while he abstains from
desires of the flesh by continence of the Holy Ghost, putting
off" the conversation of the old man, he is a foreigner even
among his citizens, or I may say, among the very parents of
his earthly life. Moreover, though this might seem a punish-
ment under other circumstances, yet in such causes and
sentences which we suffer for trial of our virtue, it is not
punishment, it is glory. But even suppose banishment to be
a punishment to us. If so, they are guilty of the most extreme
of crimes and the worst impiety, as their own conscience
testifies, who bring themselves to visit the innocent with what
they deem a punishment. I will not at present ddineate a
delightful spot; I say nothing at first of the addition of all kinds
of beauties. Let us suppose the place offensive in its circum-
stances, wretched to look upon, without wholesome water,
or pleasant green, or neighbouring shore; with vast rocks
covered with forests, amid the inhospitable depths of an
altogether desert solitude, far off' in the world's trackless
districts. Such a place might indeed bear the name of exile,
had Cyprian, priest of God, come thither; to whom if man's
ministrations failed, even the birds as to Elias, or the Angels
as to Daniel, would minister. Far, far indeed be it from any
one to believe, that even the least among us, provided he
remained in the confession of the Holy Name, should want
any thing; so far was he God's Pontiff", who had ever been
urgent in matters of mercifulness, from wanting the aid of all
these things.

12. Next let us recount with thanksgiving what 1 had put
as the second supposition ; namely, that there was divinely pro-
vided for the soul of such a man, a sunny and sufficient place,
a place of sojourn, secret, as he could wish it, and whatever has
been before promised as his portion who seeks the kingdom
and righteousness of God". And, not to dwell upon the
frequent visits of his brethren, nay, the love of the very
citizens, which afforded to him all things whereof he seemed

" Curubis, the place of S. Cyprian's a fertile territory, and at the distance
exile, was " a free and maritime city of about forty miles from Carthage."
of Zengitania, in a pleasant situation, Gibbon, Hist. eh. 16.

prefacp:. xiii

to be despoiled, I will not pass over the wonderful visitation
of God, by which He willed His Priest to be so sure in exile
of his passion which was to follow, that from his more
abundant assurance of the impending Martyrdom, Curubis
possessed not an exile only, but even a Martyr. For on that
day when first we remained in the place of banishment, (for
me he chose out of his household in the condescension of his
love to be a voluntary exile, which, O had 1 been also in his
passion !) " there appeared to me," said he, " before I was
yet sunk in slumber, a young man greater than the human
stature, by whom being led as if to the praetorium, I seemed
to myself to be brought near to the tribunal of the proconsul
then sitting. He, on seeing me, forthwith began to write
down upon a tablet a sentence, which I knew not, for he had
not asked me questions in the usual form ; however, that young
man, who stood behind his back, with great anxiety read
whatever had been set down. And, since he could not utter
it in words, he intimated it by signs, which declared what was
in the writing of that tablet. For opening his hand and
flattening it like a blade, and imitating the blow of customary
execution, he expressed what he would have signified as if in
clear words. I understood the future sentence of my passion.
I began at once to ask and seek, that the delay even of one
day might be given me, in order to my settling my affairs in
a regular way. After I had frequently repeated my prayer,
he began again to set down something on the tablet. I per-
ceived however, fi'om the sereneness of his countenance, that
the judge's mind was influenced by the request, as if reason-
able. Moreover, that youth, who already had divulged some-
what by gesture, if not by word, concerning my passion, made
haste to signify by secret signs from time to time, twisting his
fingers one behind another, that the delay was granted which
I asked until the morrow. For me, although the sentence
was not read, while my heart exulted at the pleasant news of
delay granted, yet such was my alarm, from the chance of
mistaking the interpretation, that it was still all in flutter
and agitation from the remains of apprehension."

13. What revelation could be more manifest? what con-
descending mercy more blessed ? All that ha})pened after in

xiv PREFACE.

clue course, were announced to him beforehand. In nothing
did the words of God come short; in nothing was the holy
promise nnitilated. Do but review each particular as it was
shewn to him. lie seeks a delay till the moiTow when his
sentence of sufi'ering was under deliberation ; alleging his
wish to settle his afl'airs on the day which he had gained.
His one day signified a year, which he was to pass in this
world after tlie vision. For, to speak more distinctly, he was
crowned, at the completion of the year, on that veiy day, on
which this had been announced to him at its commencement.
For the day of the Lord, though we do not find it used for
year in divine Scripture, yet in making promise of things to
come, we consider that that space of time ought to be given.
Hence it matters not, if nothing short of a year be announced
while a day was spoken of, since that would necessarily be more
complete, which is greater. And whereas it was explained
by gesture not by speech, express speech was reserved for
the presence of the time itself. For it is usual then to set
forth a thing in words, when what is set forth is actually
fulfilled. For no one knew for certain wherefore this was
shewn to him, till it turned out that he was crowned on the
same day on which he had seen it. And yet in the interval
his impending passion was known for certain by all ; but as
lo the particular day of his passion all those very persons
were silent, as if they were ignorant. And indeed T find
some such thing in the Scriptures. For the Priest Zacharias,
when a son was promised him by the Angel, because he
believed not, became dumb ; so that by signs he asked for a
tablet, seeing he had, not to utter, but to write his sou's name.
Reasonably here too, when God's messenger signified the
Bishop's impending passion mainly by signs, he both ad-
ministered his faith and fortified his Priest, But again the
reason for seeking delay was his arranging his affairs and
settling his will. Now what affairs had he, what will to
aiTange, except Ecclesiastical matters ? For this reason there
is a final delay granted, that arrangements may be made as to
whatever wants aiTangemcnt by a final determination con-
cerning the maintenance of the poor. And I consider that
for this sole end and for nothing else was he thus indulged
by those who had banished and were to kill him, that while

PREFACE. XV

here he might reUeve the poor who were here, with whatever
remained to be given of his final bounty, or, to speak more
exactly, with the total of his means. When then he had
arranged matters so mercifully, and thus ordered them in his
last wishes, to-morrow's day drew near.

14. And now a messenger came to him from the City from From
Xystus, that good and peace-making Priest, and therefore g^^^^^j
most blessed Martyr. The executioner was expected every A. U.
day, who was to strike through that devoted neck of our most ^ '
holy victim ; and by this daily expectation of dying, every
day, as it came, became to him as though a day of crowning.
Meanwhile there came to him numbers of eminent and illustrious
persons, men of rank and family and secular distinction, who
for the sake of their old friendship with him, urged him many
times to retire, backing their solicitations with the ofler of
suitable places. But he, with mind hanging upon heaven,
had put the world out of sight, and did not assent to their
persuasive solicitations. Perhaps he would have done then also,
what was urged on him, and by many of the faithful too, if
he had been bidden by divine command''. Nor must we leave
vmheralded the sublime glory of such a man, in that, when
the world was now raging and in reliance on its Rulers
breathing out hatred of the sacred Name, he, as occasion was
given, fortified God's servants with exhortations of the Lord,
and animated them to tread under foot sufferings of the
present time, on the contemplation of the glory which is to
follow. In truth, there was in him so great a love of sacred
discourse, that while he prayed for passion, he desired that
it might be granted him while he was conversing concerning
God.

15. And these were the daily acts of a Priest destined for
a sacrifice, pleasing to God ; when behold at the orders of the
Proconsul, the Praetor's Official with his soldiers suddenly sur-
prised his gardens, those gardens which in the beginnings of
his faith he had sold, and, when God's kindness restored

P He did at first retire and conceal He had sold his gardens on his con-

himself at the advice of his friends, version, but they had come back to

This was on the Proconsul's coming to him, perhaps (as Gibbon sujiposes) hj'

Utica; on the latter's returninp: to the kindness of his friends, vid. Pontius

Carthage, he came back to his gardens, infr. 15. The opening of Treatise i.

and remained there, without moving may stand for a description of them,
farther, till the officers arrested him.

xvi PREFACE.

tliem, would certainly have sold again lor the benefit of
the poor, but that he feared to raise the jealousy of his per-
secutors. The Official surprised him, or, I should more tnaly
say, thought he had. For what is there to surprise, as though
by unforeseen attack, the mind which is always ready .? He
went forward therefore, now certain that that would be ac-
com]ilished, which had long been held back ; he went forward
with high and erect mind, with cheerfulness in his look, and
constancy in his heart. But being remanded till the moiTow,
he turned from the Prsetorium to the Official's house, when
suddenly the report spreads throughout Carthage, that
" Thascius was now brought out," whom all knew, not only
by the reputation in which he was honourably held, but also
viz. in from the recollection of his great achievement. All men

the

plague, throng together to a sight, which for us was glorious from
the self-sacrifice of his faith, but to the Gentiles deplorable.
However, during his lodgment for one night in the house of
the Official, his confinement was not rigorous, so that we his
intimates and friends were in his company as usual. INIean-
while the whole people, conscious lest ought might be done
in the night without its own knowledge, kept watch at the
door of the house. The Divine goodness granted to him at
that time, deserving as he was of it, that God's people
should even then keep vigil to usher in the day of their Priest's
Martyrdom. Some one, however, may perhaps ask, what
was the reason why he returned from the Praetorium to the
Official ; and some think this, that on his part the Proconsul
was then unwilling. Far be it from me in things divinely over-
ruled to complain of indolence or caprice in the Proconsul.
Far be it from me to allow such an evil within the thoughts
of a scrupulous mind, as that the idle words of man should
give sentence upon so blessed a Martyr. But that next day,
which a year before God's condescension had predicted, was
destined to be truly the moiTow.

16. At length that other day dawned, that ajjpointed,
promised, divine day''; which though the tyrant himself had
desired to put off, he wovUd not at all have been able ; a day
pleasant in the secret knowledge of the INIartyr who was to

'i S. Cyprian suffered on the same years after him.
day as Cornelius of Rome, and six >

PREFACE. xvii

be, all clouds being dispersed throughout the world's circuit,
and the sun shining brightly. He left the Official's house, he
an Official of Christ and God, being hemmed in by the crowds
of a mixed multitude on every side. So infinite an army
joined his train, it seemed as though he was coming with
troops in array to subdue death. As he went, he had to
pass the race-course. Well did it happen, and as if with a
meaning, that he should pass by the place of a corresponding
contest, who was running for the crown of righteousness,
and had just finished his labours. When he reached the
Prsetoiium, the Proconsul not yet having arrived, a private
room was allowed him. There, while he sate profusely
perspii'ing after his long journey, (it so happened that his
seat was covered with linen'', as if to secure to him the
honours of the episcopate even under the very stroke of
Martyrdom,) one of the officers', who was formerly a Christian,
offered him clothes of his own ; thinking he might be
willing to exchange his moist garments for his own dry ones,
and for himself ambitious of nothing further in return for his
gift, than to possess the now bloody sweat of the Martyr on
his road to God. But he made answer, " That were seeking
remedy for discomforts, which perchance may not last out the
day." Is it surprising that he thought light of weariness in
body, who in soul had made light of death .? But, to be brief,
suddenly the Proconsul is announced ; and he is brought out,
placed before him, asked his name ; he says who he is, and
no more.

17. Upon this the judge reads fi'om the tablet the sentence,
which before in the vision he had not read; a divine sentence,
not lightly to be spoken ; a sentence worthy of such a Bishop
and such a Witness; a glorious sentence, in which he is
called a " standard-bearer of the sect," and " an enemy of the
gods," and one who should be made " an example to his
followers," and whose blood should now be shed " in vindi- vid.iniVa
cation of the law." Most satisfactory, most true is this ^|^*jg""^*
sentence; for every thing that was said, though said by a
Gentile, is divine. Nor surely is it wonderful, that High
Priests are apt to prophesy of the passion. He had been a

■■ " The Bishops seat used anciently * tesserariis ; those who communi-
to be covered with linen." Ed. Ben. cated the tessera through the century.

C

xviii I'REFACE.

H^ standard-bearer, ulio was in tlie practice of teaching con-
cerning the bearing of Christ's cross; an enemy of the gods,
who bade destroy idols; he was an example to his own, who
unto the many who were about to follow in the same way,
first of his province ' pi'esented these first-fruits of Martyrdom.
In his blood too " the law began to be ratified," but the law of
Martyrs, who rivalling their teacher in an initiation of a like
glory, themselves too ratified the law of his example in their
own blood.

18. And when he passed out of the doors of the Prsetorium,
a crowd of soldiers accompanied him, and that nothing might
be wanting in his passion, centurions and tribunes \Acre at his
side. The place where he was to suffer is level, suiTounded
with numerous trees so as to afford a sublime spectacle.
But, whereas its exceeding breadth hindered the view amid
that tumultuous crowd, persons who favoured him had
climbed up the branches, that he might gain this distinction
also, (as in Zaccha^us's history,) of being seen from the trees.
And now his eyes being bound with his own hands, he tried
to hasten the delay of the executioner, whose business is the
steel ; and who with failing hand and trembling fingers scarce
could grasp it, until, when the hour was ripe for his glorifi-
cation, that centurion was granted strength to consummate
the death of a rare man, his hand being nerved with power
from above. O blessed people of the Church, who in eyes
and other senses and in uplifted voice, suffered together with
such a Bishop, and thus, as they had always heard him dis-
course, were crowned by God the Judge ! For although it could
not happen, as the common Avish was, that the whole people
at once should suffer in partnership of his glory, yet whoever
had the hearty will to suffer under tlie eyes of Christ and in
the ears of His Priest, did by the sufficient witness of his
wish, send up his name God- wards, as if by a representative.

^ And thus, his passion being consummated, it came about,
that Cyprian, who had been an example to all good men,
was moreover the first in Africa to die his priestly diadems"

* i. e. in the province so called, the passages as this allude to the tonsure.

Eastern or Proconsular Africa. The African Bishops cut their hair in a

" i. e. his crowns of sanctity and circle. Vallars. in Hieron. Ep. 142.

priesthood became a crown of martj-r- vid. also August. Ep. 33. §. 5. Binpham

dnni. The Romanists would nialic s\ich does not diss(^nt ; though he is " ivM con-

PREFACE. xix

in blood. For from llic time that the Episcopal Order is
catalogued in Carthage, none is ever related, even of the
holiest Priests, to have attained unto passion", though service
devoted to God is always counted in dedicated men as if a
martyrdom. But Cyprian reached even unto the perfect
crown the Lord consummating ; so that in that very city in
which he had so lived, and had been the first to do such
noble deeds, he was the first also to decorate the ensigns of
the heavenly priesthood with glorious bloodshed. AVhal
shall I here do? between joy at his passion, and grief at
bereavement, my mind is divided, and two sorts of feelings
oppress a breast too straitened for them. Shall I grieve that
I was not his companion .'' but his triumph is to be celebrated.
Shall I celebrate his triumph? but T am in grief that I am not
his companion. To you, however, the truth is to be avowed,
and simply, as you know it, that it was in my purpose to be so.
In his glory I exult much and more than much, and yet
T grieve more that I remain behind.

Tlic Confession and Martyrdom of St. Cyprian, frotn. the
Proconsular Ads.

When the Emperor Valerian was Consul for the fourth, a. d.
and Gallienus for the third time, on the third of the Kalends ^'^j^j ^^^
of September, Paternus Proconsul at Carthage in his council-
chamber thus spoke to Cyprian the Bishop, ' The most
sacred Emperors Valerian and Gallienus have honoured me
with letters, wherein they enjoin that all those who use not
the religion of Rome, shall formally make profession of tlieir
return to the use of Roman rites; I have made accordingly
enquiry of your name; what answer do you make to me?'

fideiit that this was the reason of the supra 1 7. Caronius, Lumper and others

n-Ame coronati." Antiqu. vi. 4. §. 17. interpretitot'Carthnge only,rden-iiif,'to

^ S. Cyprian himself seems to say the words whicli follow in Pontius' text,

that African Bishops had already been Others understand I'ontiusto speak only

martyred. Ep.66.ed. Fell. Accordingly, of the Valerian IVrsecution. (iihlion

Tilleinout suf);!j;esLs that Pontius speaks ea<;erly seizes on Pontius' assertion

only of Africa in a restricted sense, or in its broadest sense, and uses it for

the Carthaginian territory, which was liis own purposes,
called especially " the Province." vid.

XX PREFACE .

Cyprian the Bishop spake, ' I am a Christian and Bishop;
I know no other Gods besides the One and true God, who
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things therein; this
God we Christians serve, to Him we pray day and night, for our-
selves, for all mankind, for the health of the Emperors them-
selves ^' Paternus Proconsul said, ' Do you persist in this pur-
pose?' Cyprian Bishop answered, ' That good purpose, which
hath once acknowledged God, cannot be changed.' Paternus
Proconsul said, ' Will you then, obeying the mandate of the
Emperors, depart into exile to the city of Curubis?'' Cyprian
Bishop said, ' I go.' Paternus Proconsul said, ' The letters, where-
with I have been honoured by the Emperors, speak of Presby-
ters as well as of Bishops; I would know of you therefore, who
be they, who are Presbyters in this city?' Cyprian Bishop
answered, ' By your laws you have righteously and with
great benefit forbidden any to be informers^; therefore they
cannot be discovered and denounced by me; but they will be
found in their own cities.' Paternus Proconsul said, ' I am
accordingly inquisitor in this place.' Cyprian said, ' Our rules
forbid any man to offer himself for punishment, and your
ordinances discourage the same; they may not therefore offer
themselves*, but they will be discovered by your inquisition.'
Paternus Proconsul said, ' They shall be discovered by me;'
and added, ' they further ordain, that no conventicles be held
in any place, and that the Christians shall not enter their
cemeteries; if any transgress this wholesome ordinance, it
shall be capital.' Cyprian Bishop answered, ' Do as you have
been instructed.'

Then Paternus the Proconsul bade them lead away the
Bishop Cyprian into exile. During his long abode in this
place, Aspasius Paternus was succeeded by Galerius Maximus,
A,D. who bade the Bishop Cyprian be recalled from exile, and
258. brought before him. Cyprian, the holy Martyr, chosen of
God, returned from Curubis, to which he had been exiled by
order of Aspasius Paternus then Proconsul, and by sacred

y Vid. in like manner Polycarp. ad * Vid. August, contr. Gaudent.i. 40.

Phil.l2.Just.M. Apol.l.i.l7. Athenag. (31.) where this passage is referred to.

Leg. 37. TertuUian, Apol. 30. Origen, vid. also Cypr. Ep. 81. ed. Fell. Those

in Cels. viii. 73. Euseb. Hist. vii. 11. who studiously exposed themsehes to

* For this law vid. Justinian Cod. persecution were called Proffusures.

X. 11. vid. Lumper in Vit. Cypr.

PREFACE. xxi

command abode in his own gardens. There he was in daily vid. (,»-
expectation that he should be visited as it had been shewn p^ ^^'"^
him. While he dwelt there, suddenly on the Ides of Sep- Sept. 13.
tember, in the consulship of Tuscus and Bassus, there came
to him two chief officials'"; one the chief gaoler"^ in the Procon-
sular court of Galerius, the other "^ marshal of the guard in the
same court; they placed him between them in a chariot, and
carried him to Sexti*", whither the Proconsul had retired for
the recovery of his health. By order of the Proconsul he
was reserved for hearing on another day; so the blessed
Cyprian was privately lodged in the house of the chief gaoler
of the court of the most honourable ' Galerius Maximus,
Proconsul, in the street which is called Saturn's, between the
temples of Venus and of Salus. Thither flocked the whole
multitude of the brethren; which when holy Cyprian knew,
he bade that the young women should be protected, seeing
they all continued in the open street before the gate of the
officer's house. So on another day, the 18th of the Kalends Sept. 1 4.
of October, a great ci'owd was coHected early at Sexti, as the
Proconsul commanded. And the same day Cyprian was
brought before him as he sat for judgment in the court called
Sauciolum^. The Proconsul demanded, ' Are you Thascius
Cyprianus?' Cyprian Bishop answered, ' I am he.' Galerius
Maximus Proconsul said, *' The most sacred Emperors have
commanded you to conform to the Roman rites." Cyprian
Bishop said, " I refuse to do so." Galerius : " Take heed for
yourself." Cyprian; " Execute the Emperor's orders; in a
matter so manifest I may not deliberate.'' Galerius, after briefly
conferring with his judicial council, with much reluctance
pronounced the following sentence. " You have long lived sacrilega
an irreligious life, and have drawn together a number of men '"^"'^•
bound by an unlawful association'', and professed yourself an

b Principes; they were the chief 17, who says that in the reigns of the

officers of the Praetorian court. Antonines this title was the ordinary and

c Strator officii, al. stator vid. Du- legal style of senators. Afterwards it

cange in verb. was given to the governors of provinces.

'' Equistrator. ^ i.e. the criminal court, vid. Ducange,

e Sexti, as it is written by Tillfmont and Fell in loc.
and Lumper, was a place according to '• Nefaris conspirationis. Christi-

some authorities six miles, according anity was not recognized as a religio

to others, four miles from Carthage, licita till the next year, 2.'>9, by Galli-

Morcelli writes it Sextum. enus. vid. Ncander Hist, f Rose) vol. i.

f Clarissimi. vid. Gibbon Hist. ch. Sect. i. 2. A.

xxii PREFACE.

open enemy to the gods and the religion of Rome ; and the
pious, most sacred, and august Emperors, Valerian and
Gallienus, and the most noble Cc'csar Valerian, have endea-
voured in vain to bring you back to conformity with their re-
ligious observances; — whereas then you have been apprehended
as j)rincipal and ringleader in these infamous crimes, you
shall be made an example to those whom you have wickedly
associated with you : the authority of law shall be ratified in
your blood." He then read the sentence of the court from a
written tablet. " It is the will of this court, that Thascius
Cyprianus be immediately beheaded." Cyprian Bishop said,
" Thanks be to God '." After sentence was pronounced, the
whole assembled of the brethren cried out, " We will be
beheaded with him." A great tumult arose among the
brethren, and a crowd followed to the place of execution.
He was brought forth into the field near Sexti, where having
laid aside his upper garment '', he kneeled down, and addressed
himself in prayer to the Lord. Then stripping himself of his
dalmatic, and giving it to the Deacons, he stood in his linen
tunic', and awaited the executioner, to whom when he came
Cyprian bade five and twenty pieces of gold be given. The
brethren meanwhile spread linen cloths and napkins on the
ground before him. Being unable to tie the sleeve of his
robe at the wrist, Julian Presbyter and Julian Subdeacon
performed this olEce for him. Then the blessed Cyprian
covered his eyes with his hands, and so suflt'ered. His body
was exposed in a place hard by, to gratify the curiosity of the
heathen. But in the course of the night it was removed, and
transported with prayers and great pomp with wax tapers
and funeral torches to the burying ground of Macrobius
Candidianus the Procurator, near the fish ponds in the
Mappalian Way. A few days after, Galerius JNIaximus the
Proconsul died.

' Vid. S. Aufiustin. Seini. 309. §. 6. ' The tuniele or dalmatic " was used

which in several points illustrates and in the earliest apes of the Christian

( oniirms this narrative. Church. ()rii!;inally it hits no sleeves.

^ Lacerna or byrrus, a cloke, unci- ... It is said that wide sleeves were

ently, of a red colour. Ducange. added . . . about the fourth century in

Baronius would interpret it of the the West. . . . The En.Lrlisli Ritual di-

episcopal dress of his day ; but the rects it to be used by the assistant

jiassape in the Acts is an addition, vid. ministers in the Holy Communion.''

Binjrham Anlicju. vi. 4. §. 1>^. Palmer's Origines. Appendix §. 4.

PREFACE.

XXlll

>

Thus suffered the most blessed Martyr Cyprian, on the
ighteenth day of the Kalends of October, under Valerian and Sept. 14,
Xjlallienus Emperors; in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus
/Christ, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever.
Amen.

Some such notice of St.Cyprian'slife and death, as the above,
was necessary to introduce the following Treatises ; the force of
which, as compositions, depends in no small degree on some
previous knowledge of the character and history of the writer.
They are the words of one who loved Christianity well
enough to give up for it at a mature age secular engage-
ments, settled habits and opinions, property, quiet, and at
length life itself. AVhile exhorting to almsgiving, he is
already an example of voluntary poverty; if he praises
virginity, he has himself embraced the single life; he insists
on the nothingness of things earthly, having first chosen
contempt and reproach; he denounces the heathen magis-
trate, with the knowledge that he is braving his power; and
he is severe Avith the Lapsed, because he him.self is to be a
Martyr. Without going into the details of his theological and
ecclesiastical career, these facts are the great outlines of his
history, and may suitably and profitably be set against the
subjects treated in the following pages, and his mode of treating
them. So much is there of pretence in the world ; so ea.sy is it
to see truths which are hard to practise, so skilful is the intellect
in simulating moral greatness, so quick to feel and admire the
ti-uth,and so dexterous in expressing and adorningit, that we
naturally look out for some assurance, \\hich professions
seldom sup])ly, that we are reading what is real and spon-
taneous, and not a mere semblance of high qualities.

As regards the Translation, for almost the whole of which

xxiv PREFACE.

ihc Editors are incleblL-d to tlic Rev. Charles Thornton, of
Christ Cliurcli, it need only be stated, that neither tlie text
of Baluzius nor of Fell has been followed implicitly, but,
where they differed, one or other has been preferred according
to the particular case. An attemjit has been made, in one
portion of the Scripture references, to mark S. Cyprian's j
variations from the present Vulgate version; but the differences
between the latter and his own, though often considerable,
are often so small, as to make it a matter of nice judgment
when he should be said to agree or disagree with it. It
would seem on the whole that the Vulgate and S. Cyprian's
version differ from each other most in the Prophets, next in
the rest of the Old Testament, and least in the Gospels and
Epistles. The Psalms must be excepted from this com-
parison, in which there is very little difference of translation
at all, perhaps from substitution of the Vulgate on the part
of transcribers. Next to the Psalms, there is least difference
in the books of the Apocrypha, and among these in Ecclesi-
asticus. This information and other assistance while the
Volume has been in the press, have been kindly supplied by
two friends of one of the Editors.

J. H. N.
Oxfoid,
Feast of St. Mark, 1839.

CONTENTS.

TREATISE I.
ON THE GRACE OF GOD.
Addressed to Donatus, A. D. 24fj. p. 1

TREATISE II.
ON THE VANITY OF IDOLS.

Written A.D. 247- 13

TREATISE III.

SCRIPTURE TESTIMONIES AGAINST THE JEWS.

Addressed to Quirinus, A. D. 248.

Book 1. On the Rejection of the Jews. 21

2. On the First Coming of Christ. 38

3. On Christian Duties. 65

TREATISE IV.
ON THE DRESS OF VIRGINS.

Written A. D. 248. 116

TREATISE V.
">^ ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

Written A.D. 251. 131

TREATISE VI.
ON THE LAPSED.
"^ Written A. D. 251. 153

d

xxvi CONTENTS.

TREATISE VII.
ON THE lord's PRAYER.

Written A D. 252. 1 71

TREATISE VIII.
AN ADDRESS TO DEMETRIANUS.

Written A. D. 252. IDJ^

TREATISE IX.
ON THE MORTALITY.

Written A. D. 252. 216

TREATISE X.
ON WORKS AND ALMS.

Written A. D. 254. 231

TREATISE XL
ON THE BENEFIT OF PATIENCE.

Written A. D. 256. 250

TREATISE XII.
ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY.

Written A. D. 256. 266

«

TREATISE XIII.
EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM.

Addressed to Fortunatus A. D. 252 or 267- 278

TREATISE I.

ON THE GRACE OF GOD.

ADDRESSED TO DONATUS.

[S. Cyprian addressed the following composition to his intimate friend
Donatus shortly after his baptism, that is, about A.D. 246. S.. Augustine
thus remarks concerning it; (De Doctr. Christ, iv. 14.) " No pleasure is
- imparted by that sweetness of style, which, though keeping clear of what
is exceptionable, dresses up its small and fugitive excellences in a frothi-
ness of language, which could not be applied with propriety or judg-
ment even to what is great and standard. An instance of this occurs in
an Epistle of S. Cyprian, which, whether the author intended it or not,
shews posterity, as 1 think, how his style was pruned of its redundance
by the soundness of Christian doctrine, and subdued into a more grave
and sober eloquence; such as in his later Epistles delights without
drawback, is imitated without reserve, and is equalled only with great
difficulty." After quoting a passage from the opening of this work,
he proceeds : " Such writing is wonderful, and argues an overflowing
exuberance of eloquence, yet it displeases a correct taste by its excess.
Those however who like it, consider forsooth a person who avoids it,
and speaks more soberly, to be unable to use it, not to avoid it from
judgment. Accordingly that holy man shews both that he can so speak,
for he has in one place done so, and to be averse to it, since he has
never afterwards."]

1. You rightly remind me, most clear Donatus : I remember
my promise, and this is of a truth fit season for performing it,
when the vintage gives holiday", and the mind, abandoning
itself to repose, enjoys the recumng and appointed resting-time
of the wearied year. The place too suits the day ; and the

» The Church, while abolishing hea- vid. Cod. Theod. II. Tit. 8. and Fell's
then feasts, retained that of tiie vintage, note in loc.
as really belonging to natural religion.

B

2 Grace does the work of hah it and experience.

TiiKAT. fair face of the gardens joins with the mild airs of gentle
— '■ — autumn, in soothing and cheering the senses. It is pleasant
here to lead on the day in talk, and to form the heart toward
a knowledge of the revealed will, by edifying narratives. And
that no profane intruder may induce restraint on our converse,
or the ill-ruled tongues of a loud family out-talk it, pass we
unto this seat. 'Tis a secret spot made for retirement, and
the vines, whose gadding and vagrant shoots form festoons
among the canes which support them, have framed for us a
portico of tendrills with a roof of leaves. Fitly here shall we
tell the tales of wisdom ; and while we refresh the eye with
a delightful gaze upon the trees and vines, the mind will be
gathering at once instruction from what is said, and refresh-
ment from what is seen ; though you indeed have neither
pleasure nor purpose now in any thing but conversation.
Despising the enchantments of this delicious scene, yoiu* eye
rests upon me ; in look, in thought, you have given your
whole self to listen, and with that love for me, which you
feel. Yet what in sum or substance can be any thoughts,
imparted by me to you? The poor worth of my narrow wit
puts out but a sorry harvest, no weighty generous stalks give
wealth to the herbage ; still, with what power I can, I will
make the endeavour. I have indeed a support in my subject.
In courts of justice, in political speaking, a fertile genius
may toss its fluent effiorts aloft ; but when we speak concern-
ing the Lord our God, the j^ure sincerity of om* words rests
for convincing, not on powers of eloquence, but on things.
Accept then what, without talent, is still substantial ; no
tinselled art of words to catch the common ear, but simple
things, in their rude truth, which go to preach God's mercy.
Accept what is felt, before it is learnt; not gathered by a
slow discovery through the train of years, but brought into
me in one short act of an undclaying grace.

2. For me, while I yet lay in darkness and bewildering
night, and was tossed to and fro on the billows of this
troublesome world, ignorant of my true life, an outcast from
light and truth, I used to think that second birth, which
Divine Mercy promised for my salvation, a hard saying
according to the life I then led : as if a man could be so
quickened to a new life in the Laver of healing water, as to

Baptismal grace does what is impossible to nature. 3

put off his natural self; and keep his former tabernacle, yet
be changed in heart and soul ! How is it possible, said I, for
so great a conversion to be accomplished, so that both the
obstinate dcfdcmcnt of our natural substance, and old and
ingrained habits, should suddenly and rapidly be put off;
evils, vs^hose roots are deeply seated v^'ithin ? When does he
learn frugality, to whom fine feasts and rich banquets have
become a habit ? or he who in gay sumptuous robes glisters
with gold and purple, when does he reduce himself to
ordinary and simple raiment ? Another, whose bent is among
public distinctions and honours, cannot bear to become a
private and unnoticed man; while one who is thronged by a
phalanx of dependents, and retinued by the overflowing attend-
ance of an obsequious host, thinks it punishment to be alone.
The temptation still unrelaxed, need is it that, as before, wine
should entice, pride inflate, anger inflame, covetousness disquiet,
cruelty stimulate, ambition delight, and lust lead headlong.

3. Such were my frequent musings; for whereas I was
encumbered with the many sins of my past life, which it
seemed impossible to be rid of, so I had used myself to give
way to my clinging infirmities, and, from despair of better
things, to humour the evils of my heart, as slaves born in my
house, and my proper offspring. But after that life-giving
Water succoured me, washing away the stain of former years,
and pouring into my cleansed and hallowed breast the light
which comes from heaven, after that I drank in the Heavenly
Spirit, and was created into a new man by a second birth, —
then marvellously what before was doubtful became plain
to me, — what was hidden was revealed, — what was dark
began to shine, — what was before difficult now had a way
and means, — what had seemed impossible now could be
achieved, — what was in me of the guilty flesh now confessed
that it was earthy,— what was quickened in mc by the Holy
Ghost now had a growth according to God. Tliou knowest
well, thou canst recollect as well as I, what was then taken
from me, and what was given by that death of sin, that
quickening power of holiness. Thou knowest, I name it not,
over my own praises it were unwelcome to boast; though
that is ground, never for boasting but for gratitude, which is
not ascribed to man's virtue, but is confessed to be God's

B 2

4 Tlie (/ift m Baptism perfect, and all-sufficient fur after needs.

Til EAT. bounty; so that to sin no more has come of faith, as hereto-

'- — fore to sin had come of human enor. From God, I say, from

God is all we can be ; from Him wc live, from Him we grow,
and by that strength which is from Him accepted and in-
gathered, we learn beforehand, even in this present state, the
foretokens of what is yet to be. Let only fear be a guard
upon innocency, that that Lord, who by the influence of His
heavenly mercy has graciously shone into our hearts, may be
detained by righteous obedience in the hostelry of a mind
that pleases Him; that the security imparted to us may not
beget slothfulness, nor the former enemy steal upon us anew.
4. But if you would keep the path of innocency and
of righteousness, and walk with a firm unfailing step,
hanging upon God in all your strength and with all your
heart, you have but to be that, which this beginning has
made you; your power to do will be according to the increase
of spiritvial grace. For there is no measure or rule, as is the
way of earthly gifts, in dispensing of the gift from heaven ;
the spirit is poured forth liberally, not confined by limits, not
hindered in its course by the restraint of barriers or by definitely
measured goal. It flows on without stop, it flows over with-
out stint. We have only to present to it a thirsting and opened
breast ; what measure we bring thither of faith to hold, so much
do we drink in of grace to inundate. Hereby is the strength
given, with sober chastity, uncorrupt mind, pure voice,
and virtue undefiled, to cure the sick by staunching the
poisonous work within them, to cleanse the defilement of
unwise souls by restoring to them health, to bid enemies be
at peace, to give gentleness to the violent, and calmness to
the excited ; to force to confession by sharp threatening the
unclean and wandering spirits, who have of violence effected
lodgment in men, till they fly, to inflict on them severe
stripes, while they struggle, shriek, and groan, to stretch them
out in pains increasing and renewed, to smite them with
rods, and scorch with fire". A work is wrought there, but is
not seen ; the blow is secret, but the punishment is manifest.
Thus in so far as we are what we have begun to be, the
Spirit which we have received enjoys its state of freedom;

b Vid. notes on Treatise ii. $. 3. 4.

Human nature before grace — bandits — war — fjladiators. 5

in so far as we have not changed body and limbs, our fleshly
sight is still darkened by the cloud of this world. What a
dominion is this, and what a power of the mind ! not only
to be itself withdrawn from the pernicious touch of the world,
as one who being cleansed and hallowed can take no defile-
ment from encounter with the enemy, but to be found in such
an increase of greatness and might, as to rule with sovereign
lordship over the whole force of our assailing adversary !

5. That by a more clear exposure of the truth, the signs of
this divine gift may be rendered plainer, I will give you light
whereby to understand it ; wiping aside the mist of evils,
I will uncover to you the shadows of this shrouded world.
Imagine yourself a little time to have been removed to the
summit of some lofty mountain, and witness from thence the
aspect of human things as they lie spread beneath you : cast
your eyes hither and thither, and yourself free from contact of
earth, mark the turmoils of this billowy world. You will at
once begin to look on life with pity ; recalled to self-remem-
brance, and made more thankful to God, you will congratulate
yourself with increased comfort on having escaped from it.
Look then, and see the public ways obstructed by bandits,
the seas invested by pirates, the murderous sternness of camps
introducing warfare into every place ; a world reeking with
mutual bloodshed ; and homicide, a crime in individuals,
called virtue when wrought by nations, as if sin shoiild gain
impunity, not from the measure of innocence, but from the
extent of its barbarity.

6. If next you turn eyes and countenance towards the
cities; no solitude so melancholy, as the peopled concourse
there. The show of gladiators is placed in its array, that
eyes which lust for cruelty may find in it a pastime. The
body is nourished up with strong aliments, and the huge bulk
of limbs thrives in its brawn and muscle, that the pampered
victim may die a costlier death. JMan for man's pleasure is
slaughtered ; and to leara to slay is a point of skill, an exer-
cise, a trade ; sin is not only done, but taught. What can
be named more inhuman, or more miserable? Men are
educated in the capacity of murder, and find their glory in the
practice. What think you, I pray, of this also, when men
expose themselves to wild beasts, unscntencod thereto ? In

6 The theatre — its immoralities.

T:iKAT. the flower of their age, beautiful in person, and in robes of

^ — -cost, they dress themselves alive for their voluntary funeral,

glorying, poor creatures, in their very misery. They fight
mth beasts, not for their crimes, but for their madness. Fathers
are spectators of their own sons ; a brother is in the ring, and
his sister close by ; and though the increased grandeur of the
spectacle, makes addition to its expense, yet, alas ! even the
mother supplies that increase, in order that she too may be
present at her own woes. In scenes thus impious, thus dread-
ful and deadly, they forget that their eyes at least are murderers.
7. Turn now and look at another kind of spectacle, as
contagious and as deplorable; in the theatres you will
witness occasions both for sorrow and shame. It is called
" the tragic buskin," to recount in verse the enormities of
early times; the by-gone sin of pamcide and incest is
unfolded in representation fashioned after the pattern of the
truth, lest in the course of ages what erst was perpetrated
may be forgotten. Every age is reminded by what it hears,
that what has been, can be done; offences die not with the
wane of ages, crime is not drowned in years, nor wickedness
buried in forgetfulness ; deeds gone by in the perpetration
abide in the precedent. In mimes, men are drawn on, by
lessons of impurity, to review what they have done before in
secret, or to hear told what they may do hereafter. Adultery
is learnt, while it is seen; and while this evil, publicly
sanctioned, inveigles to vice, the matron returns from the scene,
with loss of the modest feeling which perchance she took to
it. What ruin is it to morals still beyond, what a provocative
to infamous deeds, what food for vice, to be contaminated by
stage-playing, to see the studied sufferance of sinful acts*^
against the covenant and law of birth! Men are unmanned'',
their especial pride and strength is all enieeblcd in the dis-
honour of their enervated frame; and he best pleases there,
whose gait best minces into a woman. His crime expands into
a deed of praise, and the more infamous he is, the more accom-
plished is he accounted. Witnessed, (alas the guilt!) and
witnessed with delight, what cannot such a one insinuate?
He stirs tlie senses, he lulls the feelings, he drives out the
sterner conscience of an honest breast; and even authority is

' raticnliain iiicesta; turpitudiuis elaboiatam. d Evirantur.

General profligacy — the forum. 7

not wanting to tlic disgrace which solicits them, that the
mischief may creep upon men by an easier access. They
draw Venus unchaste, Mars adulterous; and that Jupiter of
theirs, supreme not more in dominion than in vice, burning
amidyft his very thunderbolts for earthly amours, one time
bespangled in the plumage of a swan, and at another floating
down in a shower of gold, and now rushing forward with his
ministering birds to seize upon children. Ask now, can a
spectator continue uninjured or pure ? The Gods whom they
worship, they imitate ; to the wretched men crimes become
a religious duty.

8. Oh, if standing on that lofty watch, you could pry into
the secret places, unbolt the doors of chambers, and expose
the hidden recesses to the testimony of sight, you would
behold the immodest commit what the modest brow cannot
even behold ; you would see what it is a blame even to see ;
you W(mld see what men frenzied with their vices deny that
they commit, while hasting to commit them. With mad
]iurpose man assaults man. Things are done which are dis-
tasteful even to the doers. It is a truth, the criminal accuses
those who are but like himself; the infamous defames the
infamous, and thinks to be but conscious an acquittal, as if
consciousness were not proof. In public they are accusers,
in private they incur the charge ; sitting in judgment upon
the act, while they are the culprits who have done it. They
condemn abroad, what they practise at home ; freely doing
what when done they blame. Such audacity is fit help-meet
to vice ; it is a shamelcssness befitting the impure. Wonder
not at ought which their mouth may speak ; its worst offence
in words is but a small sin.

9. But now, after highways occupied by robbers, after
Imttles manifold dispersed through the whole earth, after
spectacles either cruel or impure, after infamous lusts, either
publicly proffered or secluded within the walls of home,
where sin concealed but makes boldness greater, — you may
still think the public forum'' safe, as neither subjected to open
outrage, nor touched with a criminal pollution. Thither then
look, and you will witness abominations more abundant, and

= S. C'vpiian's profession, as a iliclo- acquainUncc with the forum,
rician, prior to Ins conversion, gave liim

8 Fraud — oppression — venality of judges —

TnFAT. will turn your eves aside with increased aversion. Though
— - — the laws be graved on twelve tables, and the statutes publicly-
lettered on entablature of brass, amid those very laws is
wickedness committed, amongst those statutes are offences
wrought. Innocence is not retained even where it is defended.
The fury of disputants rages; amid the garbs of peace, peace
is broken, and the mad forum rebellows with litigation.
Spear is there, and sword, and executioner nigh at hand ; there
is hook to pierce, and rack to stretch, and fire to consume :
torments for one body of man more than his members. Who
is to interi^ose ? His patron? He plays a double game and
deceives. The judge ? He sells his sentence. He sits to
punish, and connnits crimes ; and judge becomes guilty, that
defendant may perish guiltless. Crime is rife in all quarters ;
every where, in multiplied forms of sin, does the injurious
poison work, by means of iniquitous minds. One man
forges a will; another deposes falsely by a fraud which is
capital ; here children are kept from their patrimony, there a
man's property is estreated to strangers. The adversary
incriminates, the false informer assails, the witness defames ;
on all hands the bold venality of j^rostituted voices advances
on its work of lying accusation; the guilty not even share ruin
with the innocent. There is no fear of the laws; no appre-
hension of inquisitor or judge; what can be paid for, is not
dreaded; the offence is, among the guilty to be guiltless; he
who does not imitate the bad, offends them. Law has made
a compact with crime, and guilt has become legal, by being
public. What sense of shame, what probity can exist, where
bad men have none to condemn tliem, and where none are
found but ought to be condemned?

10. But that I may not seem to be selecting the worst
specimens, and, from wish to disparage, to be leading you
over objects offensive, from their sad and odious aspect, to the
gaze of a purer conscience, I will now point you to things
which the world's ignorance accounts good; but wherein you
Avill still discover objects of aversion. What you deem to be
honours, the fasces, resources in wealth, power in the camp,
purple robes in office, arbitrary power in command, these are
but the hidden virus of seductive ills, sin smiling with a face
of gladness, but a deep woe under the treacherous attraction.

Ambition — servility — popularity — disgrace — indigence — 9

Poison, whose deadly juices have been tinctured with sweet-
ness, and its savour disguised by a successful deceit, seems on
the drinking but a common beverage; when drunken iip, the
death which you have swallowed surprises you. You see
that man, remarkable in dress, and glittering, as he thinks, in
his purple: what baseness was the price which bought his
splendour? What arrogant rebuffs did he not first submit to?
What proud gates were not besieged by his matin salutations?
How many haughty men's insulting steps, wedged in their
crowd of clients, did he front, before himself in turn was
greeted by an equal retinue, appendage not of his person but
of his power? He earns respect not by his character but by
the fasces. Witness, in a word, the wretched exit of these
men, when the time-serdng flatterer moves off, and their
partizan, deserting them when private men, leaves their side bare
to dishonour. Then the injuries which they have inflicted on
their estate come home to them, the losses of their exhausted
fortune, by which the favour of the vulgar was bought, and
the popular breeze pursued with perishing and thankless
solicitations. Utterly infatuate indeed and barren was the
adventure, to present, in the mere amusement of a disappoint-
ing show, what is no gain to the people, and a waste to the
candidate !

11. Those too whom you consider as the rich, who add
jnark to park, shutting out the poor beyond their bounding-
line, and stretching ever further their limitless estates ; who
possess the mighty mass of silver and gold, treasuries of
wealth, whether in builded heap or buried store, these too,
trembling amidst their riches, are torn by the workings of
anxiety, lest the robber dispossess them, lest the assassin
assail them, lest the jealousy of richer men molest them with
fraudulent suits. Their food is not in peace, nor their slum-
bers. See he is sighing amidst a banquet, drinking from
gems; and though the soft couch receive his body, exhausted
with feasting, in its embosoming depth, he lies sleepless
amid the down; not aware, wretched man! that his are tor-
ments in disguise, that he is held captive by his gold, and is
rather the menial than the master of his wealth and riches.
And, oh hateful blindness of inind, and profound darkness of
an insane cupidity ! when he might disburden and uplift him-

1 0 Wealth — luxury — niggardness — Rank — -fear — suspicion.

i I lAT. self from his load, still he does but brood over his tormenting

• — wealth, still obstinately cling to his i)cnal gatherings. No

bounty llience lo clients, no sharing with the needy ; and
they call that money their own, which they keep immured
with solicitous pains, as though it were another's, and from
which they imjjart neither to their friends nor to their chil-
dren any thing, nor even to themselves. In such sort only are
they possessors, that they keep others from the possession ;
and, oh strange abuse of names! they call that 'goods' which
they use for nought but evil.

12. Think you that even those are safe, those with their
chaplets of honours and large resources, at least firm-footed
and secure, who glitter in the splendour of a royal court, and
are circled with the protection of armed sentinels .'* Greater fears
are theirs than other men's ; in proportion as one is dreaded,
is he compelled to dread. His very greatness exacts from
the mighty his proportion of penalties, though he be guarded
by a band of satellites, and his person be closed and covered
by the frequent retinue around him. The peace of mind
which he denies to those beneath him, he is unable to transfer
to himself. The power which makes men terrible to others,
first is a terror to themselves. It smiles that it may rage, it
flatters that it may deceive, it entices that it may slay,
it exalts that it may cast down. Arbitrary pov/er exacts
usury ; the more abundant are the dignities given, the more
severe is the interest of their loan.

13. It is then the only placid and sure tranquillity for man,
the one solid and firm and pei-petual security, to be rescued
from the tempests of this troublesome world, and to rest in the
settled anchorage of salvation ; to lift his eyes from earth to
heaven ; and, admitted to the benefit of the Lord, and now most
near in mind imto his God, to glory that whatever to other
men seems lofty and great in human affairs, falls short of the
feelings of his own bosom. He has nothing now to seek from
this world, nothing to pine after, who is superior to the world.
How settled, how immoveable is that protection, how
heavenly the blessedness in its never-failing good, to become
released from the bonds of earthly entanglement, and emerge
out of this nether defilement into the light of the life ever-
lasting ! Nothing avails all that the guileful mischief of our

Faith brings grace into effect, obedience keeps it unsullied. 1 1

assailing foe has in past times done against us: wo arc
brought to love still more what we are to be, by being admit-
ted to see and to condemn what once we were. No need of
price, or solicitation, or labour, that the perfection of man,
whether in excellence or in power, should be wrought in us
with an elaborate travail ; it is a gift from God, freely
bestowed, and at our hand. As the sun irradiates spon-
taneously, the day illuminates, the stream irrigates, and the
shower bedews, so does the Heavenly Spirit pour itself into us.
When once the soul has fixed its gaze on heaven, and recog-
nized its Author, rising off earth, and lifted out of all dominion
of the world, it begins to be that, which it believes itself to be.
You then, who are sealed in the spiritual camp by a heavenly
warfare, do but preserve in integrity and sobriety your exercise
of religious virtues; be ever either in prayer or reading ; now
speak with God, now let Him speak with thee. Let His
precepts instruct and form you; whom He has made rich,
none will make poor: there will be poverty never more, when
once the breast has been satisfied with the heavenly ban-
quetting. Ceilings embellished with gold, mansions encrusted
with slabs of precious marble, will seem poor, when you feel,
that it is yourself that is rather to be waited on, yourself to be
garnished, that that is your better house, wherein the Lord
sits as in a temple, and where the Holy Spirit has begun to
dwell. Let us array that house with the colours of innocency,
and illumine it with the light of righteousness ; age will not
cause it to decay, the colours on its walls will not change
their lustre, nor its gold lose its brightness. All tinselled
things are transitory ; those inspire the possessor with no sure
confidence which are not possessed in substance. But this
remains in a dress ever fresh, in honour untarnished, in bril-
liancy perpetual. It admits neither of wane nor perishing ;
only, when the body is given back, of fashioning unto perfection.
14. Thus far, most dear Donatus, briefiy, for the present: for
though a permissive and loving temper, a stedfast mind, a
constant faith, finds comfort in wholesome words ; and though
nothing pleases your ears so well, as what is pleasing to them
in God ; we ought yet to place a limit upon our converse, as
we live hard by one another, and may often talk together.
And since this is the quiet of the holidays, and a season of

12 Religious feasting.

Till AT. leisure, what remains of the day, now that the sun is
^:_ descending towards evening, let us enjoy it, not even the time
of our repast being unprivileged with heavenly grace. Let
psalms keep measure in our temperate feasting, and as you
have a ready memory and a melodious voice, take on you that
task, as you are wont. Best entertainment will your dear
friends have, if we have something spiritual to hear, and our
ears be soothed with sweet religious music.

TREATISE 11.

ON THE VANITY OF IDOLS.

[The following short Treatise, which some have suspected to be a fragment
of a larger work, was written by its author soon after the foregoing,
apparently in the beginning of A.D. 247- For passages in it, S. Cyprian
seems to be indebted to the writings of Tertullian and Minucius Felix.
In this as well as in the foregoing there are no quotations from
Scripture.]

1. That they are no Gods, whom the common people
worship, is known from hence. They were kings in ancient
times, whose royal memory obtained for them when dead an
after-homage from their people. Hence temples were esta-
blished to them; and images graved, that the countenances of
the departed might be detained in the resemblance; and
victims immolated to them, and holidays appointed to pay
them honour; and what at first was invented as a consolation,
became a sacred rite in the generations after'. Let us see
whether this truth is sustained in the individual instances.
Melicertes and Leucothoe fall headlong into the sea, and
presently they become sea-deities. Castor and his brother
die by turns, that by turns they may live. Esculajiius, the
better to mount into a god, is struck by thunder; Hercules
puts off the man, by being consumed in the fires of G^'.ta;
Apollo was shepherd to Admetus; Neptune built walls for
Laomedon, and obtained, unhappy labourer, no wages for his

* F,usebius(rraap. Evang. i. 9.) gives Elements, and the ph.-cnomena to which

a more detailed account of the origin of they gave rise. The use of temples,

Idolatry. He says that Sun and Moon images, and the artificial decorations

were the first objects of worship, and that which it involved, came in afterwards

among the Egyptians. The Phoenicians when dead men were deified and spirits

worshipped Sun, Moon, Planets, and evoked.

14 Gods of Italy and Rome,

Tp.eat. work. Jupiter's cave is still seen in Crete and his tomb

'— shewn. It is notorious too that Saturn was driven away by

him, and that Latium received its name from his being latent
there. It was he that first taught the imprinting of letters
and the stamping of coins in Italy; whence the public
treasury is said to belong to Saturn ; he too was maintainer of
the country life, and is therefore painted as an old man with
a sickle. "NVlien driven into exile, Janus admitted him to a
home; who gave name to the Janiculum, and occasion to the
month of January. He is imaged with two faces, as seeming
to stand midway, and look both upon the commencing and
the departing year. The Mauritanians moreover notoriously
worship kings, and make no secret of it.

2. Hence the worship of the Gods receives a variety of
change through different nations and provinces; no longer
the same god being adored by all, but each preserving
religious veneration of their own ancestors. That this was
so, Alexander the Great declares, in that famous volume
written to his mother: that a priest, under fear of his power,
made known to him concerning the Gods a truth which from
men in general is concealed, that it is ancestors and kings
whose memory is observed, and that the rituals of worship
and sacrifice grew up therefrom. If, however, Gods ever
were born, why are none born up to this day ? Unless
indeed Jupiter has aged, and Juno has left bearing. Why
again think you that the Gods can do all for the Romans,
when you sec them a^■aili^g nothing for their own nations
against the Roman arms r for we know that the Gods of the
Romans also are home-born. Through the peijury of Pro-
culus, Romulus was made a god; so were Picus, and Tibe-
rinus, and Pilumnus, and Consus, to whom Romulus would
have worship paid as god, not of fraud, but of counsel, when
the triumph of perfidy was accojnplished in the rape of the
Sabines. Tatius was inventor and worshipper of a goddess
Cloacina; Hostilius of Dismay and Paleness; afterwards, by
some one. Fever was consecrated, and Acca, and Flora, who
were harlots. To such a pass indeed do the Romans proceed
in inventing the names of Gods, that they have even a god
Vidiuis, who widows the body of the soul, and who is too sad
and funeral to be admitted within the walls, but is placed

not thecauseof Roman greatness; hut the course of Providence. 15

beyond them ; so that being thus made an exile, he is rather^
put under ban than worshipped by the Roman rehgion.
There is besides a Scansus named from ascents; Forculus foribus.
from doors, Limentinus from thresholds, Cardea from hinges, bug "car-
and Orbona from bereavements. These are Roman Gods. '^'"i'>"s.
But there is a Mars of Thrace, a Jupiter of Crete, a Juno bus.
whether of Argos or Samus or Carthage ; a Diana of Taurus,
a Mother of the Gods at Ida, and monsters (if not deities) in
■Egypt; these surely, if any power belonged to them, would
have saved their own dominion, and the dominions of their
people. The Roman household-gods are confessedly a van-
quished set, brought by the fugitive ^neas ; and they have a
Venus the Bald, more dishonoured by her baldness in Rome,
than by her wound in Homer.

3. Kingdoms are not the result of desert, but are changed
about by chance; empire once belonged to Assyrians,
Modes, Persians; and we know that Greeks and Egyptians
have enjoyed dominion. Thus in the succession of ascen-
dancy, the Romans likewise, like the rest, have reached their
season of empire; but if you look back to its origin, you must
blush. We find culprits and criminals brought together to
make a nation; and the Asylum established, that impunity
may render them numerous. That their king may have a
prerogative in crimes, Romulus becomes a fratricide; and to
promote matrimony, he enters on that work of peace by deeds
of quarrel ; rapine, violence, and deceit, are the increase of
the population of the state; their marriage is a breach of the
covenant of hospitality, and cruel warfare with their fathers-
in-law. The highest step in Roman honours is the Consul-
ship; but we find the Consulship of no better origin than the
Crown. Brutus puts his sons to death, in order that the
desert of guilt may add fresh title to his office. Not then
from the sanctities of religion, from auguries and aus]nces,
did the Roman dignities receive their growth; but they
observe their permitted season within their destined limits.
Furthermore, Regulus obeyed the auspices, and yet was taken
prisoner; Mancinus yielded submission to them, yet was sent
under the yoke ; Paulus had chickens that fed, and neverthe-
less was slain at Cannte ; Caius Cicsar, Avlien the auguries and
auspices restrained him from sailing to Africa before winter,

16 The heathen the prey of evil spirits under the name of gods.

Treat, made light of them; and thereby the sooner botli sailed

l_and conquered. All these have that same method of error

and deceit, leading the foolish and extravagant multi-
tude, by tricks which blind the truth; spirits unclean and
wandering, who having plunged in human vices, and left
their heavenly strength through contagion of the earth, cease
not to draw others into an equal perdition, and pour over
them the delusion of their own depravity ''.

4. The Poets likewise recognize these spirits; and Socrates-
professed himself to be taught and directed by the motions of
a spirit; herefrom too the Magi assume a power, whether for
mischief or for trifling; the chief of whom, however, Hostanes,
acknowledges that the form of the true God cannot be seen,
and says that Angels stand beside His throne. Herein Plato
upon the same principle consents, worshipping one God,
and naming the rest Angels or spirits. Hermes Trismegistus
likewise speaks of the one God; and acknowledges Him to
be beyond comprehension or appreciation. These spirits
then lurk under statues and consecrated images; they in-
spire the breasts of bards with their breath, they animate
the fibres of the entrails, direct the flight of birds, rule
the lots, cause oracles, and ever mix falsehood with truth.
Themselves beguiled, they are the beguilers of others ; disturb-
ing their life, disquieting their sleep. Creeping likewise into
their bodies, they affright the mind, distort the limbs, break
the health, provoke diseases, to dri\e men into worshipping
them; and, on being feasted with the odour of altars and the
piles of slaughtered sheep, to seem by undoing what they had
inflicted, to effect a cure. All the remedy they give, is to leave
off" harming. Neither have they other aim than this, to call
men away Irom God ; to divert them from intelligence of the
true religion, into superstition towards themselves: making
men to become companions in those pains which are their
own portion, by guilefully leading them into their own guilt.
Yet these when adjured on om- part by the true God, at once
submit, and make confession, and are forced to depart from

b Vide in the foregoing Treatise, §. 4. that besides the great apostasy when tlie

and so Rlinucius, (^.27.) and Lactantius, devil fill, sons of God or Angels had

(Instil, ii. 15 ) si)eaks of spirits, polluted been tempted and overcome by the al-

by sins of eaith, and wandering over it. tractions of sense, vid. Translation of S.

It was a common belief of the Fathers, Cyril, Catech. ii. 10. note.

I^vil spirits exorcised. God is 07ic ami Incomprehensible. 17

the bodies they have possessed. You may sec tliem by
our voice, and through the operation of the unseen majesty,
lashed with stripes, and scorched with fire; stretched out
under the increase of their multiplying penalty, shrieking,
groaning, intreating, confessing from whence they came,
and when they depart, even in the hearing of their own
worshippers; and either leaping out suddenly, or gradually
vanishing, as faith in the sufferer aids, or grace in the curer
conspires*. Hence they impel the populace into a hatred
of our name, in order that men may hate before they know
us ; and not, through knowing, either be forced to follow us,
or be restrained from condemning.

5. God then is the one Lord of all : a height which allows
of no compeer, itself sole occupant of all power. Let us
gather an illustration from earth concerning the empire
divine. When did ever a partnei'ship in royalty cither
begin with good faith, or end without bloodshed ? Thus the
brotherhood of the Thebans was sundered, and discord, out-
living death, kept its hold in their unreconciled ashes:
neither could one kingdom contain the Roman twins, though
housed afore within the tabernacle of one womb. Pompey
and Caesar were connected together, yet observed not their
bond of relationship, amidst the rivalry of power. Neither
in man only need this draw your attention, for all nature here
consents; bees have one king, the flocks one guide, the herds
one ruler ; far more has the world but one Ruler, who orders
all things that are by His word, regulates by His wisdom,
and accomplishes by His power. We cannot see Him, He is
too bright for our vision ; we cannot reach Him, He is too
pure for our touch ; we cannot scan Him, He is too great
for our intelligence; and therefore we but think of Him
worthily, when we own Him to be beyond our thought.

= Similar accounts are found in Justin, the fire of our speech." And r>aclantiu.s

(Apol. ii. 6 fin.) Theophdus, (ad Autol. of their bein^ " adjured by tlic Name of

ii.8. )'lertullian, (Apolog. 23.) iVIiiuicius, God," and " tortured by the voice of the

(§.21.) Origen, (in (^els. vii. 4.) J-ac- riyhtcnus ;" " thcrcfoic," lie continues,

tantius, (Instit. ii. 16.) Athanasius, (vit. " after much howling, they often cry out,

Ant. fi3, 64.) By torturing them " by that they are scour>:ed an<l burned, and

fire" seems to be meant the mysterious are dcpartin;,' without delay." Ajjain, S.

pain inflicted on them by the words of Hilary speaks of their f^roaning at the

the exerciser; for INlinucius speaks of bones of the Martyrs, and being burnt

" their being; expelled out of the bodies without fire.'' in Constant. 8.
of men by the torture of our woids, and

18 History of Christ'' s CGminfj to the Jeivs.

Treat. Aiifl now what Temple can God possess, when the whole

'— world is His Temple? When man dwells at large, shall I

shut up within a single structure the power of so great a
majesty ? In our own mind must be His shrine, and His conse-
cration within our own bosom. Neither ask thou the Name
of God. God is His Name. There names are needed, where
multitude is to be divided by separate distinction of terms ;
but to God, beside whom there is none other, God is the only
name. He therefore is One, and every where is He whole,
yet diffused. People oftentimes in common course make con-
fession of God, when mind and soul become warned of their
Author and first Principle. We ofttimes hear it said, ' O God,'
and, ' God sees me,' and ' to God I commend him,' and ' God
will restore to me,' and ' as God will,' and ' if God vouchsafes.'
And herein is the essence of the guilt, to refuse to own, while
you cannot avoid to know Him.

6. But that Christ is, and how salvation hath come to
us through Him, herein is the plan, and the means. The
grace of God was given at first to the Jews; through this
they were righteous in old time, and their ancestors were
obedient to the ordinances of religion. Hence their Kingdom
was uplifted in renown, and their race became many, and
abounded. But becomini;- negligent in the after-time, unruly
and proud, and puffed up in a confidence in their fathers,
they slight the divine commandments, and have forfeited thereby
that grace which had been given them. How inihallowed
their life became, with what guilty offences they violated
their religion, themselves give witness; silent with the tongue,
but confessing by the event. Dispersed and straggling,
they roam ; exiles from their soil and clime, they are tossed
among the homes of strangers. God moreover had aforetime
declared, that in the decline of ages, when the end of this
world came nigh. He from everj^ nation and people and
place would gather to Him worshippers much more faithful
and of a better obedience, who should have enjoyment of that
loving-mercy, as a divine gift, which the Jews having received
had lost through neglect of His ordinances. Dispenser then
and Master of this loving mercy, of this gi-ace and discipline,
Sermo. the Word and Son of God is sent, who by all the prophets
hitherto was fore-announced, as the Enlightener and Teacher

Hhdivinenature,incarnation,2)reacJrin<j,miracles^criicif}xioiK 19

of the human race. He is the Virtue of God, He is His Reason, Vinu?.
He is His Wisdom and Glory. He enters into the Virgin ^^''°*
and puts on flesh, being the Holy Spirit^ God is made onemisce-
with man. He is our God, He is the Christ, who as Mediator *"'"•
between two, puts on man* that He may lead him to the
Father. Christ willed to become what man is, in order that
man may have power to become what Christ is. The Jews
also knew that Christ should come. Continually by the voice
of the Prophets were the tidings of Him renewed to them ;
but with a signification of two Advents of Him, one which
should be occupied in the dealings and example of man, the
other which should reveal Him as God ; though, not rmder-
standing His first Advent, which went first and \Aas hidden
in His passion, they believe in one Advent only, that which
will be manifested in His power. That the people of the
Jews could not understand this, was the due reward of their
crimes. Such blindness had they earned as to wisdom and
knowledge, that, as being unworthy of life, they had the Life
before their eyes, yet could not see it.

7. Therefore when Christ Jesus, as had been before told by
the Prophets, cast de^•ils out of men by a word and by the
bidding of His voice, nerved the palsied, cleansed the leprous,
enlightened the blind, gave stepping to the lame, revived the
dead, made the elements to wait on Him, the winds to serve, the
seas to obey, hell itself to submit to Him, the Jews, vrho had
believed Him only man for the lowliness of flesh and body,
thought Him a sorcerer for the fulness of His power. Their
masters and rulers, whom He confuted both in learning and
wisdom, inflamed by anger and stimulated by indignation, at
length laid hold on Him, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate,
at that time procurator of Syria on the part of the Romans ;
and with violent and importunate petitionings, demanded His

<l Spiritus Sanctus. Ed. Ben. It is not Spiritu Sancto cooperante.
unfrequent with the earlier Fathers to use = Hominem induit, i. e. human nature.

the title Spiritus Sanctus for our Lord's Thus the ortiiodox doctiine differs from

Divine nature ; after the texts which Nestorianism, which holds that the Son

speak of His being " the Son of God ac- of God assumed a man, that is, a human

cording to tlie Spirit of holiness," and pej-.wi,- a notion which, involving a double

having "offered Himself up to God personality, divine and human, issued in

through the TAcvna] Spirit." vid. Hernias a sortof (what is novvcalled)Socinianism ;

Pastor, iii. 5. §. 6. Tatian, adv. Gr?cc. 7. as if Jesus Christ were a man inhabited

Thcophilus, ad Auto), ii. 10. Justin, or inspired by God, not numerically one

Apol. 1. 33. kc. Fell however reads with Him, or God !;i human natuie.

c2

20 His death, rcsnrrection, ascension, second coming.
Treat, crucifixion and death. That they should do thus, Himself had

'— foretold, and all the prophets had also given witness ; that

He must needs suffer, not merely in order to experience but to
conquer death; and having suffered, should go back again
into heaven, that He might manifest the power of the Divine
majesty. The course of events fulfilled the promise. For on
the Cross He of Himself yielded up the ghost, anticipating
the office of the executioner, and of Himself on the third day
He rose again from the dead. He appeared to His disciples
such as Pie had been ; He gave their eyes opportunity of re-
cognizing Him; mingling with them, visible in the substance
of the material body, He continued until forty days, that Oiey
might be instructed from Him in the lively precepts, and
learn what they were to teach. Then into heaven He was
llomi- raised, with a cloud around Him ; that man which He
vid"sup lo^sd, which He put on, which He covered from death. He
note e. might with victory bring in before the Father: hereafter soon
to return from heaven for the punishment of Satan and the
judgment of the human race, in the might of an Avenger and
the power of a Judge ; whilst the disciples, spread over the
world at the bidding of their jNIaster and God, taught the
precepts of God unto salvation, led men from the error of
darkness unto the way of light, and gave eyes to the blind
and ignorant, for the acknowledgment of the truth. And lest
their testimony should fail in cogency, or the confession of
Christ become an indulgence, they were tried by torments, by
crucifixions, and many kinds of sufferings. Pain, which is
the test of truth, is applied; that Christ tlie Son of God, who
is believed in as given to mankind that they may live, might
be declared not only in the heralding of the voice, but by
the testimony of suffering. Him therefore we accompany;
Him we follow; Him have we for Guide of our journey, Source
of light, Author of salvation : who promises both heaven and
the Father, to them that seek and believe. What Christ is,
shall we Christians be, if wc become imitators of Christ.

TREATISE III.

ST. Cyprian's testimonies against the jews.

ADDRESbED TO QUIRINUS, IN THREE BOOKS.

[This collection of Testimonies, or, as we now speak. Texts, was made after
its author was admitted into Holy Orders, as may be argued from his
addressing Quirinus as his " son." From its nature it is impossible to
say whether the whole was written by S. Cyprian ; the matter contained
in it admitting of indefinite increase, and there being no opportunity
afforded for the internal evidence of style. It is quoted as Cyprian's by
Augustine and Jerome, among others ; the latter of whom refers to a
passage in the third book, which exactly occurs in the existing work,
according to the reference which he gives. The references in the notes
which have been subjoined are in great measure from Bishop Fell's edition.
Only the principal variations in the text of Scripture are noticed.]

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST TWO BOOKS.

Cyprian to my son Quirinus, greeting.

Needs was it, dearest son, that I should obey your spiritual
wish, asking me with most earnest entreaty for those divine
sanctions, wherewith the Lord hath been pleased to ground
and instruct us, through the Holy Scriptures ; to the end that,
led out of the shadows of ciTor, and enlightened by His
pure and radiant hght, we may hold the w ay of life through
saving vSacraments. And indeed such as you applied for, so
has my work been fashioned, a treatise gathered up within
straitened limits; not distending what was written into too
wide a space of matter, but as f^ir as my poor memory pcnnit-
ted, collecting all the necessary points in extracted and con-
tinuous portions ; so that I seem not so much to have entered
into the subject, as to have furnished others with the materials
of so doing. Brevity of this sort is greatly of benefit to the

22 7Vie Scriptures fountains of Divine fulness.

Treat, reader, whose understanding and perception, are canied astray

'■ — by a long work, whereas his memory accurately retains what

is read, where the more meaning is in less space. I have
limited myself to two books, both of moderate length. The
one, wherein we have endeavoured to shew, that the Jews, ac-
cording as had before been prophesied, have departed from God,
and lost that favour of the Lord, which was given them in the
time past, and had been promised for the time to come ; and
proitie- that Christians have succeeded into their place, earning of
lentes. ^|^g Lord through faith, and coming out of all nations and
from the whole world. The second book further contains the
Sacrament of Christ ; that He hath come, who was before
declared by the Scriptures ; and hath done and fulfilled
those things by which it may be knoAATi and discerned, that it
is He who was foretold. TIaese things while you read them will
meanwhile be profitable, in fixing the first outlines of your
faith ; more strength will be given you, the wisdom of the
heart wall be exercised more and more, as you more fully
examine into the Scriptures Old and New, and peruse the entire
extent of those spiritual books. As yet we have but drawn thus
scantily from the divine fountains, for your present supply ;
you will be enabled to drink more largely, and be satisfied
more bountifully, if with us you yourself approach to drink at
those same fountains of divine fulness. Dearest son, it is my
wish that all health may ever attend you.

Heads of f lie first Book,

1. That the Jews have grievously fallen under God's dis-
pleasure, in departing from the Lord, and following idols.

2. Likewise in not believing the Prophets, and slaying
them.

3. It was foretold that they would neither recognize, nor
understand, nor accept the Lord.

4. That the Jews would not understand the Holy Scrip-
tures, which yet were to be understood in the last times, after
that Christ should have come.

5. That the Jews could have no understanding of the
Scriptures, unless they first believed in Christ.

History of the rejection of the Jews and calling oftheGentiles. 23

6. That they would lose Jerusalem, and leave the land
which had been given them.

7. That they would likewise lose the light of the Lord.

8. That the former carnal circumcision is made void, and
a second spiritual one assigned.

9. That the former law given by Moses was to cease.

10. That a new law was to be given.

1 1 . That another Dispensation and a new Testament was
to be given.

12. That the old Baptism was to cease, and a new
begin.

13. That the old yoke was to be made void, and a new
yoke be given.

14. That the former shepherds should cease, and new ones
begin.

15. That Christ was to be the House and Temple of God ;
and that the old Temple had ceased, and a new begun.

10. That the old sacrifice was to be made void, and a new
sacrifice celebrated.

17. That the old Priesthood should cease, and a new Priest
should come, who should be for ever.

18. That another Prophet was promised, like unto Moses ;
one, that is, who should give a new Testament, and whom
rather it should be a duty to hear.

19. That two people were foretold, the elder and the
younger, that is, the former one of the Jews, and that new one
which should be of us,

20. That the Church, which had before been barren, should
have more sons out of the Gentiles, than what the Synagogue
before had had.

21. That the Gentiles rather should be believers in Christ.

22. That the Bread and Cup of Christ, and all His grace,
the Jews would lose, and we receive ; and that the new Name
of Christians would receive a blessing in the earth.

23. That Gentiles, rather than Jews, attain unto the
kingdom of heaven.

24. That hereby alone the Jews can receive pardon of
their offences, if they wash off the blood of Christ slain,
in His Baptism; and passing over into the Church, yield
obedience to His commandments.

BOOK I.

Trfat. 1. That the Jews have grievously fallen under God's dis-
pleasure in dej)arting from tiie Lord, and following idols.

Ex.32, In Exodus the people said unto Aaron, f^j/, ?/take rtf> [/ods

VuIl'. 'chlch sJkiII go before us ; for as for tJila Moses, the num that

hrouijht us up out of the land of Egijpt, we wot not what is

become of him. Likewise in the same place Moses saith imto

Ex. 3-2, the Lord, O Lord, I pray Thee, this people have sinned a great

not V. ■^*''j *^^^ have made them gods of gold and silver : yet now, if

Thou wilt forgive their sin, forgive ; but if not, blot me out

of the book which Tliou hast written. And the Lord said unto

Moses, Whosoever hath sin ned against Me, him will I blot out

Deut. of My booh. Likewise in Deuteronomy, They sacrificed unto

^^' yi' devils, not to God. Likewise in the Book of Judges, And the

not V. ' ... o '

J mlg. 2, children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord God

1 1 1 o '

not~v ^f I heir fathers, which brought them up out of the land
of Egypt, and followed the gods of the people that were round
about litem, andprovoked the Lord to anger ; andforsook God,
Judg. 4, and served Baal. Likewise in the same place, And the chil-
' °°*'^' dren of Israel added to do evil again in the sight of the Lord,
and served Baal and the gods of the strangers, and forsook
Mai. 2, the Lord, and served Him not. Likewise in Malachi, Judah
V." is forsaken^ and an abomination hath been committed in
Israel, and in Jerusalem ; for Judah hath profaned the holi-
ness of the Lord which He loved, and hath courted strange
gods. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, and he
shall be made base in the tabernacles of Jacob.

2. Likewise in not believing the Prophets, and slaying

them.

Jer. 7, In Jeremiah the Lord says, / sent unto you My servants

not V ' i^^(^ PT'ophets, before the dawn I sent them, {and ye hearkened

not unto Me, neither inclined your ear,) saying. Turn ye every

one from his evil way, and his most wicked doings, and ye shall

dwell in the land, tvhich I have given to you and to yotir

.ieT.25, fathers for ever and ever. Likewise in the same place, Go

**• '• not after other gods, to serve thenij neither worship thein,

and provoke Me not to anger by the ivorks of your hands, to

* Judah is fonakeu. dcrilicliis est. has dealt tieacherouily. Engl. Traas.
trunsgresjusest. Vulg. iyKXTtkiiipiii. Sept.

The blindness of the Jews 25

scatter you abroad; and ye have not hearkened unto Me.
Likewise in the third book of Kings, Elias saith unto
the Lord, / hare been very jealous for the Lord God i Kin^s
Almighty, for the children of Israel have forsaken Thee, hare ''^' !?•

^ .' ' not V.

thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets irith the
sword ; and I only am left behind, and they seek my life to
take it away. Likewise in Ezra, They rebelled against T1iee,i Ksdr,
and cast Thy law behind their backs, and slew Tliy prophets, ^^'^
which testified against them to turn them to Thee. not v.

3. It was foretold that the Jews would neither recognize,
nor understand, nor accept the Lord.

In Isaiah, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth ; for the isa. i.
Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children,'^~^y
hut they have rebelled against Me. The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know Me,
and the people hath not perceived Me. Ah sinful nation, a
people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that
are corrupters ; ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the
Holy One of Israel to anger. Likewise by the same prophet
the Lord saith. Go and tell this people. Ye shall hear w//// isa.6,9.
the ear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and ]^- ""'
shall not perceive ; for the heart of this people hath waxed
fat, and they hear heavily with their ears, and have shut their
eyes, lest by any jueans they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be
converted, and I should heal them. Likewise in Jeremiah
the Lord saith. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living j^^, 2.
icaters, and hewed themselves out broken cisterns, which tvill^^'^^^
not be able to hold water. Likewise in the same, Behold, the Jer. 6.
word of the Lord is unto them a reproach, they have no delight y' °°'
in it. Likewise in the same the Lord says, The turtle andi^r.Q,
the sivallow knoweth its time, the sparrows observe the time '.'/^o7 V
their coming ; but My people doth not know the judgment of
the Lord. How will ye say, We are wise, and the law of the
Lord is with us ? Thejalse measuremen t hath been made in vain,
the scribes are ashamed, the wise 7nen are dismayed, and taken,
because they have rejected the word of the Lord. Likewise
in Solomon, Evil men seek Me, and they shall not fnd Me ; 28. 29.'
for that then hated knowledtje, and did not choose the fear of ^'^^ ^'-

Ps 27

the Lord. Likewise in the twenty- seventh Psalm, Render <t>[28]4.5.

V.

26 though light and understanding were given.

luuAT. them their desert^ because they regard not the works of the
- — 1- Lord. Likewise in the eighty-first Psahii, Tliey know not,
[82] 5.' neither hare they understood ; they nalk on in darkness.
] f'^-. Likewise in the Gospel according to John, He came unto His

Jolin 1, '^ _ o '

11. 12. own, and His own received Him not ; hut as many as received
not \ . uifj^^ fQ i/igjfi (jave He imwer to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His Name.

4. That the Jews would not understand the Holy Scrip-
tures, which yet were to be understood in the last times, after
that Christ should have come.
Is. 29, In Isaiah, And all these words shall be vnto yon as the

1118

notV. 'words of a book that is sealed, which if you deliver to read

unto one that knoweth letters lie shall say, I cannot read, for

it is sealed. . . . But in that day shall the deaf hear tlie words

of the book, and they trho are in darkness and in a cloud;

Jer. 23, fjie ei/es of the blind shall see. Likewise in Jeremiah, In the

V. latter days ye shall know those things. Likewise in Daniel,

T)aa.V2, ,y/iffi up tJie words, and seal the book, even to the time of the

v\ end; until many learn, and knowledge is fulfilled; for when

there shall be a dispersion, they shall know all these things.

1 Cor. In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Brethren, I

not V. ivoidd not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers

ivere under the cloud. Likewise in the second Epistle to the

2 Cor. 3, Corinthians, Their minds are blinded even unto this day,

jjjj~^r ■ by this same vail, tvhich is taken away in Christ; but even

unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their

heart. Nevertheless, when they shall turn unto the Lord,

the vail shall be taken aicay. In the Gospel the Lord after

Luke24, the resuiTcction says, These are the words which I spake unto

iioi\r/ you, tvhile I was yet tcith you, that all things must be

fuljilled, which were 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

Scriptures, and said unto them. Thus it is written, and thtis

it behoved Christ to suffer, and. to rise from the dead the

third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should

be preached in His Name even canon g cdl nations.

5. That the Jews could have no understanding of the

Scriptures, unless they first believed in Christ.

Is. 7, 9. In Isaiah, //" ye jrill not believe, neither shall ye under-
not V.

TheJms have lost Jerusalem and the light of the Lord. 27

stand. Wherefore the Lord in the Gospel, If ye believe not Johns,
that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. But that righteous- y"*' ""'
ness should stand by faith, and that therein was life, was
foretold in Ilabakkuk, A^oiv the just shall live hyfaifh in Me. Ilab. 2,
Hence Abraham the father of nations believed. In Genesis, ' "°^ ^'
Ahraliam believed in God, and it was accounted to him /by Gen. 15,
riahteousness. Likewise Paul to the Galatians, Abraliam 'f^^

IT 1 Oal. 3,

believed in God, and it was accounted to him for righteous- &— 9.
ness. Ye know therefore that they which are of faith, ^^^^
the same are children of Abraham. And the Scripture,fore-
seei)ig that God Jusfifieth the heathen by faith, jrreached
beforehand to Abraham, that in him all nations shall be
blessed So then they ichich be of faith are blessed with
faithful Abraham.

6. That the Jews would lo.se Jerusalem, and leave the land
Avhicli had been given them.

In Isaiah, Your country is desolate, your cities are burnedis. 1,
with Ji re, your land strangers shall devour it in your p^'^-^-C-
sence; desolate and overthrown by strangers, the daughter of
Zion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a
garden of cucumbers, as a city which hath been besieged.
And except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a seed, tee
should have been as Sodom, and been like unto Gomorrha.
Likewise in the Gospel the Lord says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Mat. 23,
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are ^^''^noiy
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children
together, even as a hen galhereth her chickens under her
wings, and thou wouldest not! Behold, your house is left
unto you desolate.

7. That the Jews would likewise lose the light of the Lord.

In Isaiah, Come ye, and let us walk in the light of theis.2,5.6.
Lord: for He hath sent away His people, the house of Israel. ^°^ ^'•
Likewise in the Gospel according to John, That was the true John i.
Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the vorld.^^^y^
He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and
the world knew Him not. Likewise in the same place, He John 3,
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not ^^^[ y'
believed in the Name of the only-begotten Son of God. And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light.

28 Circumcision madewayfor Baptism,theOldLawforthcNew-

Tim AT. 8. Tliat the former carnal circumcision is made void, tviid
a second spiritual one assigned.

.Tcr.4.3. In Jeremiah, TJius saith the Lord to the men of Judali,
•"° awf^ to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Renew newness among
you, and sow not amony thorns. Circumcise yourselves to
your God, and circumcise the foreskins of your heart; lest
My fury come forth like Jire, and hum so that none can
Deut. quench it. Likewise Moses says. In the latter days God
noi V *^'''^ circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love
.(osh. 5, the Lord thy God. So in Jesus the Son of Nave ; And the
' lyord said unto Jesus, Make thee sharp knives of stone, and
circumcise forthwith the children of Israel a second time.
Col. 2, Likewise Paul to the Colossians, Ye are circumcised not with
y ■ the circumcision made with hands in the putting off of the
Jlesh, hut with the circumcision of Christ. Likewise because
Adam whom God first made was uncircumcised ; and righteous
Abel ; and Enoch who pleased God and was translated ; and
Noah, who when the world and mankind perished for sin,
was alone chosen in whom the race of man should be pre-
served; and Melchisedech the priest, after whose order
Christ was promised. Farther, because that sign avails not
to women ; but by the Sign of the Lord all are sealed.
Q. That the former law given by Moses was to cease.
Is. 8, 16. In Isaiah, Then shall they he manifest, who seal the law,
y • °°* that they may not learn. And he shall say, I wait upon
God, that hideth His face from the house of Jacoh, and
Mat. 11,/ uill trust in Him. Likewise in the Gospel, All the
V.' Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.

10. That a new Law was to be given.

Riicali In Micah, For the Law shall qo forth of Zion, and the

4 2. 3. . . .y .' .' :>

not V.' «^"<^''^ <f lf'(^ Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge
among many people, and rchuke and uncover strong nations.

Is.2,3.4. Likewise in Isaiah, For out of Zion shall go forth the Law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem ; and He shall
judge among the nations. Likewise in the Gospel according

iviat. l7,to Matthew, And behold a voice out of the cloud, which said,
. rpi^-^ 1^ j^j^y beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye
Him.

1 1 . That another Dispensation, and a new Testament, was
to be given.

The old Testament^ old Boj)tism^ and old Yoke ceased. 29

In Jeremiah, Behold, the days come, saiih the Lord, that /Jer. .si.
will make a new Testament with the house of Israel, and j,^^ y '
with the house of Judah. Not according to the Testament
that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them
hy the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt ; because
they remained not in My Testament, and I neglected them,
saith the Lord. For this shall he the Testament that I will
77iake with the house of Israel after those days, saith the
Lord; I tvill give them J\Iy laws, and icill write them, in
their hearts, and will he their God, and they shall he My
j)eople. And they shall teach no more every man his neigh-
hour, saying. Know the Lord; for all shall know Me, from
the least even unto the greatest of them; for I will forgive
their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

12. That the old Baptism was to cease, and a new begin.

In Isaiah, Remember ye not the former things, neither is. 4.3,
consider the things of old. Behold, Intake new the H' ^ "!/■'' ^oVv '
that shall now spring forth, and ye shall know it; and I will
make a way in the desert, and rivers in a droughty place; to
give drink to My chosen race. My people tchom I accepted,
that they should shew forth My praise. Likewise in the
same, //' they thirst. He will lead them through the desert, Is. 48,
He will cause the waters to flow out of the rock for them: y "
the rock shall be cloven, and the wafer shall gush, and My
people shall drink. Likewise in the Gospel according to
Matthew, John says, / indeed baptize you tvith water unto Wat. 3,
repentance, but He that cometh after Me is mightier than I, ^-""^
u'hose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He baptizcih you with
the Holy Ghost and icith fire. Likewise according to John,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot .Folm 3,
enter into the ki)igdom of God. That tchich is born ofy
the Jlesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.

13. That the old yoke was to be made void, and a new
yoke to be given.

In the second Psalm; IVlvy do the heathen rage, and theps.2,
people iinagine vain, things^ 'The kings of the earth stand ^—^'^ •
up, and the rulers arc gathered together, against the Lord,
and against His Christ. Let us break their bands asunder,
and cast atvay their yoke from us. Likewise in the Gosixl

30 The old Shejiherds and Temple made way for the new.

Treat, according to Matthew, the Lord says, Co7ne unto Me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

28—30.' Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek
not \. ^j^^i iQf^^iy {fi heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For My yoke is kind, and my burden is light. In Jeremiah,
Jer. 30, In that day I will break the yoke from off their neck, and
\\ ' burst their bonds; and they shall no longer serve others, but

they shall serve the Lord God ; and I ivill raise up David a

king unto tliem.

14. That the former shepherds should cease, and new ones
begin.

Ezek. In Ezekiel, Wherefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am

Iff! not (il>ove the sheplierds, and I will require My sheep at their

^' hand ; and I trill turn them away from feeding My sheep,

neither shall they feed them any more; and I ivill deliver

My sheep from their mouth, and I w ill feed them with judg-

Jer. 3, ment. In Jeremiah the Lord saith, / tiill give you pastors

j^^* y according to Mine heart, and they shall feed you with the

Jer. 31, food of discipline. Also in Jeremiah, Hear the word of the

„Qj y' Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles which are far

off, and say. He that scattereth Israel will gather him, and

keep him as a shepherd doth his flock ; for the Lord hath

redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him

that was stronger than he.

15. That Christ was to be the House and Temple of God,
and that the old Temple had ceased, and a new begun.

2 Sam. In the second Book of Kinjrs, And the word of the Lord

7 5 12 o '

_li6, came to JSafhan, saying, Co and tell My servant JJavid, thus

Trh' '^^^^^' '^'^ Lord, Thou shalt not build Me an house to dwell in ;

J 7, 3. but it shall come to pass, nhen thy days be fulfilled, and thou

'^~' *• shalt sleep with thy fathers, and I will set up thy Seed aftei'

thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels; and I will

establish His kingdom : He shall build Me an house, for My

Name, and I will stablish His throne for ever : and I will be

His Father, and He shall be My Son, and His house shall

obtain assurance, and His kingdom for evermore in My sight.

Mat. 24, Likewise in the Gospel the Lord saith, There shall not be left

not V. ''* ll'(^ temple one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown

jo!in 2, down. And, After three dai/s another .^hall be raised vp

11 58. f^'ithout hands.

not V,

The Old Sacrifice^ Priestltood, and Prophets for the New. 31

10. That the old sacrifice was to be made void, and a new
sacrifice celebrated.

In Isaiah, To uhat pia'pose is the niultitnde of your sacri-u.\.\\.
Jices unto Me, saith the Lord; I am full; burnt offerings ofy'f°^
rams, and fat of lambs, and blood of bulls and goats, I trill
not. For icho hath required those things at your hands ?
Likewise in the forty-ninth Psalm, / icill not eat the flesh ofw, 49^
bulls, or drink the blood of goats; offer unto God fl^fi>'^'''^-\^j}^r,
giving, and pay thy vou:s nnto the Most High; call upon Me v.
in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shall
glorify Me. Likewise in the same Psalm, The sacrijice Ps. 49,
of jJraise shall glorify Me; therein is the uay where I uill\^ •■J" "
shew him the salvation of God. Likewise in the fom'th
Psalm, Offer the sacrijice of righteousness, and put your trust Ps. 4,5.
in the Lord. Likewise in Malachi, L have no pleasure in you, j^,-^j j
sdith the Lord, neither will / take an accepted offering 10. il.
at your hands; for from the rising of the sun even unto the^°
going down of the same, My Name is great among the
Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto My
Name, and a pure offering " ; for my Name is great among
the Gentiles, saith the Lord.

17. That the old Priesthood should cease, and a new Priest
should come, who should be for ever.

In the hundred and ninth Psalm, Before the morning-star Ps. 109,
/ begat Thee. The L^ord hath sworn and will not re/?ew/, ^4* 'y^ ^'
Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Likewise in the first of Kings the Lord saith unto Eli the
Priest, And L tcill raise me up a faithful Priest, that shall do 1 Sam.2,
all things ivhich are in My heart, and L will build him a ■'mre ^^[ y'
house ; and he shall walk before Mine anointed ones for ever.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine
house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and
for a morsel of bread.

18. That another Prophet was promised, like mi to Moses;
one, that is, who should give a new Testament, and who
should rather be heard,

a Vid. also Justin. M. (Tryph. 41.) mincha, or an oblation of meal with its

IretiiEUs (Ha;r. iv. 17. §. 5.) " Instead of drink offering, viz. of bread and wine, of

the victims and feast on slaughtered ani- the true and ever-tnduiing Kueliaiistical

mals, this alone remains among Christians, sacrifice and the incense of pious prayers."

a reasonable and bloodless sacriHce, which Fell in loo.
consists, in Malachi's words, of pure

32 To harren Jewish Church more Oentilesons than to Synagogue.
TnFAT. In Deuteronomy, concerning God speaking unto Moses;

III.

And the Lord said unto me, A Prophet will I raise vp unto

18. 19. them front among their brethren like unto thee, and will put

not V. ]\[y fcord^'i in his mouth, and he shall speak unto theyn all that

I shall command him, and ichosoeier shall not hearken unto

whatsoever things that Prophet shall speak in My name,

I will require it. Concerning whom Christ also speaks in

John 5, the Gospel according to John, Search the Scriptures, for in

:?9. 40. ijigjji yQ think ye have eternal life ; they are they which

not \^ testify of 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, in whom ye trust. For had

ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me ; for he wrote

of Me ; hut if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe

My words ?

19. That two people were foretold, the elder and the
younger, that is, the former one of the Jews, and that new one
which should be of us.

Gen, 25, In Geuesls; And the Lord said unto Rebekah, Two nations
23. not ^^^ ^^^ ^j^y womb, and two manner of people shall be separated
from thy bowels ; and the one people shall be stronger than
the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.
Hos. 2, Likewise in Hosea, / icill call them that are not My people
23.1 10. ^j^. pgQpig and her beloved that was not beloved. For it shall

not V. *^^'

come to pass, that in the place where it shall he said, Ye are
not My people, that shall they be called, the sons of the living
God.

20. That the Church, which had before been barren, should
have more sons out of the Gentiles, than what the Synagogue
before had had.

Isa. 54. Tr* Isaiah ; Rejoice, thou barren, that dost not bear ; break
^—'^\ forth and sing, thou, that travailest not ; for many are the chil-
dren of the desolate, rather than of her that hath an husband.
For the Lord hath said. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and of
thy curtains, and stretch litem. Spare not, lengthen thy
cords, and strengthen thy stakes ; stretch forth yet to thy
right hand and to thy left, and thy seed shall inherit the
Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate cities. Fear not, for
thou shall overcome; neither be (tshamed for that thou art
accursed ; for thou shall forget thy shame for ever. So also,

Mystei-y of the number seven. 33

to Abraham, (who had a son afore born of a bondwoman,)
Sarah remained long barren, and late in age bare her son
Isaac by promise, who was a type of Christ. So also Jacob
had two wives, the elder Leah, with weak eyes, a type of the
Synagogue; Rachel the younger, beautiful, a type of the
Church ; who likewise long remained barren, and afterwards
bare her son Joseph, who was himself also a type of Christ.
And in the first book of Kings it is read, that Elkanah had
two wives, Peninnah with children, and Hannah barren, from
whom was born Samuel, not according to the order of procrea-
tion, but according to the compassion and promise of God^
upon her having prayed in the Temple ; and Samuel whom
she bare was a type of Christ. Likewise in the first book of
Kings, The barren hath borne seven, and she that had many i Sam.
children is waxed feeble. The children are the seven y ■"°'
Churches; whence also Paul wrote to seven Churches, and the
Apocalypse sets forth seven Churches, that the number of seven
may be preserved. In like manner there were seven days in
which God made the world ; so also seven Angels tvho stand and Tobit
go in and out be/ore the face of God, as Raphael the Angel ^^^ y *

saith in Tobit; and seven lamps in the Tabernacle of witness; f-xod.

. 25 37

and the eyes of the Lord are seven, which keep watch over the -le'c U 2.
world; and a stone with seven eyes, as saith Zechariah; and"''^ V.

. Zee. 3 9.

sevenSpirits,and seven candlesticks in theApocalypse; and seven 4, 10.'
pillars, on which wisdom hath built Her 'house in Solomon, ^^o *'

2L That the Gentiles rather should be believers in Christ. Pio.9,1.

In Genesis, And the Lord God said unto Abraham, Get Gen. ]2,
thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy \.
father's house, and go into a land that I will sheiv thee ; and I
will make of thee a great nation, and I icill bless thee, and will
inake thy name great, and thou, shalt be blessed; and I tvill bless
him that blesseth thee, and curse him that cursefh thee ; and in
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. On the same point,
in Genesis, See the smell of my son is as the smell of a plenteous Gen. 27,
field, ichich the Lord hath blessed; and may God give thee if the'^^~y^'
dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth plenty of corn and
loine and oil ; and people shall serve thee, and princes bow down
to thee ; thou shalt be lord also over thy brother, and thy fi flier's
son shall bow down to thee ; cursed shall he be that cursefh titer,
and blessed shall he be that blesseth thee. On the same point, in

D

34 The call of the Gentiles predicted,

Till AT. Genesis; But wlien Joseph saio that his father laid his right
Juind upon the head of Ephraim, it disj/leased him; and Josrph

Til.

\7^\c)' held up hisfather\s right hand^ to remove it from Ephraim's head
"°' ^ • 7info Manasseh\s head; and Joseph said unto his father, Not so, mij
father; this is my first-horn ; put thy right hand upon his herul :
but he refused, and said, I knoiv if, my son, I hiow it ; he also
shall heeonie a people, and he also shall he great ; hut his younger
brother shall he greater than lie, and his seed shall become a mul-
Gen.49, titude of nations. Likewise in Genesis, Judah, thou art lie, ichom
not \. '^'// hrethren shall praise ; thine hand shall he in the vecli <ftlnne
enemies : fhyfathci'^s children shall how down before thee. Judah
is a lions tchelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up ; thou
layedst down and sleepedst like a lion, and as a lion's whelp ; who
shall raise him up ? '^lliere shall not be xcanting a. prince from
Judah, and a leader from his loins, until the things come
which have been entrusted xrith him ; and he is the hope of the
nations. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt icnto
the choice vine ; he shall jvash his robe in wine, and his clothes in
the blood of the grape. His eyes are tei'rihle with wine, and his
teeth are more white than milk. Hence in Numbers it is written
Numb, concerning our people, Behold, the people shall rise up as a lion-
not V.' like people. In Deuteronomy, Ye Gentiles shall he the head, but
pent, fjig imhelieving jieojde shall be the tail. Likewise in Jeremiah,
not V. Hearlicn to tJie sound of the trumpet ; and they said, We ivill not
\Q t ^^^'"^^^^ •* ./'"' '^^"*" (^ouse the nations shall hear, and they who shall
\ . feed fiorks among them. In the seventeenth Psahn, Thou shalt
riB I 43. wJ«/^e me the head of the heathen : a people whom I have not known
^ '• ^ • have served me, at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.
Concerning the same thing in Jeremiah the Lord saith,
J cT.],r,. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou
camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained
Is. 53, 4. thee a jjrophet among the nations. Likewise in Isaiah, Behold, I
hare given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and com-
mander to the nations. Likewise in the same. Nations which
knew T7iee not shall call upon Tliee, and people shall run to Tliee
that had no knowledge of Tliee. Likewise in the same, hi that
day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall rise to rule in all
people ; in Him shall the Gentiles hope, and fJis rest shall be
Is. 9, \. glory. Likewise in the same, Tlie land ofZtdmlon and the land
2. ^^^"^ ' of ^aj)]italim, by the way of the sea, and ye others who dwell by

ver.

,5.

not

\ .

Is.

1 1.

10.

not

\'

and their being Messed with Chrisfs Bread and Cup. 35

the sea-places, and heyond Jordan^ Galilee of the nations ; people
that icalli in darkness, see ye the great light ; ye ivho dioell in the
land of the shadow of death, the light shall shine upon you.
Likewise in the same, Thus saith the Lord God to Christ my Is. 45,1.
Lord, lohose right hand I have liolden, that nations may hear Him, ^°^
and that I may break asunder the strength of kings ; I icill open
gates before Him, and cities shall not be shut. Likewise in the
same, I come to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall Is. 66,
come and see My glory ; and I will send out an ensign over them, ^^[ y*
and will send those that are preserved of them unto the nations
that are afar off, that have not heard My Name, nor seen My
glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.
Likewise in the same, In all this they are not converted ; there- Is- 5, 25.
fore ivill He lift an emsign to the nations that are afar, and icill y '
call them from the end of the earth. Likewise in the same, They Is. 52.
ivhich had not been told of Him shall see, and they which have noty' °°
heard shall undei^stajid. Likewise in the same, I arn mac?e 1^.65, 1.
manifest to them that seek Me not, I am found of them that asked
not for Me. I said. Behold, it is I, to a nation that has not called
upon My Name. Concerning this same thing saith Paul in the
Acts of the Apostles, It was necessary that the word of God ^<:i^^3,
shoidd first be spoken to you, but seeing ye put it from you, and not v.*
judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles. For so hath the Lord spoken to us by the Scrijjtures,
saying, I have set thee to be a light among the Gentiles, that thou
shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

22, That the Jews would lose and we receive the bread and
cup of Christ and all His grace ; and that the new Name of
Christians would receive a blessing in the earth.

In Isaiah thus speaks the Lord, Behold, they who serve Me Is. 65,
shall eat, but ye shall be hungry ; they icho serve Me shall rejoice, ^^^^ y '
but ye shall be ashamed ; the Lord shall slay you ; but to them
that serve Me, a new Name shall be named, ivhich shall be blessed
in the earth. Likewise in the same place, Therefore tvill ^e Is- 5, 26,
lift an ensign to the nations that are afar, and icill call them from y *
the end of the earth. And, behold, they shall come with speed
siviftly, they shall not hunger nor thirst. Likewise in the same
place. Behold therefore the Ruler, the Lord of hosts, shall take U. 2, 1.
aioay from Judah and from Jerusalem, the mighty man and the ' "°' '
strong, the stay of bread, and the stay of water. Likewise in the

d2

36 Baptism only washes the guilt of Christ'' s Mood from the Jews.

TnFAT.thirty-tliird Psalm, 0 taste and see that the Lord is good ; blessed
III

. is the man that trusteth in Him. Fear the Lord God. all ye His

P-: 33 .

[34] S-L saints ; for there is no want to them that fear Him. Rich men
JO. V. icicnit and hunger^ hut they that seek the Lord shall not icant any
good tiling. Likewise in the Gospel according to John the
John 6, Lord saith, I am the bread of life ; he that comefh to Me shall
y' never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never tliirt^t.
John 7, Likewise saith He in the same place, If any man thirst, let him
y ' * come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scrip-
ture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
John 6, Likewise saith He 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 Gentiles, more than Jews, attain unto the kingdom
of heaven.

n^'io^' ^^^ ^^^® Gospel the Lord saith. Many shall come from the

not V. east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac

and Jacob in the kingdom of heav>en. But the children of the

kingdom shall he cast out into outer darkness, there shall be

weeping and gnashing of teeth.

24. That hereby alone the Jews can receive pardon of their

offences, if they wash off the blood of Christ, in His Baptism,

and passing over into the Church, yield obedience to His

commandments.

Is- 1, In Isaiah the Lord saith, I loill not release your sins. When

15—20. ' -^

not V. yc spread forth your hands, I will turn away My face from you,

and when ye make many prayers, I will not hear you ; fur your

hands are full of blood. JVasli you, make you clean; take away

the wickedness from your souls, from before Mine eyes ; cease to

do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the opjjressed,

judge for the fatherless, and justify the widow. Come noiv and let

us reason together, saith the Lord ; though your sins be as scarlet,

1 7vill ivhiten them as snoiv ; thougli they be red like crimson, I

will loliiten them as wool. And if ye be ivilling and obedient, ye

shall eat the good of the land. But fye refuse and hear Me not,

the stcoi-d shall devour you : for the mouth of the Loi'd hath

spoken it.

Heads of the second Book.

1. That Christ is the First-born ; and that He is the Wisdom primo-
of God, by whom all things were made. gemtus.

2. That Christ is the Wisdom of God ; and concerning the
Sacrament of His incarnation and passion, and cujj and altar,
and of the Apostles who by commission preached.

3. That Christ is likewise the Word of God. Sermo.

4. That Christ is likewise the hand and the arm of God.

5. That He is likewise Angel; and God.

6. That Christ is God.

7. That Christ our God should come as the Enlightener and
Saviour of the human race.

8. That having from the beginning been Son of God, He
yet was to be begotten anew according to the flesh.

9. That this should be the sign of His nativity, that He
should be bom of a Virgin, man and God, Son of man and of
God.

10. That Christ is man and God, consisting"^ of eithernature,
that He might be able to be Mediator between us and the
Father.

1 1 . That he was to be born of the seed of David, according
to the flesh.

12. That He was to be bom in Bethlehem.

13. That He was to come in low estate on His first
Advent.

14. That He was the Just, whom the Jews should kill.

15. That He was a Sheep and a Lamb who was to be
killed ; and concerning the Sacrament of His Passion.

16. That He likewise is called a stone.

17. That that stone should afterward become a mountain,
and fill the whole earth.

18. That in the last times, that same mountain should be
revealed, upon which the Gentiles should come, and by
which all the just should go up.

19. That He is a Bridegroom, having the Church for a
Bride, of whom children should be spiritually born.

<l Ex utroquc genere concrelus. so de celur. vid. above, p. 19.
Idol. Van. $. 6. Ueus cum homine mis-

38 Christ the First-horn and the Wisdom of Ood,

TnEAT. 20. That the Jews would fasten Him to the Cross.

'— 21. That m the passion of His Cross and the sign is

all virtue and power.

22. That in this sign of the Cross is salvation to all who are
marked in their foreheads.

23. That during His passion there was to be darkness at
mid-day.

24. That He would not be overcome by death, nor remain
in hell.

25. That He would rise from the dead the third day.

26. That after He had risen, He would receive all power
from the Father, and that His power is eternal.

27. That it is impossible to come unto God the Father,
except through Jesus Christ His Son.

28. That He will come to judge.

29. That He will reign as a King for ever.

30. That He is both Judge and King.

BOOK H.

1. That Christ is the First-bom; and that He is the Wisdom
of God, by whom all things were made.
Prov. 8, In Solomon in the Proverbs, The Lord made Me^ the
22—31. J)eginnin(j of Fits nays in His works; He set Me up before the

- Condidit. J'»r/<rjv or txr/<raro. So also must ever have been. However, Eusebius

Philo Jud. (de Temul. p. 241. ed. (Eccles. Tlieol. iii.3.)an(lJerome,(Epist.

Franc.) Justin, ('l'ryj)li. 129.) Athena- ad Cyprian.) translate the word, " pos-

goras,(Leg.lO.) Clement of Alexandria, sessed," 'nirrnraTt , and refer to the

(Protrept. p. 62. ed. Sylb.) Ori;,fen, (in Hebrew text as their authority. Basil, (ia

Joan. i. ll.^t n/.) Athanasius,(ad Serap. Eunom.ii. 20.) and Nyssen (in Eunom.

i. 3. et al.) Pseudo-Tgnatius, (ad Tarsens. i. p. 34.) mention l)oth readings. Epipha-

6.) and the Arians (Theod. Hist. i. 6.) nius, (ll;er. 69. n. 25.) translates the

who uroed it in defence of their heresy Hebrew e«Ti5<rar» oi inV(r««(ri. Even those

that our Lord has a beg^inn'tug of ex- Falhershovvever, who prefer ixr>)caTa, are

istence; whereas it only implies a Soiotc content to take iKTiirt, and with the

of existence, which beinf; eternal, (viz. others above mentioned, to which may be

the Father,) the Son may be eternal too, added, Tertullian, Lactantius, Gregory

or rather must be, in that no change can Nazianzen, Cyril of Alexandria, Hilary,

take place in the Divine Nature, and if Ambrose, and Augustine, for the most

the Son is ia the Father and the Father part explain it of our Lord's incar-

in the Son now, that adorable mystery nation.

by whom all things loere made. 39

worlds. In the heginning, or ever He made the earth, and
before He established the depths, before the fountains of water
Jloiced forth, before the mountains ivere settled, before all the
hills, the Lord begot Me. He made the regions and the
unijthabitable places, and the utiinhabilable limits beneath
the skg. JFhen He prepared the heavens, I was with Him,
and when He set apart His seat. IVhen He made the strong
clouds above over the ivinds, and ivhen He laid the strong
fountains beneath the heaven, when He established the found-
ations of the earth, I was by, disposing litem under Him ;
I was with Him, in whom He delighted ; I daily rejoiced
before His face always, when He rejoiced in the perfecting of
the earth. Likewise in the same in Ecclesiasticus ; 1 came Ecdus.
out of the mouth of the Most Higli, before every creature ; /pot V~ '
made the imfailing light to rise in the heavens, and covered
the whole earth with a cloud; I dwelt in high places, and My
throne is in a cloudy pillar. I compassed the circuit of
heaven, and entered to the bottom of the deep, and tvalked in
the wares of the sea, and stood in the whole earth ; and in
every people and in every nation I possessed preeminence, and
have trod by My own poiver the hearts qf all the excellent and
the lowly. In Me is all hope of life and virtue. Pass over to
Me, all ye icho desire Me. Likewise in the eighty-eighth
Psahn, Also I ivill make Him My first-born, higher titan the Ps. 88,
kings of the earth. I will keep for Him My mercy for ever- _^-\
more, and My covenant shall standfast ivith Him. His seed not V,
will I make to endure for ever. If his children forsake My
law, and walk not in My judgments, if they profane My
statutes, and keep not My commandments, I uill visit their
transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity tenth stripes.
But my lot'ingkindness will I not take away from them.
Likewise in the Gospel according to John the Lord saith,
And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only John \7,
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have ^~\'r

' ' _ not V .

glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which
TJiou gavest Me to do. And note glorify Thou Me unth Thine
own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the
world was. Likewise Paul to the Colossians, Who is theCo\.i,
image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature, y.'
Likewise in the same place, The first-born from the dead, Co\.i,

18. not
V.

40 Christ the Word of God.

Tnr.AT. that in all Ihiiiffs He viifjht have the preeminence. Likewise
.}}}:_. in the Revelation, 1 am Alpha and Omefja, the heginniny and

Q^y^^'the end. I will give nnto him that is athirst of the fountain
of the nater of life freehj. That lie is likewise both the
wisdom and power of God, Paul shews in his first to the

1 Cor. 1, Corinthians, For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks

22—24. gggj^ after uisdom ; hut u'e preach Christ crucified, unto the
Jeics a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness, but
unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God, and the ?cisdom of God.

2. That Christ is the wisdom of God; and concerning the
Sacrament of His incarnation and passion, and cup and altar,
and of the Apostles who by commission preached.

Prov. 9, In Solomon in the Proverbs; Wisdom hath huilded Her
^~\t house, and hath put beneath it seven pillars; She hath killed
Her beasts, She hath mi^igled Her tvine in the cup, ayid hath
furnished Her Udde, and hath sent forth Her servants, calling
with a loud cry unto the cup, saying. Who is simple? let him,
turn in to Me; and to them that ivant understanding She
hath said. Come, eat of My bread, and drink of the wine
which I have mingled. Forsake foolishness, aiid seek pru-
dence, and ride ktiowledge by imderstanding.

3. That Christ is the Word of God.

Ps. 44, I" *^^6 forty-fourth Psalm, My heart hath breathed forth a
[45] 1. good Word^ ; I say My works unto the King. Likewise
Serwo- in the thirty-second Psalm, By the Word of God were the
^'^"''^^^ heavens made, ajid all the host of them Ini the breath of His

Verhum, ....

Vuig. mouth. Likewise in Isaiah, A Word concluding and shorten-
Ps. 32. iyj~ Iji righteousness; for a shortened Word will God make in

[331 6.

not V. the whole earth. Likewise in the hundred and sixth Psalm,
Is.10,23. //g ffgnt His Word, and healed them. Likewise in the
Ps lor Grospel according to John, Iti the begintiing uris the Word,
[I07J and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
V ■ ""' sa7ne was in the beginning tvith God: all things were made
John 1, by Him, arid icithout Him was not any thing made that was
noTv. ff^ode. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness com-

b So interpreted also generally by the Deer. 21.) Ambros. (de Ben. Pair.
Fathers, e. g. by Tertullian, (in Prax. 7.) 31.)
Origen, (in Joan. i. 42.) Athanasius, (de

Christ the Hand and Arm of God, 41

prehended it not. Likewise in the Revelation, And I saw nev.io,
heaven opened, and, behold, a white horse; and He that sat^^'~:}'^'
upon him was called Faithful and True, judging rightly and
justly, and mnking war: and He was clothed in a vesture
dipped in blood, and His Name is called, the Word of
God.

4. That Christ is the hand and the arm of God.

In Isaiah, Is God's Hand weak, that it cannot save? oris. 59,
His ear heavy, that it cannot hear? But your iniquities^^'^^
separate betiveen you and God, and because of your sins He
hath hid His face from you, that He may not jnty ; for your
hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity :
and your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue
mutter eth unrighteousness. None speaketh true things, nor
is there true judgment ; they trust in vanity, atid speak
vanity, they conceive sorrow, and bring forth iniquity. Like-
wise in the same, O Lord, ivho hath believed our report? U. 53,).
and to ichom is the Arm of God revealed ? Likewise in the "°* ^'
same the Lord thus saith, The heaven is My throne, and the Js.66,1.
earth is My footstool ; what seat will ye build Me, or what is
the place of My rest ? For all those things hath Mine Hand
made. Likewise in the same, O Lord God, Thine Arm is is. 26,
aloff^, and they knew it not, but when they see it, they shall]}- ^°^
be ashamed. Likewise in the same. The Lord hath revealed js. 52,
His Arm, His holy arm, in the sight of all nations; a//^*"°'
nations, even the etids of the earth, shall see the salvation of
God. Likewise in the same place, Behold, I have made theejs. 41,
as the wheels of a threshing instrument made with new teeth, ^^ — ^^•

'^ not V.

and thou shall thresh the mountains, and beat the hills small,
and make them as chaff, and winnow them, and the wind
shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them;
but thou shall rejoice in the Holy of Israel, and the poor and
needy shall glory : for they shall seek water, and there shall be
none, and their tongue shall fail for thirst ; I the Lord God,
I the God of Israel will hear them, and will not forsake them.
I vnll open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst
of the yields, I ivill make the icilderness groves of water, and

° Our Lord and the Holy Ghost are j. 1. 28.^. 4.) and by Athanasius, (in
called by Irenfcus, " the Hands of Arian. iv. 26.)
God." (Hicr. iv. 20. §. 1. v. 1. §. 3. 6,

42 Christ the Angel who is God.

TiiKAT. water-courses of a dry land; I will plant in the droughty

—ground the cedar and the box and the myrtle and the

cypress o)id the poplar; that they may see and know and
understand and believe toyether, that the Hand of the
Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath mani-
fested it.

5. That Christ is likewise Angel and God.

Gen. 22, In Genesis to Abraham''; And the Anyel of the Lord

not V c^ll^d unto him out of heaven, and said unto him, Abraham,

Abraham: and he said. Here am I. And He said, I^ay not

thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thiny unto

him; for now I know that thou fearest thy God, and hast

not spared thine only-beloved son for Me. Likewise in the

Gen. 31, same place, to Jacob; And the Angel of the Lord spake unto

y ' "" me in a dream, I am God whom thou sawest in the Place of

God [I^eth-el], where thou anointedst to Me a pillftr, and

Ex. 13, vowedst a voio unto Me. Likewise in Exodus, And God

y '°°' went before them, by day in a pillar of a (doud, to lead them

the way, and by night in a pillar of fire. And afterwards in

Ex. 14, the same place. And the Angel of the Lord removed, which

v/ went before the host of the children of Israel. Likewise

Ex. 23, in the same place, Behold, I send My Angel before thy face,

not V. ^^ keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the land which

I have prepared for thee. Observe Him, and obey Him,

and be not disobedient to Him, and He shall not be failing to

thee, for My Name is in Him. Wherefore Himself saith in

John 5, the Gospel, / am come in My Father's Name, and ye have

y ' received Me not; when another shall come in his own name.

Vs. 117, Jiim ye will receive. Likewise in the hundred and seventeenth

26. not Psalm ; Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

V. Likewise in Malachi, My covenant was with Levi of life and

5—7 ' peace, and I gave Him fear that He should fear Me, to go

DoiV. forth before the face of My Name. The law of truth was in

His mouth, iniquity was not found in His lips ; in peace of

the tongue correcting He walked with ns, and did turn many

away from iniquity. For the Priest's lips shall keep know-

<i It is a Catholic doctrine that our Prax.l6.)Origen(inJoan.Hom.i.34.')Syn.

Lord is spoken of in such passajjes as Antioch. A.D. 264. Euseb. (Hist. i. 2. )

these; vid. Justin, iTryph. 56.) Iren. Basil, (in Eunom. ii. 18.) Alhai). (in

(Hajr. iv. 7. §. 4.) Theopli. (ad Autol. Arian. ii. 14.) Hilar. (deTriu. iv. 22

ii. 22.) Clem. (Paedag. i.7.) Tertull. (in dic.) (S;c.

Christ is God. 43

ledge, 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 <oGen.35,
the place of Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar ' ""^ ^ '
to that God that appeared unto thee when thou Jleddest from
the face of Esau thy brother. Likewise in Isaiah, Thus saith is. 45,
the Lord God of Hosts ; Egypt is wearied, and the merchan- T^
dise of the Ethiopians, and the tall men of the Sabeans shall
come over unto Thee, and shall be Thy servants, and shall
walk after Tliee bound with chains, and they shall ivorship
Thee, and make supplication unto Thee, because God is in
Thee, and there is none other God beside Thee ; for Thou art
God, and we knew it not, O God of Israel the Saviour.
They shall be ashamed and fear, all who oppose Thee, and
shall fall into co)ifusion. Likewise in the same, The voice of\%. 40,
him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the ^^
Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every channel
shall be jilled, and every mountain and hill shall be made
low; and all the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be seen,
and aUJlesh shall see the salvation of God; for the Lord hath
spoken it. Likewise in Jeremiah, This is our God, and there Baruch
shall none other be accounted of beside Him; who hathfound'^^ ^~
out all the way of knoicledge, and hath given it unto Jacob v.
His child, and to Israel His beloved; afterward was He seen
upon earth, and conversed with men. Likewise in Zeehariah Zech.
God says. And they shall pass througli, the straitened sea, and ^2. not
shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the V.
rivers shall they dry up ; and all tlie pride 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 they
shall make their boast in His Name, saith the Lord. Like-Hos. 11,
wise in Osee the Lord saith, I will not do according to the ^^^ y
fierceness of Mine anger, I will not suffer Ephraim to be
destroyed : for I am God, and there is not an holy man in
thee, and I will not enter into the city, I will go after God.
Likewise in the forty-fonrth Psalm, Thy throne, O God, is for Ps. 44,
ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy Sj^ J^^ "
kingdom ; Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ; v.

44 Christ is God.

Tni AT. u-herefore Cod, even Thy Cod, hath anointed Tfiee uith the
oil of gladness above Thy fellows. Likewise in tlie forty-

I's. 45

[46] lb. fifth Psalm, Be still, and know that I am Cod; I will

"°' ^'' he exalted among the heathen, and I will he exalted in

Ps. 81, the earth. Likewise in the eighty-first Psahu, Tliey know

not V. **^^' neither have they understood, they walk on in dark-

Ps. 67, 11 CSS. Likewise in the sixty-seventh Psahn, Sing vnto

not V G^^^y ''^^"U praises to His Name, make a uay to Him that

ascendeth into the west. Cod is His Name. Likewise in the

John 1, Gospel according to John, In the beginning was the JVord,

^'^'^^^■and the JVord teas with Cod, and the Word was Cod.

John 20, Likewise in the same the Lord saith unto Thomas, Reach

^^Y ^"^^'^'" ihy finger, and behold My hands ; and be not faithless,

but believing: Thomas answered and said unto Him, My

Lord, and my Cod. Jesus saith unto him. Because thou hast

seen Me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not

seen, and yet have believed. Likewise Paul to the Romans ;

Rom. 9, / could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my

not V. brethren and my kinsmen according to the fiesh ; who are

Israelites, to whom iiertaineth the adoption, and the glory,

and the covenant, and the giving of the law, and the service

of Cod, and the 2^romises; whose are the fathers, of u-hom as

concerning the fiesh Christ came, who is over all, Cod blessed

Rev,2i, /or ever^. Likewise in the Revelation, / am Alpha and

y'''^°^0)nega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him

that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He

that overcometh shall inherit these things, and I will be his

Cod, and he shall be My son. Likewise in the eighty-first

Ps. 81, Psalm, Cod stood in the congregation of the Cods, and judging

^^'^X}- in the midst of Cods. And again in the same place, / have

not V, '' " *■

veT.6.7.said, Ye are Cods; and all of you are children of the Most

not V. uig]^. i^if yg g/if,ii (lie like men. If then they who have

been righteous, and have obeyed the divine commandments,

can be called Cods, how much more is Christ, the Son of Cod,

Cod? Thus Himself saith in the Gospel according to John ;

John 10, Is it not written in the law, that I said ye are Cods ? If He

iotv^' ^'"^^^'^^ ^'^<^"^ Cods, unto whom the word of Cod came, and the

Scripture cannot be broken; say ye of Him, who7n the Father

* Quoted also for our Lord's divinity 13.) Origen. (ad Rom. lib. vii. 10.) vid.
by Irenaeus, (Haer, iii. 16.) Tertullian, Bull. Def. F. N. ii. 5. §. 3.
(in Prax. 16.) Novatian, (de Reg. Fid.

Christ the Enlightener and Saviour of man. 45

hath sanctijied and sent into the world. Thou hlasphemest ;
because I said I am the Son of God ? If I do not the norks
of My Father, believe Me not; but if I do, though ye will
not believe Me, believe the n-orks, and know that the Father
is in Me, and I in Him. Likewise in the Gospel according
to Matthew, And ye shall call His Name Emmanuel, which Mat. i,
is being interpreted, God icith us. V.'

7. That Christ our God should come, as the Enlightener
and Saviour of the human race.

In Isaiah, ^e strengthened, ye weak hands, and be con-U.25,
firmed, ye feeble knees ; ye who are of a fearful heart, be not ^y
afraid ; our God will recompense judgment, He will come
and save ns. Then the eyes of the blind shall 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 opened;
for in the wilderness do waters break out, and a stream in
the thirsty land. Likewise in the same place, A^o^ an Elder',\s.63,9.
nor an Angel, but the Lord Himself shall deliver them, be- ""'
cause He shall love them, and spare them, and Himself shall
redeem them. Likewise in the same place; / the Lord Godl^.^l,
hax:e called TJiee in righteousness, that I may hold TJiine ^^^ y.
hand, and I icill keep Thee; and I gave Thee for a covenant
of My people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the eyes of
the blind, to bring out the prisoners from bonds, and them
that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. 1 am the Lord
God; that is My Name: 3Ty glory ivill I not give to another,
nor My praises to graven images. Likewise in the twenty-
fourth Psalm, Shew me Thy ways, O I^ord, and teach me Thy Ps. 24,
jyalhs, and lead me vnlo Thy truth, and teach me ; for Thou '^■^^'J^'^"
art the God of my salvation. Whence in the Gospel accord-
ing to John the Lord saith; / am the Light of the icorld; he John 8,
that foUoweih Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have ^ • ^°^
the light of life. Likewise in that according to Matthew,
Tlie Angel Gabriel said unto Joseph, Joseph, thou son of David, Mat. i,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife;for that ichich[^^'^y'
shall be born from her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall
bring forth a Son, and thou shall call His Name Jesus; for
He shall save His people from, their sins. Likewise in that

according to Luke, And Zacharias was Jillcd with the Holy Luke l,

67— 6y.

' EWer, senior; — i«^atHS, TertuU. in Mar.iv. 22. <X(A(f^ui, Sept. the Vulgate omits it. i^°' ^ •

46 Christ not only Ood hut man

Treat. Ghost, and j)rophef;iod, sayhtg, Blessed be the Ijord God of
Israel, for He hath provided, redemption unto His people, and

hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of
lAike 2, His servant David. Likewise in the same place, the Angel
not V '^^^^ '^^^^'^ ^^^^ shepherds, Fear not : for, behold, I briny yotr

tidinys, that unto you is born this day in the city of David

a Saviour, ivhich is Jesus Christ.

8. That Christ, having from the beginning been Son of
God, was yet to be begotten anew according to the llesh,

Ps.2, 7. In the second Psalm ; The Lord hath said unto Me, Tliou

^' ^' art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and

I shall yive Thee the Jieailienfor Thine inheritance, and the

uttermost p)arts of the earth for TJty possession. Likewise in

Luke 1, the Gospel according to Luke; And it came to pass, that

^\~V^^ w'//cw Elizabeth hea?-d the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped

in her tconib ; and she was filled with the Holy Ghost, and

site spake out with a loud voice, and said. Blessed art thou

among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy uomb. And

whence is this to me, that the mother of My Lord should

C^\.A,A.come to me? Likewise Paul to the Galatians, But when the

fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of

iJolin4,a woma7i. Likewise in the Epistle of John, Every spirit that

^ ' ^°^ confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

and he that denietJi that He is come in the Jiesh, is not of

God, but is of the spirit of antichrist.

9. That this should be the sign of Christ's nativity, that
He should be born of a Virgin, both man and God, Son of
man and of God.

Is. 7, In Isaiah, Tlie Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying. Ask

j^ ~y'^' thee a sign of the Lord thy God, in the height above, or in
the depth beneath ; and Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither
will I tempt the Lord my God. And he said, Hear ye now,
O house of David; it is not unto you a small contending uitii
men, since God supplies a combat; therefore the Lord Himself
shall give you a sign. Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and
bear a Son, and ye shall call His Xante Emmanuel. Butter
and honey shall He eat; before that He know to choose the
evil. He shall exchange the good^. This seed God had fore-

5 Exchmige, commitlabit. So also Ire- moiily agrees with Cyprian," Fell. i*Xt-
na;us, (Ha.T. iii. 21. j. 4.) " who com- {it*/ Sept. eligere Vulg. chooie Eng. Tr.

That He might be a Mediator. 47

told should come forth of the woman, which should bruise

the Devil's head; in Genesis, Then God said unto ihe serpent^ Gtn. 3,

Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed from every idnd^^- !;^-

' •' "^ not \'.

of beasts of the earth. On thy breast and belli/ shalt tJiou
creep, and earth shall be tJiy food, all the days of thy life ;
and 1 'trill put enmity between thee, and the rcoman and his
seed: He shall regard thy head, and thou shall regard His
heel.

10. That Christ is man and God, consisting of either nature,
that lie might be able to be mediator between us and the
Father.

In Jeremiah, And He is man, and who shall know Him^^ ? Jer. 17,
Likewise in Numbers, There shall cotne a star out of Jacob, '^^°\ ''

' ... JNumb.

and a Man shall arise out of Israel, Likewise in the same 24, 17.
place, A Man shall come forth of His seed, and shall rule "°' ^•

* T J 7 < Numb.

many nations : and His kingdom shall be exalted over Agag, 24, 7—
and His kingdom shall be increased, and God brought Him ^- "°^ ^*
out of Egypt; His glory is as of the unicorn, and He shall eat
up the nations His enemies, and shall take away the marrow
of their fatness, and pierce the enemy trith His arrows. He
couched. He lay down as a lion, and as a young lion;
icho shall stir Him, tip ? They who bless Thee are blessed, and
they n-ho curse Thee are cursed. Likewise in Isaiah, TJie is. g\,
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, wherefore He hath anointed]:'^' ^^^^
Me, He hath sent Me to 2>reach good tidings unto tlie
poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to
the captives, and sight to the blind, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of recompence. Wherefore in
the Gospel, Gabriel unto Mary ; And the Angel anstcered andhuVe l,
said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the y ' "°
'power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore that
Holy Thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the
Son of God. Likewise in the former Epistle of Paul to the
Corinthians, The first man is of the dust of the earth, the J Cor.
second Man is from heaven. As is the earthy man, such are 49' ^^
they also that are earthy ; and as is the heavenly, such also ^^
are the heavenly ; as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we must also bear the image of the heavenly.

h Who shall know him? quis coi^iwscet Jerome, (in loc.)wlio liowever denies it rc-
enm. So 'rcrlull. (adv. .Tud. 14.) and fers toour Lord. Inscrutabilc {cor) \\i\g.

48 Christ the Son of David.

TnEAT. 11. That Christ was to be bom of the seed of David,

1— according to the flesh.

2 Sam, In the second Book of Kings, And the word of the Lord

12—16.^^'''^ /o Nathan, aaying, Go and tell My servant David,

iChTOQ.t/fiig saith the Lord, Thou shall not build Me an house
17 3

111-14. to dwell in, hut it shall come to pass, when thy days

not V. ig fulfilled, and thou shall sleep with thy fathers, that

L will set lip thy seed after thee, which shall proceed

out of thy bowels ; and L will establish His Kingdom ;

He shall build Me an house for My Name, and L will

stablish His throne for ever ; and L will be His Father, and

He shall be My Son, and His House shall obtain assurance^

and His Kingdom for evermore in My sight. Likewise in

Is. 11, Isaiah, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem

dTv of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots; 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 of jyiety, and the Spirit of the fear

of the Lord shall Jill Him. Likewise in the hundred and

Ps. 131, thirty-first Psahn; God hath sworn in truth unto David

1 1 not himself and He ivill not turn from it ; Of the fruit of thy

V. belly will J set upon thy throne. Likewise in the Gospel

Lukei, according to Luke, And the Angel said unto her. Fear not,

^~y ' Mary ; for thou hast found favour with God; behold, thou

shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall

call His Name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called

the So7i of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto

him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over

the house of Jacob for ever, and of His Kingdom there shall

Rev. 5, be no end. Likewise in the Eevelation ; And L saw in the

right hand of God who sate on the throne, a book written

within and on the back-side, sealed with seven seals : and I

saw a strong Angel proclaiming icith a loud voice. Who is

worthy to receive the book, and to open the seals thereof?

And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth,

was able to open the book, neither to look therein. And

J wept much, because no man was found tcorthy to open the

book, or to look upon it. And one of the Elders said unto me,

' Ilii lto}i>,c shall nhtain assurauceifidem scllle hiw, tngl. Transl.
couseqiietur. •xtaTuiru} airSv Sept. I iiill

1—5

not V,

Christ came in a humble state. 49

fVeep not: behold the Lion of the tribe ofJudah, the Root of
David hnth irrevailcd to open the book, and to loose the seveti
seals thereof.

12. That Christ was to be born in Bethlehem.

In Micah, And thou, BetJdeliem, house of Ephrata, art /zo< Micahs.
little^, that thou shouldest stand among the thousands of -^^^^^
Judah; out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, that is to
be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old
from everlasting. Likewise in the Gospel: Now tchen Jesns M3it2,\.
was born in Bethlehem of Judcea in the dags of Herod the"^^^^'
king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying. Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for
we hare seen- His star in the east, and are come to worship
Him.

13. That Christ was to come in low estate on His first Advent.

In Isaiah, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to ivhom is. 53,
is the arm of the Lord revealed ? We have preached before ^~7\'r

-' _ 1 J not V.

Hiin as children, as a root in a dry ground. He hath
no form nor comeliness, we saw Him, and He had no form
nor beauty: but His form teas without honour, and failing
beyond the rest of men. He was a man under i^lague,
and knowing to bear weakness ; for His face was turned
away, He was disJionoured and not accounted. He bears our
sins, and suffers sorroiv for us ; and we did esteem Him
stricken, smitten, and afflicted; but He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities ; the disci-
pline of our peace was upon Him, and with His bruise we
are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, man has
wandered from his way ; and God hath delivered Him for
our sins, and because that He was afflicted, He opened not
His mouth. Likewise in the same, / atn not rebellious, is. so,
neither do I contradict. I gave My back to stripes, and My^~lj.
cheeks to smiting, I hid not My face from the shame of
spitting, and God teas My helper. Likewise in the same ; jg 42
He shall not cry, nor shall any one hear His voice in the^ — 4-
streets; a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking
Jlax shall He not quench, but He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall shine forth, and, shall not be shaken,
till He have set Judgment in the earth, and in His Name

k Not little, and so Matt. 2, 6. Sept. and Vulg. omit not.
E

50 He teas the Riyhteous.

TiiiiAT. shall the Gentiles trust. Likewise in the twenty-first Psalm,
III •

But I am a lourm and no man, a reproach of man, and despised

Ps. 21, , ,^ , 7

[22]6— of the people. All they that saw Me despised Me; they spake
^'^°^^ •tcitlmi their lips, and shook their head: He trusted on the Lord,
let Him deliver Him : let Him deliver Him, seeiny He deliyhted
Ps. 21, in Him. Likewise in the same placo, My strenyth is dried up
not \^ like a jwtsherd, and My tonyue cleaveth to My Jarcs. Likewise
Zech. 3, in Zechariahj Ajid the Lord shelved me Jesus, that yreat Priest,
not V. standiny before the face of the Anycl of the Lord, and the Devil
stood at His riyht hand to resist Him. And Jesus rvas clothed
with filthy yarmenis, and stood before the face of the Anycl him-
self and ansivered, and spake unto those that stood before His
face, sayiny. Take away the filthy yarments from Him ; and He
said unto Him, Behold, I have taken away thine iniquities : and
put on Him an alb, and set ye a fair mitre upon His head.
Phil. 2, Likewise Paul to the Philippians ; Who beiny in the form of
not v.* God, thouyht it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied
Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was
made in likeness cfynen; and beiny found in fashion as a man. He
humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the cross. Wherefore God also hath exalted Him, and yiven
Him a Name lohich is above every name : that at the Name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of thinys in heaven, and thinys iii
earth, and of thinys under the earth ; and that every tonyue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, in the ylory of God the
Father.

14. That He was the Just, whom the Jews should kill.
Wisd. 2, In the Wisdom of Solomon, Let us lie in wait for the
^Qt Y~"" Miyhteous, because He is unacceptahle to us, and is clean contrary
to our doinys, and upbraideth us icith our offendiny the law, and
objecteth to us the transyressinys of the law. He profcsseth to
have the knowledye of God, and calleth Himself the Son of God.
He is made to us for a reproof of our thouyhts, He is yrievoiis
unto us, even to behold : for His life is not like other men''s, His
ivays are of another fashion. We are esteemed of Him as empty
men, and He ahstaineth from our ivays as from filthincss ; He
jnaiseth the last end of the just, and maketh His boast that God
is His Father. Let us sec therefore if His icords be time, and let
us prove lohat shall haj)pen unto Him. Let us examine Him
with despitefidness and torture, that we may know His meekness,

He was the Sheep and the Lamb. 51

and prove His patieiice. Let us condemn Him loith a shameful

death. Such things they did imagine, and ivere deceived; for

their oivn icickedness hath blinded them, and they knew not the

Sacraments of God. Likewise in Isaiah, See ye, how the

righteous perisheth\ and no man undcrstandeth it; and righteous

men are taken away, and no man considereth it. For the righteous

is taken from the face of unrighteousness, and His burial shall be

in j^cace. Concerning this same thing it was fore-spoken in

Exodus, LTie innocent and the righteous slay thou not. Likewise Ex. 23.

in the Gospel, Judas, led by penitence, said to the Chief Priests ^^. 07

and Elders, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocents. 4.
77 7 not V.

fnood.

15. That Christ was a Sheep and a Lamb, who was to be
killed; and concerning the Sacrament of His Passion.

In Isaiah, He was led as a Sheep to the slaughter, and like a Is. riS,
Lamb dumb before her shearer, so opened He not His mouth. Ln ^^^ y
His humiliation His judgment was taken away ; and tvho shall
declare His generation ? For His life shall be taken from the
earth ; for the transgressions of My people He was led unto death,
and I icill give the wicked for His burial, and the rich themselves
for His death : because He hath done no wickedness, neither was
there any deceit in His mouth. Wherefore He shall he gainer of
many, and shall divide the spoils of the strong, because His soul
teas delivered unto death, and He was numbered with the trans-
gressors, and Himself bare the sins of many, and was delivered for
their transgressions. Likewise in Jeremiah, Lord, give MeJcr. 11,
knoivledge, and I shall know ; then I saw their devices. I was ^^^ y *
led as a Lamb ivithout malice to the slaughter. They devised
devices against Me, saying, Come, let us cast the tree into His
bread'^^, and let us blot out His Name from the earth, and His
Name shall be no more remembered. Likewise in Exodus, God Ex. 12,
said unto Moses, They shall take to them every man a sheep ^^^ y '
through the houses of their tribes, a sheep without blemish, peyfect,
a male of a year old shall it be unto you. From the lambs and
from the goats shall ye take it out, and the whole assembly of the
children of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall
take of its blood, a?id place it upon the two side-posts and the

1 This is applied to our Lord by Justin ■" So also Justin, (Trypli. 72.) Ter-

M. (in Apol. 1, 40.) lrena;us, (ilrer. iv. tullian, (in J ml. 10.) vid.noteon Trans-

34. §. 4.) Tertullian, (in IMarc. iii. 22.) lation of S. Cyril, Catech. xiii, 19.
Jerome, (in loc.)

E 2

52 He is the Stone

'VniAT.vjipcr door-post of the houses, icherein they shall eat it; and they
shall eat the JiesJt in that niyht roast ivith fire, and unleavened

bread tvith bitter herbs shall they eat. Ye shall not eat of it raw,
nor sodden with icater, but roast ivith fire ; his head ivith the feet
and the inner parts. Ye shall let notldny of them remain until
the morning, neither shall ye break a bone thereof; and tliat
whieh 1-emaineth of it until the morning shall be burnt tvith fire.
And thus shall ye eat it ; with your loins girded, your shoes on
your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in
Rev. 5, haste ; it is the Lord's Passover. Likewise in the Revelation,
.[^' And I beheld in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts,

not \ . «' J J '

and in the midst of the Elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the Spirits of God,
sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the book out
of the right hand of God that sat upon the throne. And ivhen He
had taken the book, the four beasts and four and ticenty Elders fell
dotvn before the Lamb, having every one of tliem harps, and
golden vials full of odours of supplications, ivhich are the prayers
of the Saints; and they sung a neiv song, saying. Thou art worthy,
O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for Thou
toast slain, and hast redeemed us by Thy blood, out of every
kindred and tongue and people and nation; and hast made us a
Kimjduni unto our God, and hast made us Priests: and they
John 1, shall reign on the earth. Likewise in the Gospel, The next day
29. not J^^l^^^ seetk Jesus coming unto him, and saith. Behold the Lamb
of God, and behold Him, tchich takcth away the sins of the
world.

16. That Christ is likewise called a stone.
Is. '28, In Isaiah, thus saith the Lord, Behold, I lay in the found-
16. not fj^fiQ^^ QJ' (^i0ji a precious Stone, elect, a chief corner Stone,
ho7ioured; and lie that helicveth on Him shall not be confounded.
Ps. 117, Likewise in the hundred and seventeenth Psalm, The Stone
\}}^')^^ which the builders refused is become the Head-stone of the comer.

21 — 26. •' _ •' .

notv. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. This
is the day tchich the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad
in it. Save therefore, O Lord; O Lord, direct therefore.
Blessed be He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Likewise
Zech.3, in Zechariah, Behold, I bring forth My Servant, the East is His
y\ '^'"^Name; for the Stone tchich I have placed before the face of
Joshua, upon this one Stone are seven eyes. Likewise in Deute-

which became a Great Mountain. 53

ronomy, And thoii shalt torite upon stone all this laiv, ver7/T>eut.
plainly. Likewise in Jesus the son of Nave ; And he took a ^^[ y^
great stone, and set it up tJiere before the Lord; and Jesus said, }uf,h. 24,
unto the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for ^Y^^j yj
hath heard all the things which were spoken by the Lord, which
He hath spoken unto you to-day ; and it shall be for a testimony
unto you at the end of days, lohen ye shall have departed from
your God. Likewise Peter in the Acts of the Apostles, Yc Acts 4,
Hiders of the pjeople and Elders of Israel, hear; Behold, we are^Q^y'^
this day examined by you of the good deed dotie to the impotent
man, by ichat means he is made whole ; be it knoivn unto you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by Him doth this man stand whole before you all, and
by none other. This is the stone which ivas set at nought of you
builders, loliich is become the head of the corner. For there
is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby lae
must be saved. This is the stone in Genesis, which Jacob put Gen. 28,
at his head, because Christ is the head of the man; and iq. not
in sleep saw a ladder reaching to heaven, at the top of which V'
the Lord stood, and the Angels ascended on it; which stone
he consecrated and anointed, by the sacrament of unction,
signifying Christ. This is the stone in Exodus, on which Ex. 17,

12 13

Moses sat on the top of an hill, when Jesus the son of Nave^^^ y *
fought against Amalek, and by the sacrament of the Stone,
and the constancy of sitting, Amalek was overcome by Jesus,
that is, the Devil was overcome by Christ. This is the great
stone in the first of Kings, on which the Ark of the Covenant iSam.e,
was placed, when the kine brought it back in the cart, when y ' "°'
sent back and rendered up by the aliens. This likewise istheAllo-
stone in the first of Kings, wherewith David smote the fore-^*!;^}!^'
head of GoUath, and slew him; signifying that the Devil and tines,
his servants are smitten down, that is overcome, upon thatj^^^^'
part of the head, which they have not had sealed ; by which not v.
seal we are both ever safe, and live. This is the stone which,
when Israel had conquered the aliens, Samuel set up, andiSam.7,
called its name Ebenezer, that is, the stone that helpeth. y • "°'

17. That this Stone should afterwards become a mountain,
and fill the whole earth.

In Daniel, And behold a great Image, and the aspecl^^"^-^'

not V.

54 The Mountain to which the Gentiles should ascend.

TnEAT. o/" this Image was terrible, and it stood erect he/ore thee;

^■- his head was of Jine gold, his breast and his arms of silver^

his belly and his thighs of brass, his feet part of iro?i and jjart
of clay, until that a stone was cut out of a mountain, ivithout
the hands of them that cut it ; and smote the Image upon his
feet that were of iron and clay, and brake than to pieces, and
the iron and the clay icas broken together, and the brass and
the silver and the gold, and became small like chaff, or like
dust of the summer th resiling floors, and the wind carried
them aicay, that no place was found for them ; and the Stone
that smote the Image became a great mountain, and filled
the whole earth.

18, That in the last times that same mountain should be
revealed, upon which the Gentiles should come, and by which
all the just should go up.
Is. 2, In Isaiah, It shall come to pass in the last days, that the

iiot^V. mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God
upon the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the
hills ; and all tiations shall come over it, and many sliall walk
and say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He shall teach us
His uay, and we will walk in it. For out of Sion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke
many people ; and they shall beat their swords into plow-
shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; neither shall
they learn icar any more. Likewise in the twenty-third
Ps. 23, Psalm ; Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord ?
^^1; or who shall stand in His holy place ? He that hath clean
not V. hands, and a pure heart, who hath not received his life by a
falsehood , nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour; He shall
receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the
God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that
seek Him, that seek tit e face of the God of Jacob.

19. That Christ is a Bridegroom, having the Church for a

Bride, of whom children should be spiritually bom.

Joel 2, In Joel, Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a

not V. recovering, gather the people, sanctify the Church, assemble

the Elders, gather the children that suck the breast ; let the

Bridegroom go forth of His chamber, and the Bride out of

Christ the Bridegroom of the Church. 55

Her closet. Likewise in Jeremiah, And I tvill take from the Jet. J6.
cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice qJ-^-^^^^-
the mirthful and the voice of the glad, the voice of the Bride-
groom and the voice of the Bride. Likewise in the eighteenth
Psahn, He is as a Bridegroom coming out of his chamber ; He Ps. 18,
rejoiceth as a giant to run his race : His going forth is from g J^^y^
the end of Heaven, and his circuit unto the end of it, and
there is none hid from the heat thereof. Likewise in Revela-
tion, Come, I will shew thee the new Bride, the Lamb's wife : R^ev.21,
and lie carried me in the Spirit to an high mountain, and nQ\.\.
shewed me the holy City Jerusalem descending out of heaven
from God, having the glory of God. Likewise in the Gospel
according to John, Ye yourselves hear me witness, that I said ^°^^ ^>

28. 29.

unto them who were sent from Jerusalem to me, that I am not V.
not the Christ, hut that I am sent before Him ; He that hath
the Bride is the Bridegroom ; but the friend of the Bride-
groom is he, that standeth and hearelh Him, and rejoiceth
greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice. The mystery
hereof was shewn in Jesus the Son of Nave, when he was
commanded to loose his shoe from off his feet, because he was
not the bridegroom : for it was in the Law, that whosoever
refused maniage, put off his shoe ; but he wore his shoe, who
was to be the bridegroom. And it came to jmss, whe?i Jesus Joah. 5,
was by Jericho, that he looked with his eyes, and saw a "inan ^~y^'
standing before his face, and holding a sword in his hand, and
said, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries? And He said, I
am Captain of the host of the Lord ; loose thy shoe from off
thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Likewise in Exodus, Moses is commanded to put off his shoe,
because neither was he the Bridegroom. And the Angel of Ex. 3.
the Lord appeared unto him in aflame of fire out of a bush,^^^
and he beheld that the bush burned toiiJi fire, but the bush
was not consumed. And Moses said, I will pass over and see
this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. But ivhen the
Lord sata that lie came nigh to sec, He called unto him out of
the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, WJiat is it ?
And He said. Draw not nigh hither, unless thou hast loosed
thy shoe from ojf thy feet; for the place whereon 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,

56 Christ crucified by the Jews.

Tkf.at. and the God of Jacob. This was also made manifest in the
Gospel according to John ; John answered them, I indeed
26. 27.' baptize uith water , but there standeiJi One among yon, whom
not V. ye knoiv not ; this is He of whom I said, The Man that
Cometh after me was made be/ore me, tchose shocks latchet
I am not worthy to unloose. Likewise according to Luke,
Lukei2,Xe^ your loins be girded about, and. your lamps burning, and
^ot";^^ ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lA)rd, alien he
will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and
knocketh they may open unto him. Blessed are those servants,
ichom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Like-
Rev. 19, wise in Revelation, The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ; let us
n t V ^^^ glad and rejoice, and give honour of glory to Him, for the
marriage of the Lamb is come, and His uife hath made
Herself ready.

20. That the Jews would fasten Christ to the Cross.

Is. 65,2. In Isaiah, / Jiave spread out My hands" all the day unto

°°^ ^ • a rebellious people, and that contradicteth Me, which walketh

in ways that are not good, but after their own wickedness.

Jer. 11, Likewise in Jeremiah, Come, let us cast the tree into His

19. not i,-(,(((i^ (1,1(1 igf ifff j)iQt Qiif fjis Name from the earth. Like-

Deut.28 ^ise in Deuteronomy, And Thy life shall hang in doubt °

66. not Ijqfore Thine eyes, and Thou shall fear day and night, and

.thalt have none assurance of Thy life. Likewise in the

Ps. 21, twenty-first Psalm, They pierced My hands and My feet, they

^00 ^'^ have numbered all my bones. They look and stare upon Me ;

not V. they parted My garments among them, and have cast lots

upon My vesture. But Thou, O Lord, put not Thy help far

from Me ; haste Tliee to help Me. Deliver My soul from the

sword ; Mine only one from the power of the dog. L will

declare Thy Name unto My brethren ; in the midst of the

Church will I praise Thee. Likewise in the hundred and

Ps. 118, eighteenth Psalm, Pierce Thou with nails My fiesh, through

['19'] fear of Thee. Likewise in the hundred and fortieth Psalm,

not V. Let the lifting vp of My hands be an evening sacrifice. Of

I'j^^j'^^' which sacrifice Sophonias spoke, Fear in the presence of the

not V. Lord God, for His day is at hand; for the L^ord hath

Zeph. 1, '

7.notV. n So also Justin ]M. (Apol. 1.3.5.) Ter- TertulILin, (in Jud. 1!.) Lactantius,
tullian, (in Jutl. 13.) vid. note on Tr. of (Instit. iv. 18.) Cyiil, (Catech. xiii. 19.)
Cyfil Catech. iii. 28. Auyustin, (Contr. Faust, xvi.)

" So also Irenaeus, (Hajr. iv. 10. §. 2.)

Tlie virtue of the Sign of the Cross. 57

prepared His sacrifice. He hath sanctified them whom He
hath chosen. Likewise in Zechariah, And they shall look upon z^c. 12,
Me, whom they have pierced. Likewise in the eighty-seventh ^P* ""'
Psahn, Lord, T have called all the day upon Thee, I have p^ g^
stretched out My hands unto Thee. Likewise in Numbers, [88,] 9.
Not as a man is God hung up, nor as the son of man does He ^^^^
suffer threats. Wherefore in the Gospel the Lord saith, ^623, 19.
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must^^^^^ '
the Son of Man be lifted up ; that whosoever helieveth in the I'i. js.'
So?i may have life eternal.

21. That in the passion of His Cross and the Sign is all
virtue and power.

In Hahakkuk, His virtue covered the heavens, and the Hab. 3,
earth is full of His praise ; and His brightness is as the '^ — ^
lights horns shall he in His hands. And there teas established
the virtue of His glory, and He Made His love strong ; the

IVord shall go forth before Him, and shall go out into the
plains before His feet. Likewise in Isaiah, Lo unto us a is, 9, e.
Child is born, and unto us a Son is given, ivliose government ""' ^•
is upon His shoulders; and His Name is called, the Mes-
senger of a great counsel. By this sign of the Cross Amalek
also was conquered of Jesus by Moses; in Exodus, Tl/o^e^Ex. 17,
said unto Jesus, Choose thee out men ^ and go out, and stand^ — '4.
against Amalek till to-morrow ; behold, I will stand on the
top of the hill, with the rod of God in mine hand. And it
came to pass, when Moses held up his hands, that Israel
prevailed, but when Moses let down his hands, Amalek pre-
vailed. But Moses' hands were heavy ; and they took a
stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon ; and Aaron
and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the
other on the other side, and the Jtands of Moses were made
steady until the going down of the sun, and Jesus discomjitted
Amalek, and all his people. And the Lord said unto Moses,

Write this for a memorial i)i a book, and rehearse it in the
ears of Jesus ; for I tcill utterly put out the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven.

22. That in this sign of the Cross is salvation, to all who
are marked in their foreheads.

In Ezekiel, the Lord saith, Go through the midst of Jeru- Ezek. 9,
salem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men, that'^-^'^^^'

58 Christ not overcome by death.

TnHAT. sinh and that cni, fur the iniquities that are done in the
111- . ' .

midst of them. Likewise in tlie same place, Go and smite.

Lzfck. 9, ^ij^^ ^Q ^Q^ spare your eyes. Hate no pity on old, or youny,
not V. or maid; slay little ehildren and women, that they maybe

utterly destroyed. But touch not any man, upon whom the

mark is written, and begin with My holy places. Likewise
Ex. 12, in Exodus God said to Moses, And the blood shall be to you
vV Jor a token, upon the houses tvhere you are ; and when I see

the blood, I will protect you, and the plague of destruction

shall not be among you, tchen I smite the land of Egypt.

Rev. 14, Likewise in Revelation, And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood

'on the Mount Sion, and rvith Him an hundred forty and four

thousand, having His Name and His Father\<i Name written
Rev. 22, in their foreheads. Likewise in the same place, I am Alpha
not V. ^^^^^ Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may

have right over the tree of life.

23. That during His passion there was to be darkness
at mid- day.

Amos 8, In Amos, And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the

not V. Lord, the sun shall go down, at noon'^, and the clear day shad
be darkened ; and L will turn your feasts into mourning, and

Jer. 15, all your songs into lamentation. Likewise in Jeremiah, She
'that hath borne children is frightened, and her soid hath lan-
guished: her sun hath gone down, ivhile it was yet day, she
hath been ashamed and accursed; the residue of them will J
deliver to the sword, in the sight of their enemies. Likewise

]Mat.27,in the Gospel, Now from the sixth hour there was darkness

V.' ' over all the land, unto the ninth hour.

24. That He would not be overcome by death, nor remain
in hell.

Ps. 29, In the twenty-ninth Psalm, O I^ord, Thou hast brought up
notv. ^^y soul from the grave. Likewise in the fifteenth Psalm,
Ps. 15, TJiou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither tvilt Thou suffer
not V. Thine Holy One to see corruption. Likewise in the third
P«. 3, 5. Psalm, / laid Me down and slept, and rose up again, for the
T°h^i*n T'Ord helped Me. Likewise according to John, No man taketh
18. not My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself ; I have power
V. ■ '

P So also Irenceus, (liter, iv. 33. §. Cyril, (Catech. xiii. 25.)
12.) Tertullian, (in Marc. iv. 42.)

Christ risen and ascended. 59

to lay it doum, and I have power to take it again. For this
commandment have I received of My Father.

25. That He would rise from the dead the third day.
In Osee, After two days will He revive us, in the thirdUos.6,
day we shall rise'^ again. Likewise in Exodus, And the Lord"^,^ '
said unto Moses, Go down, and testify unto the people, audio, ii.'
sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their^°^ •
clothes, and let them he ready against the third day ; for on
the third day the Lord will come down upon mount Sinai.
Likewise in the Gospel, A ivicked and adulterous generation Mat. 12,
seeketh, after a, sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, hut'^^[ y'
the sign of the Prophet Jonas : for as Jonas was three days
and three nights in the whale\'i belly, so shall the Son of Man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

20. That after He had risen He would receive all power
from the Father, and that His power is eternal.

In Daniel, /.9aw' in the night in a vision, and behold one like Dan. 7,
the Son of tna^i, coming in the clouds of heaven, came to the ^^^ y *
Ancient of days, and stood in His sight, and they uho stood
beside Him brought Him before Him ; and there tvas given
to Him a kingly potter, and all kings of the earth, in their
generation ; and all glory shall serve Him ; and His jJotaer
is eternal, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall
not be destroyed. Likewise in Isaiah, Noiv ivill I rise, saith Is. 33,
the Lord, now will I be exalted, now will I be lifted up ; noiv ^^^ y.'
shall ye see, now shall ye understand, now shall ye be con-
founded; the strengtJi of yoiir breath shall be vain, He shall
consume you with fire. Likewise in the hundred and ninth
Psalm, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right P&.109,
hand, until L make Thine enemies Tliy footstool. God shall\2
send the rod of Thy strength out of Sion : and Tliou shall not V.
ride in the midst of Thine enemies. Likewise in Revelation,
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me; and I saw Rev. l,
seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the candlesticks ^^^^ Y^ '
One like unto the Son of Man, clothed icith a garment down
to the foot ; and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
His head and His hairs were white as tcool or snow ; and
His eyes icere as aflame of fire; and His feet like fine brass,
as from a furnace of fire, and His voice as the sound of many

^ So Tertullian, (in Marc. iv. 43.) Jerome, (in loc.)

60 Christ the only way to God.

JiuAT. waters; and Ife had in His right hand seven stars, and out
^'^' of His muuth ncnt a sharp tuo-edged sicord ; and His coun-
tenance iras as the sini shineth in his strength. And vhen I
saic Him, I fell at His feet as dead; and He laid His right
hand npon nie, saying unto nie, Fear not ; I am the First,
and the Last; J am He that livcth,and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of death
and of hell. Likewise in the Gospel the Lord after the re-
Mat. 20. surrection saith to His disciples, All power is given unto Me
^"~T?" /// heaven and in earth; go ye therefore, and teach all na-

Hot \ • \f %/ '^

tions, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the

Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all

things, ichatsoever I have commanded yon.

27. That it is impossible to come unto God the Father,

except through Jesus Christ His Son.

John 14, In the Gospel, I am the way, and the truth, and the life;

'no man conieth unto the Father, but by Me. Likewise in the

.Tohn 10, same place, / am the door ; by Me if any man enter in, he shall

fi. notV.j^ .wr«/. Likewise in the same place, AI any prophets and

\l.no\\'. righteous men have desired to see those things icliich ye see,

and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye

hear, and have not heard them. Likewise in the same place,

John 3, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; he that

believeth not the Son hath not life, but the tcratJi of God shall

r,ph.2, abide upon him. Likewise Paul to the Ephcsians, And when

„,,[ y' He came. He preached peace to you ichich were those afar

off, and peace to them which were nigh; because through Him

we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Likewise to

Horn. 3, the Ivomans, For all have sinned, and are icantinq of the

23 24 . . -» .'

not V. (I^^^y of God ; but they are justijied by His gift and grace,

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, liikewiso in
1 l\ter the lipistle of l^eter the Apostle, Christ hath once died for
not v. '^'"' *'''*■' '^'^ i''-^' f'^^ f^'^ unjust, that He might offer us to
1 I'eter (rod. Likewise in the same place, For herein ?cas the Gospel
y ■ °° preached also to them that are dead, that they might be raised
1 John (tnew. Likewise in the Epistle of John, IFhosoever denieth

2, 23.
no" \'.

"' "• ■ the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that acknow

ledgeth the Son, Iiath both the Son and the Father.
28. That Jesus Christ will come to judge.
Mill. 4, Til Mulachi, Uehold, the day of the Lord cometh, that

l.uotV.

Christ shall come again. (>1

himieth an an oven; and all the outcasts and all that do

uickedly shall he stnbhle, and the day of the Lord that

Cometh shall bnrn them up. Likewise in the forty-ninth

Psahn, God the Lord of gods hath spoken, and called the Ps. 49,

earth; from the rising of the sun nnto the going down, out ^^^]\'^'

ofSion is the beauty of His glory. God shall come manifeslly,

our God, and shall not keep silence. Afire shall burn before

Him, and an exceeding tempest round about Him. He hath

called the heaven above, and the earth that He may separate

His people. Gather His saints unto Him, those who make

His Covenant in sacrifices; and the heavens shall declare

His righteousness, for God is Judge. Likewise in Isaiah,

The Lord God of might shall go/orth, and shall break war in Is. 42,

2)ieces; He shall stir up strife, and cry out over His enemies]^' y '

with strength, L have been silent, shall L ever be silent?

Likewise in the sixty-seventh Psalm, Let God arise, and let Ps. 67,

His enemies be scattered ; let them also that hate Him fiee^^^^^''^'

before His face. As smoke Tanisheth,let them vanish; as

wax melteth before the face of fire, so let sinners perish

before the face of God; and let the righteous be glad and

rejoice in the sight of God; and let them be glad with joy-

fulness. Sing unto God, sing praises to His Name ; make a

way to Him that ascendeth into the west, God is His Name.

They shall be put to confusion before the face of Him who is

Father of the orphans, and 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,

them also that provoke unto anger, who dwell in tombs. God,

wlien TJiou wentest forth in the sight of Thy people, in passing

into the desert. Likewise in the eighty -first Psahn, Arise, OPs. 81,

God, judge the earth, for Thou shall dispossess among fill\^^y

nations. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew, Mat. 8,

What have we to do tcith Thee, Thou Son of David? ^^''^'I/Mik 1

art Thou come hither to punish tis before the time ? Likewise 24. not

according to John, The Father judge tli nothing, but halhj^^^^

aiven all iudainent unto the Son, that all men should Jtonour'^'^- 23.

not V.
tlie Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth

not the Soit, honoureth not the Father which hath sent Llim.

Likewise in the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, ^ p

We must all appear before the judgment-scat of Christ, that 10. not

62 Christ to rc'i(jn as a Kintj for ever.

Tnt\T. everi/ one maij rrcrirc the due thiiicjs of his body, accor din y
^'^- 1o those thinys ichich he hiith done, uhether they he yood or
bad.

2!). Tluil Jesus Christ will reigu as a King for ever.
Zech. 9. In Zechaviah, Tell ye the dauyhter of Sion, Behold, thy
''•"°'^" A7//^ Cometh unto thee, jusi, and h ar in y salvation, meek,
sittiny upon an ass that hath not been tamed. Likewise in
,, 33 Isaiah, Mlio trill declare to you that eternal place? he that
14—17. tcalketh riyhteously, and holdelh hack his hands from yifls,
""' ^ ■ sioppiny his ears that he hear not the judyment of blood, and
shuttiny his eyes that he see not iinriyhteousness; he shall
dwell in the hiyh cavern of the strony rock ; bread shall be
given him, and his ivater shall be sure ; ye shall see the King
Mai. 1. in His ylory. Likewise in Malachi, / am a yreat Kiny,saith
y'"°* the Lord, and My Name is illustrious amony the heathen.
Ps. 2, 6. Likewise in the second Psalm, I am set as a King by Him
""' ^'- upon His holy hill of Sion, declariny His command. Like-
Ts. 21, wise in the twentieth Psalm, /]// the ends of the world shall
[•22] ■i~-f,p reminded, and shall be turned unto the Lord; and cdl the
V. kindreds of the nations shall worship in Thy siyht ; for the
Kinydom is the Lord's, and He shall rule over all nations.
Ps. r.i, Likewise in the twenty-third Psalm, Lift np your gates, ye
i-^]''— princes, and be ye lifted np, ye everlasting gates, and the
\ . King of glory shall come in. Who is this Kiny of glory ?
The Lord strong and miyhty; the Lord miyhty in battle.
Lift up your yates, ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye ever-
last iny gates, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is
this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of
Ps. -1 \, glory. Likewise in the forty-fourth Psalm, My heart is
^^^Ji^y'^' breathing forth a good discourse, L say the things which L
have to the King. My tongue is the pen of a writer readily
writing; Tliou art lovely in beauty above the sons of men ;
yrace is poured out in Thy lips, nherefore God hath blessed
Thee for ever. Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thiyli,
O Thou most Miyhty, bend Thyself, and move on, to Thy
yraciousness and Thy beauty, and rciyn because of truth and
meekness and riyhteousness. Likewise in the fifth Psalm,
Vs. 5,2. My Kiny and my God, since unto Thee trill I pray, in the
'morn iny shall Thou hear my voice; in the morning will I
attend on Thee, and. cotilenijilate Thee. I/ikewi.se in the

Christ a Conqueror. 63

ninety-sixth Psalm, The Lord hath reigned; let the earth Ps.qg,
rejoice; let the many isles exult. Likewise in the forty- ^^'y*
fourth Psahn, Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in Ps. 44,
golden raiment, in a garment of many colours. Hearken, o\^^^^'r
Daughter, and consider, and incline Thine ear; and forget y-
Thine ou-n people, and Thy fathers house; for the King hath
desired Thy beauty, for He is Thy Lord God. Likewise in
the seventy-third Psalm, But God is our King before the Ps. 73,
world, He hath ivrought salvation in the midst of the earth.^^l^J^'
Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew, And wheti Mat. 2,
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the days of Herod h^' "''^
the King, behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,
saying. Where is He that is bom King of the Jews ? For we
have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.
Likewise according to John, Jesus said, My Kingdom is wo^Joimi.
of this world; if My Kingdom were of this world, then would^^'V'
My servants be troubled, lest L should be delivered to the Jews;
but now is My Kingdom not from hence. Pilate said. Art
Thou then a King; Jesus answered, Thousayest ; for I am
a King ? T was born to this end ; to this etid came I into the
world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that
is of the truth heareth My voice.

30. That Jesus Christ is both Judge and King.

In the seventy-first Psalm, O God, give Thy judgment to the Ps. 71,
King, and Thy justice to the King's Son. To judge Thy\j ^ ""
people in righteousness. Likewise in Revelation, And J saw Rev. i9,
heaven opened^ and behold a white horse, and He that sat^^T^^'
upon Him ivas called Faithfid and True, and He judgeth
righteousness and justice, and maketh war. And His eyes
were as aflame of fire ; and on His head were many diadems,
and He bare a. nam.e written, known to none other but to
Himself. And He was clothed vnth a vesture sprinkled with
blood; and His Name is called the Word of God; and the
armies ivhich are in heaven followed Him upon ivhite horses,
clothed in linen white and clean; atid out of His mouth went
forth a two-edged sword, that ivith it He should smite the
nations ; which He shall ride with a rod of iron, and He
shall tread the wine-press of the ivine of the wrath of God
Almighty. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh
a Name written ; King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Like-

64 Christ to he our Judge.

Ti.f AT. wise in tlie Gospel, When the Son of Man shall come in His
'iii^. iilori/, (ind (ill the AngeJs with Him, then shall He sit in the
■iY^46' thnnie of His glory. And hrfore Him shall be gathered oil
not V. nations, a)id He shall separate them one from another, us a
shepherd divideth the sheep from the fjoats ; and He shall set
the sht'ep on His right ha^id, and the (/oats on the left. Then
shall the King say imto them that shall be on His right hand,
Come, ye blessed of ^fy Father ; receive the Kingdom which
was prepared for you froin the beyinrdng of the ivorld ,• for I
was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; Twos thirsty, and ye
gave Me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked,
and ye clothed Me ; sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison,
and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him,
sayiny,Lord, tthen saw loe Thee an hungered, and fed Thee?
thirsty, and gave Thee drink? or when saw we Thee a
stranger, and took Thee in? naked, and we clothed Thee? or
when saw we Thee sick and in prison, and ive came unto
Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily
I say unto you, in as far as ye did it to one of the least of these
My brethren, ye did it unto Me. Then shall He s:iy unto
them who shall be on His left hand. Depart from Me, ye cursed,
ijiio everlasting fire, isohieh My Father hath prepared'^ for the
Devil and his angels; for I was an hungered, and ye gave
Ale no meat; J was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; 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, saying, Lord,ivhen saw weThee an hungered,
or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and
did not minister ujito 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 to Me: and' these shall go
away into everlasting burniyig, hut the righteous itito life
eternal.

•1 Qiiew paiavit Pater mens. So Trena^us and llie ancient Italic.
(Ilttr. iii.'23. §.3.)anJsome Greek MSS.

PREFACE

TO THE THIRD BOOK.

Cyprian to my son Quirinus greeting.

With that faith and devotedness which you manifest toward
the Lord God, you asked me, most dear son, to extract, for
your instruction, from the Holy Scriptures, certain points
which bore upon the rehgious discipline of our school. Secta;.
Your wish was to peruse the divine writings, in a succinct
method ; that so a mind which has given itself to God, not
wearied by the length or number of volumes, but instructed
out of a breviary of heavenly pi'cccpts, may have store whole- brevi-
some and large, for the nurturing of its memory. And because
I owe an affectionate attention to your wishes, I have done
that for which you asked, and have given myself labour for
once, lest you should have labour always. So far then as my
poor ability could compass, I have gathered together some
precepts of the Lord and precedents divine ; which will be
convenient and instructive to the reader, since a few passages
laid within shortened space, may be read with more speed,
and gone over oftener. Dearest son, it is my wish that
all health may ever attend you.

Heads of the third Book.

\. On the benefit of works and mercy. operis.

2. In charity and alms, though through smallness of means
the act be less, yet that the will is sufficient.

3. That love and brotherly afllection is to be religiously and agapen.
stedfastly exercised.

F

(U) JDutics and graces of the Christian.

iitr.AT. 4. Wo must glory in notliing, because nothing is our own.

L_ 5. That humility and qtiictness must be kept hold on in

all things.

6. That all good and just men have more trouble, but
ought to bear it because they arc being tried.

7. That we must not grieve the Holy Spirit, w^hom we
have received.

8. That anger must be conquered, lest it force us to sin.

9. That brethren ought to bear one another up.

10. In God alone are we to trust, and in Him to glory.

11. That he who has attained unto faith, having put
oft' the old man, ought to think only of heavenly and spiritual
things, and lean not towards a world which he has now
renounced.

12. That we must not swear.

13. That we must not curse.

14. That we must never murmur, but concerning all things
which befal, must bless God.

15. To this end that men arc tried by God, that they may
be proved.

16. Of the benefit of Martyrdom.

17. That those are less things which w^e suffer in this
world, than is the rewai'd which is promised.

IS. That nothing is to be preferred to the love of God and
Christ.

19. That we must obey not our own will, but that of God.

20. That fear is the foundation and ground of hope and
f\dth.

21. That we must not rashly judge concerning another.

22. When we have suflered an injury, it must be remitted
and forgiven.

23. We must not return evil.

24. That it is impossible to come unto the Father, except
through His Son Jesus Christ.

25. That except a man be baptized and born again, he
cannot come to the kingdom of God.

2(i. That to bo baptized and to receive the Eucharist is a
opeie.i. little thing, unless a man improve in deeds and works,
ri'tab'ic" "^"^ • '^^^*' ^^^^ baptized also loses the grace he has been
works, admitted to, excejit he keep innoccncy.

Duties and graces of the Christian. 67

28. That remission cannot be to him in the Chm-ch, whose
sin is against God.

29. Concerning the hatred of the Christian Name, it was simply
before prophesied. nominis

30. What a man has vowed to God, he must pay quickly.

31. That he who belie veth not, is already judged.

32. On the benefit of virginity and continency.

33. That the Father judgeth nothing, but the Son : and
that the Father is not honoured by him, by whom the Son is
not honoured.

34. That the believer ought not to live like the Gentile.

35. That God is to this end patient, that we may repent us
of our sin, and be reformed.

36. That a woman ought not to be secularly adorned.

37. That the believer ought not to be punished for other
offences besides his Name. nomen.

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 Christ.

40. That works must not be done boastingly or withopeiaa-

dum.
noise.

41. That we must not speak idly and jeeringly.

42. That faith altogether profits, and that we are able to do,
in proportion as we believe.

43. That he can immediately obtain, wdio truly believes.

44. That when the faithful have a matter against one
another, they ought not to make use of a Gentile judge.

45. That hope is of things future ; and that therefore the
believer in those things which are promised, ought to be
patient.

4C. That a woman ought to be silent in the Church.

47. That it comes from our sin and deservings that w^e
are troubled, and do not feel the help of God in all things.

48. That we must not take usury.

49. That even enemies are to be beloved.

50. That the Sacrament of Faith is not to be pro-
faned.

51. That none ought to extol himself in his work. opere

52. That the liberty of believing or not believing is placed

in free choice. in arbi-

F 2 ^"°-

68 Duties and graces 0/ the Christian,

'"'■^T. 53, That God's secrets cannot be seen through, and there-
in. ,.,,,-,
fore our faith ought to be snnplc.

54. Tliat none is without hllh and without sin.

55. That we must please, not men, but God.

56. That none of those things that arc done is unseen by
God.

57. That the believer is made better, and reserved.

58. That none ought to be made sad by death, since in
living there is trouble and peril, in dying peace and certainty
of resurrection.

59. Concerning the idols, which the Gentiles think gods.

60. That too great lust of food is not to be sought after.

61. That the lust of gain, and money, arc not to be sought
after.

62. That marriage is not to be made with Gentiles.

63. That the sin of fornication is a grievous sin.

64. What are those carnal things, w^hich beget death; and
what those spiritual, which lead to life.

65. That all sins are put off in Baptism.

66. That the Discipline of God in Church precepts is to be
observed.

67. That it is foretold, that they w^ould despise whole-
some Discipline.

68. That we must withdraw from him who lives disorderly,
and contrary to Discipline.

69. That the kingdom of God is not in the wisdom of the
world, or in eloquence, but in the faith of the Cross, and
virtuousness of conversation.

70. That we must ol)cy Parents.

71. Neither ought fathers to be bitter toward their children.

72. That slaves when they have believed, ought the more
to obey their masters according to the flesh.

73. That masters also ought to become more mild.

74. That all widows who are approved are to be honoured.

75. That each person should chiefly take care of them w^ho
belong to himself, and especially of believers.

76. That one who is older is not to be rashly accused.

77. That he who sins is to be publicly rebuked.

78. That we must not speak with heretics.

70. That innocency asks with confidence, and obtains.

Duties and graces of the Christian. 69

80. That the devil has no liberty against man, unless God
permit.

81. That payment must quickly be made to the hireling.

82. That divination is not to be used.

83. That the corner of the head is not to be rounded.

84. That the beard is not to be plucked.

85. That we must rise up, when Bishop or Presbyter
comes.

86. That schism must not be made, even though he who
secedes remain in one faith and in the same tradition.

87. That the faithful ought to be simple as well as prudent.

88. That a brother must not be defrauded.

89. That the end of the world comes suddenly.

90. That the wife is not to separate fi'om her husband ; or
if she separate, is to remain unmamed.

91. That every one is so much tempted, as he is able to
bear.

92. That not whatsoever is lawful is to be done.

93. It is foretold that heresies should be.

94. That the Eucharist is to be received with fear and
honour.

95. That we must comj)any with the good, and avoid the
wicked. ^p^,^„.

96. That our works must be in deeds, not in words. ilum.

97. That we must hasten to Faith, and to the attainment ^'"^P^y

^ consecu-

of Baptism. tionem.

98. That the catechumen ought now to sin no more.

99. That judgment will be according to the times ; either
of equity, before the Law ; or after Moses, of the law.

100. That the grace of God should be given freely.

101. That the Holy Spirit hath often appeared in fire.

102. That all good men ought willingly to hear reproof.

103. That we must withhold from much speaking.

104. That we must not lie.

105. That they are oftentimes to be corrected, who eiT in
domestic duty.

106. That when injury has been received, patience is to be
kept, and vengeance to be left to God.

107. That we must not speak detractingly.

108. That we must not lay snares against a neighbour.

70 Ditties and (/races of the Christian.

T..EAT. 109. That the sick are to be visited.
^*'- 1 10. Tliat backbiters are accursed.

111. That the sacrifices of wicked men are not acceptable.

112. That a heavier judgment is upon those, who in this
world have had more power.

113. That the widow and the orphans ought to be pro-
tected.

114. That while any is in the flesh, he ought to make
exomolo- Confession.

gesin. j^^ That adulation is pernicious.

116. That God is more loved by him, to whom in Baptism
more sins are forgiven.

117. That we have a hard combat against the Devil, and
tliat therefore we ought to stand firmly, that we may be able
to overcome.

118. Concerning Antichrist, that he will come in man's
nature.

1 19. That the yoke of the law was heavy, which is cast ofl'
by us ; and the yoke of Christ is light, which is put on by us.

120. That we are to be instant in prayers.

BOOK III.

1 . On the benefit of works and mercy.
Is. .-iS, In Isaiah, O7/, He saith, aloud and spare not; lift up thy
n^ V. ^'^^'^^ ^'^"' ^ tri'^^U"'^^ *^<'«' Mij people their transgressions, and the
house of Jacob their sins. They seek Me daily, and delight to
knoic My xcays, as a nation that did righteousness, arid forsook ?iot
the ordinajice of God ; they ask of Me now a just judgment, and
desire to approach to God, saying, Wherefore is it that vce
have fasted, and Tlinu hast not seen ? We have humbled our
souls, and Tlioit hast not knoivn ? For in the days of fasting
are found your pleasures, for either ye goad down them who
are subject to you, or fast for judgments and strifes, or smite
your neighbours with fists ; wherefore do ye fast unto Me,
that this day your voice should be heard in clamour ? TJvis
fast I have not chosen, except a man hunible his soul. And
though thou shall bend thy neck like a ring, and spread sack-
rlolh and ashes under, neither so shall it be called an accepted

The benefit of mercy. 71

fast. I have not cJiosen such a fast ^ saith the Lord; but

loose every band of wickedness, undo the bindings of violent

trajfichiays ; let yo the harrassed to rest, a?id scatter abroad

every unjust bond ; break thy bread to the hunyry, and briny

the poor without shelter into thine house. JVhen thou seest

the naked, clothe him ; and despise not them of thy seed in

thy household. Then shall thy light break forth in season,

and thy raiment shall arise quickly ; and riyhteousness shall

go before thee, and the glory of God shall surround thee.

Then shall thou call, and God shall hear thee: nhilst thou

art yet speaking. He shall say, Here I am. Concerning this

same thin<^ in Job ; / kept the needu from the hand of the JohW,

'12 13
powerful, and. helped the orphan wlio had none to aid him. 15] jg*

The mouth of the widow blessed me, for 1 was the eye of the'^^^ ^^

hlind, foot also teas I to the lame, and father to the iceak.

Concerning this same thing in Tobias ; And I said to my son Tobit 2,

Tobias, Go, and briny what poor man soever thou shall Jind

out of our brethren, who yet hath God in mind, icith his

tchole heart ; him briny, and he shcdl eat this dinner toyether

with me ; behold, I await thee, my son, until thou comest.

Likewise in the same phice; All the days of thy life, my «o/?, Tobit 4,

have God in mind, and be unwilling to transgress His com- jq ^'j

mandments. Do justice all the days of thy life, and icnotv.

umcilliny to tcalk in the way of unriyhteousness ; for if thou

deal truly, there icill be respect of thy tcorks. Give alms of

thy substance, and be unwilling to turn away thy face from

any poor man ; so shall it be that neither the face of God will

be turned away from thee. As thou hast, my son, so do ; if

thou hast an abundant substance, give the more alms of it ;

if thou hast Utile, communicate of thai little ; and be not

afraid ivhen thou gi vest alms; thou laycst up for thyself a

good reward against the day of necessity ; for cdms doth

deliver from death, and suffcreth not to yo into darkness.

Alms is a good office, in all ivho do it in the sight <f the Most

High God. Concerning this same thing in Solomon in Piov.

Proverbs : He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the^^'^l y'

Lord. Likewise in the same pkice ; lie that yivelh unto the i'rov.

5fi 97

poor shall never lack ; but he that turneth away his eye, shall ^^^[ y *
be in much penury. Likewise in the same place; By almsVTow.
and faith sins are puryed. Likewise in the same place ; ^J[ y^

72 The benefit of mercy.

Theat. //■ thine enemy hunger, feed him, and if he thirst, give him

drink; for this doing, thou shalt heap live coals njwn his

25.21. f(((id. Likewise in the same place; As uaier qucnclieth
"°'^' fire, so alms qitenchcth sin. In the same in Proverbs; Say
S^o^ 7/0/, Co, andcotne again, to-morrow I will give thee, uhen thou
noi V. canst immediately do good ; for thou knoicest not trhat may
28°not ' happen on the morrow. Likewise in the same place ; Whoso
V. stoppeth his cars, lest he hear the tceak ; he also shall call

,o°^'^''";w/* God, and there uill be none who will hear him. Like-

l.i. not '_ _ '

\ . wise in the same place ; He uho walketh without reproach

rrov.20,f,^ riiihteousness, leaveth blessed children. In the same in

7. not \ . "^ . . '

i.cclus. Ecclesiasticus ; My son, if thou hast, do good by thyself, and

11, 11. bring due oblations to God; remember that death delayeth

Kccius ''"'• Likewise in the same place ; Shut np alms in the heart

29, 12. of the poor, and this uill entreat for thee from all evil.

Concerning this same thing in the thirty-sixth Psalm ;

I's. 3G, that mercy conveys blessing also to posterity; / have been

^^^•^-^y young and am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

nor his seed begging bread. All the day he is merciful, and

Icndeth ; and his seed is in blessing. Concerning this same

]'s. 40. thing in the fortieth Psalm ; Blessed is he that considereth

f*''l '• the poor and needy; the Lord shall deliver him in the evil

not \ . ■" _ _ _ "^

I's. 1 1 1 '^"//- Likewise in the hundred and eleventh Psalm ; He hath
[1'-.] dispern'd, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness will
' abide from generation to generation. Concerning this same
llos.fi. thing in Osce ; / desire mercy more than sacrifice^ and
^•^^^^^•knouledge of God, more than whole burnt offerings. Con-
cerning this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew ;
Mat. 5. lilessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteous-
6. not\'. ^,^^ . fQf. fj^^y ^f^^^ii i^, jiiu^d. Likewise in the same place ;
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Like-
M'ise in the same place ; Lay np for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth iwr rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break not through and steal. For where thy treasure
is, there will thy heart be also. Likewise in the same
Mat. 13, place; The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman,
not \\ *"^^^"'^ goodly pearls ; and when he hath found a pearl of
price, he went, and sold all that he had, and bought it.

' More thitn. fiiagis ijtiavi. r, (ualav is in St. I\l ultli. afti 1 the Hebrew,
oiiti reading ol the Sept. ou ivclav is

Mat,
7. V

5,

Mat
20. •
nut

.6,

n.

V.

The benefit of mercy. 73

That even a small deed of charity profits ; in likewise the
same place ; And he who shall give to drink to one of these Mat. lo,
least a cup of cold tvater in the name of a disciple^ verily /{r ""'
say unto you., his reward shall not perish. That alms is to
be refused to none ; in likewise the same place ; Give to iMat. 5,
every one that asketh thee, and from him that icould borrow, y ' °°'
turn not thou auay. Likewise in the same jolace ; If thouMnui9,
wilt come to life, keep the commandments. He saith tfnto^^~,V'

^ ^ ^ not V.

him, Which? Jesus saith unto him, Thou shall not kill;
thou shall not commit adultery; thou shall not bear false
witness; honour thy Father and Mother ; and. Thou shall
love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto
Him, All these have I kept ; 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 shall have treasure in
heaven ; and come, follow Me. Likewise in the same place ;
When the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and all Mat.2o,
the Angels with Him, then shall He sit in the throne of His ^~y '
glory, and all nations shall be gaUiered before Him. And
He shall separate thetn one from another, as a shepherd
divideth the sheep from the goats ; and He shall place the
sheep on His right hand, and the goats on the left. Then
shall the King say unto tJieni that are on His right hand.
Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which
was prepared for you from the beginning of the world ; for
I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat ; I ivas thirsty, and
ye gave Me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in ;
naked, but ye covered Me ; I teas sick, and ye visited Me ; I
was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righ-
teous answer Him, saying. Lord, when saw ice Thee an hun-
gred, and fed TJice ? Thirsty, and gave Thee drink ? When
saw tee Thee a stranger, and took Thee in ? Naked, and tee
clothed TJiee ? Or when saw we Thee sick and in ]rrison,
and we came unto Thee ? And the King shall answer and
say ttnto them,, Verily I say unto you, In as far as ye did it
unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it also unto
Me. Then shall He say unto thetn which are on His left
hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting Jive,
which My Father hath prepared for the Devil and his angels.
For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat; I was

74 The benefit of mercy.

in I AT. thirst I/, and ye gave Me no drink ; I was a stranger, and ye
'— took Me not in ; 1 uas naked, and ye clothed Me 7iot ; sick

and in prison, and ye visited Me not. Then shall they also
ausu-cr, saying, Lord, n-hen saw ue Thee an hitngred, or
thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or i7i prison, and did
not minister 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 to Me ; and these shall go away into
everlasting burning, but the righteous into life eternal. Con-
cerning this same thing in the Gospel according to Luke ;
I,ukei2, Sell that ye have, and give alms. Likewise in the same
Y ■ "°' place; He that made that which is within, made also that
LuVeW, which is without. But give alms, and, behold, all things are
^^tv* ^^^^'' unto you. Likewise in the same place; Behold, the
L\i\iel9, half of nry substance J give to the j^oor ; and if anywise I
^•^- have defrauded any, I restore four-fold. And Jesus said,
that salvation is this day wrought to this house, since he also
is a son of Abraham. Concerning this same thing, Paul in
2 Cor. his Second Epistle to the Corinthians ; Let your abundance
^'^^y supply their want, that their abundance also may be a supply
for your want ; that there may be equality ; as it is written.
He that had much, had nothing over ; and he wlio had little,
2 Cor. had no lack. Likewise in the same place ; He whicli soweth
not V sparingly, shall reap also sparingly ; and he which soweth in
bountifulness, shall reap also with bountifulness. But let
every one, as he has purposed in his heart; not sorrowfully
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Likewise in
2 Cor. the same place ; As it is written. He hath dispersed, lie hath
V. given to lite poor ; his righteousness i-emaineth for ever.
2 Cor. Likewise in the same place ; Now He that mi/iistereth seed
not^V '^ ^''^ sower, shall both supply bread to eat, and shall multiply
your seed, and shall increase the growth of the fruits of your
righteousness ; that in all things ye may be enriched. Like-
2 Cor. wise in the same ])lacc ; TJie administration of this service
no/v ''"'^' "^f '^"^'J supplied the want of the saints, but hath
abounded by much thanksgiving unto God. Concerning this
1 .lohn same thing in the Epistle of John ; IVhoso hath this world's
iKit V. .*7'"^'^5 ^'"^ seeth his brother in need, and shutteth his bowels
from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? Concerning
f;^^',''this same thing in the Gospel according to Luke; When
not V.

The duty of brotherly affection. 75

thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor
brethren nor neighbours, nor the rich, lest perchance they also
bid thee again, and a recompence be made tlice. But ichen
thou makest a feast, call the poor, the weak, the blind and
lame, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense
thee, but thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the
just.

2. In charity and alms, though through smallness of
means the act be less, yet the will is sufficient-

In the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; I/iQot.q,

1 "2 1 3

there be ready will, it is acceptable according to that a maji ^^[ y '
hath, not according to that a man hath not ; and not to others
an easing, but to you a burdening.

3. That love and brotherly affection is to be religiously
and stedfastly exercised.

In Malachi; Hath not one God created us ? Is there notM^]. 2,
otie Father of us all 9 why have ye surely deserted every one y ' ""
his brother? Concerning this same thing according to
John; Peace I leave to you; My peace I give unto ^/om. John 14,
Likewise in the same place ; This is My commandment, y/
that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater /ore John 15,
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his ^q[ y '
friends. Likewise in the Gospel of Matthew ; Blessed are Mat.5,9.
the peaceable, for they shall be called the children of God. "°
Likewise in the same place; Verily I say unto you, that zyMat. 18,
fivo of you shall agree on earth, as touching any thing that ^^j y '
ye shall ask, it shall be done to you of My Father ivhich is i7i
heaven. For ir her ever two or three are gathered together in
My Name, I am tvith them. Concerning this same thing
Paul in his first to the Corinthians; And I, brethren, co^^Zr/ 1 Cor. 3,
not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal ; as not V.
babes in Christ I fed you with milk, not tvith meat ; for
while ye tvere yet little, ye were not able to bear it, neither
now are ye able ; for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there
is among you emulation and strife and divisions, are ye not
carnal, and tvalk after man ? Likewise in the same place ;
And though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, iCor.13,
and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I distribjite n^t v.
all my goods in food, and though I give my body to burn, and
have not charity, I profit nothing. Charity w of great soul.

76 NothiiKj is ours to ylory in.

lui \T. c/iarifi/ is hoiintiful, cliarity envieth not, charity dealeth not
'"• vdin/t/, is not p^fft'd up, is not irritated, ttiinketh not evil,
rcjoiceth 7iot in itiiqaify, hut rejoiceth in the truth. Is
content irifh all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things. Charity shall never fail. Concerning
(iai.5, this Stiine thing to the Galatians ; Thoii shall love thy neigh-
not \"' '^'""' ^^^ thyself; but if ye bite and accuse one another, take
heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Concerning
i.ioimS, this same thing in the Epistle of John ; In this the children
not \ .' of God are manifest, and the childreti of the Devil. Whoso-
ever is not riyhteous is not of God ; neither he that loveth not
his brother. For he that hateth his brother is a murderer ;
and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
iJol)ii4./iim. Ijikewise in the same place; If a man say that He
~y- ""* loveth God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar ; for he that
loveth not his brother uhom he seeth, how can he love God,
ivhom lie seeth 7iot? Concerning this same thing in the
Alts 4, Acts of the Apostles ; And the multitude of litem that had
\"' believed were of one soul and mind, nor was there any
separation among them, neither did they accou7it that ought
of the thiiigs ivhich they possessed was their own; but they
had all things common. Concerning this same thing in the
Mat. 5, Gospel according to Matthew; If thou bring thy gift to the
not \'. altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought
against thee ; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go ;
first be rero7iciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy
i.iulin4,^//y at the altar. Likewise in the Epistle of John; God is
y' "" love; and he that dwclleth in love dwelleth in God and God
iJolin2,?w him. Likewise in the same place; He that saifh he is in
^ '"^'^'Mc light, and hateth his brother, is a liar, and walketh in
darkness even until now.

4. We must glory in nothing, because nothing is our own.

.loliii 3, In the Gospel according to John; No man can receive any

\' '" thing, except it hath been given him from heaven. Likewise in the

11 Cor. 1, first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; For tchat hast than,

that thou didst not receive? hut if thou didst receive it, lohy dost

thou glory, as if thou didst not receive it? Likewise in the first

1^.11,1.2, of Kings; Boast not, neither speak hinh thinqs ; and let not
J. nut V. 7 z'

arrogancy jwoceed out of your mouth ; for the Lord is a God of

knowledge. Likewise in the same place; The bow of the

The duty of humility and quietness. 77

mighty tnen is made iveak, and the infirm are girded icith strenqth.
Concerning the same thing in the Maccabees; It is meet to he'^ Mac
suhject unto God^ and that a inortal sliould not think things equaln'^i V.
to God. Likewise in the same place; And fear ye not t]ie\^\^c-i,
ivords of a sinful nian ; for his glory shall he dung and worms, r^^x. \.
To-day he shall be lifed ?//;, and to-morrow he shall not he found;
because he is returned into his earth, and his thought is perished.

5. That humility and quietness must be kept hold on in all
things.

In Isaiah; 11ms saith the Lord; The heaven is My throne, ls.66,\.
and the earth is My footstool; what seat will ye build Me ? ^' °°^ ^'
or what is the place of My rest? For all those things hath
Mine hand made, and all those things are Mine. And upon
whom beside will I look, except the humble and quiet, and who
tremUeth at My icords ? Concerning this same thing in the
Gospel according to Matthew; Blessed are the meek ; for they Mat 5,
shall inherit the earth. Concerning this same thing according ^■"°'^'
to Luke ; He that shall be least among you all, the same shall be Luke 9,
great. Likewise in the same place; Whosoever exalteth him-y'^*^^
self shall be abased; and he that hnmbleth himself shall be exalted. LukeH,
Concerning this same thing to the Romans; Be not high-l}'^^^
minded, but far. For if God spared not the naticral branches, Rom.l],
take heed lest He also spare not thee. Concerning this same ^^" '}}'
thing in the thirty-third Psalm ; And He shall save the humble Ps. 33,
in sjnrit. Likewise to the Romans; Render to all their dues ;^^^'^^^'
tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom.; fear ^Opj^^ J3
whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man any thing, '^- 8- not
but to love one another. Likewise in the Gospel according to
Matthew ; They love the ujjjjerjnost couch in feasts, and the chief Mat. 23,
seat in the synagogues, and greetings in the market, and to be ^^^ y^
called of men. Rabbi. But do not ye call Rabbi ; for one is your
Master. Likewise in the Gospel according to John; 77<ejoIini3,
servant is not greater than Ids Lord, nor the Apostle greater than ^^^'^ .- *
He that sent him; if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye
do them. Likewise in the eighty-first Psalm; Z>o justice to thePs.Si.
humble and poor. y^ '■'

6. That all good and just men have more trouble, but
ought to bear it, because they are being tried.

In Solomon; The furnace proveth the j)otters vessels; and E.c.c\\is.
the trial of tribulation righteous men. Likewise in the fiftieth^'' ■^■^"

78 Oood men (ire in trouble, because they are in trial.
Trfat. Psalm; The sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit ; a contrite and

III.

humbled heart God will not despise. Likewise in the thirty-third

[5*1 ,117. Psalm; God is most nigh unto the contrite in heart; and will

"°' y.- save the lowhj in spirit. Likewise in the same place; Many

[34,]\'8. arc the troubles ofi the rigliteous ; but the Lord will deliver them

p"* 33 ^"'^ of them all. Concerning this same thing in Job; Naked

[34,] 19. came I out of my mothers ivomh^ naked also shall I go under the

"ob 1 ' '^^'^^tb ; the Lord gave^ the Lord hath taken away ; as it jjleased

21. 22. t/ic Lord, so it is done; blessed be the Name of the Lord. In all

these things 7chich befel him, Job nothing sinned ivith his lips in

the sight of the Lord. Concerning this same thing in the

l\lat..5,4. Gospel according to Matthew; Blessed are they that mourn;

T°i' ,V for the// shall be coynforted. Likewise according to John; Tliese

John 16,-' . -^ ^ . o '

33. not things J have spoken unto you,that in Me ye may have peace; but

in the world ye shall have tribidation ; yet keep confidence, for I
have overcome the world. Concerning this same thing in the
2 Cor. Second to the Corinthians ; Tliere icas given to me a thorn of
not V. '"^y fl(^sh, the angel of Satan, to buffet me, that I may not be
exalted. For tvhich thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it
might depart from me; and He said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee; for strength is perfected in iveakness. Con-
Rom. 5, cerning this same thing to the Romans; We exult in hope
noTv (f the glory of God; arid not only so, but ice glory in tribulations
also, knowing that tinbulation worketh patience, and patience
experience, and experience hope. And hope confoundeth ?iot;
because the love of God is jwured in our hearts, by the Holy
Spirit who is given unto us. Concerning this same thing
Mat. 7, according to Matthew; How wide and broad is the way, that
not V. ^^"^^^th unto death, and many are they which go in thereat! Hoic
strait and narroiv is the tcay thatlcadeth unto life, and few are they
Tobii 2, which find it ! Concerning this same thing in Tobias; IVhere
y ■ "°' are tJty righteous deeds? Behold what thou si ffercst. Likewise
l'rov.28, in the Wisdom of Solomon ; In the places of the wicked the
y • ""' righteous groan; but when they perish, the righteous icill increase.
7. That we must not grieve the Holy Spirit, whom we have
received.
Eph.4, Paul to the Ephesians; Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in
not \'' " ''^"^"^'^ y^ "'■^' ^f^ided in the day of redemption. Let all bitterness,
and anger, and indignation, and clamour, and blasphemy be taken
away from you.

Anger leads to sin — God only to he gloried in. 79

8. That anger must be conquered, lest it force us to sin.

In Solomon in the Proverbs; The patient man is betterProv.
than the mighty ; for he who holdeth his anger is better than ^^' \^'
he tcho taketh a city. Likewise in the same place; TheProv.
imprudent declareih his anger on the same day; hut (f//e^^'!f"
cunning Itideth his dishonour. Concerning this same thing
Paul to the Ephesians; Be ye angry, and sin not. Let wo^Eph. 4,
the sun set upon your icrath. Likewise in the Gospel ac-?f'°°'
cording to Matthew ; Ye have heard that it was said by them Mat. 5,
of old time, thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill, shall'^^- '^'
he in danger of the judgment ; but I say unto you, that
7vhosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall he
in danger of the judgment.

9. That brethren ought to bear one another up.

Paul to the Galatians ; Having each in consideration, that Gal. 6,
ye he not yourselves tempted. Bear ye one another\s burdens, y ^' ""'
and so shall ye fulfil the law of Christ.

10. In God alone are we to trust, and in Him to glory.

In Jeremiah ; Let not the ivise man glory in his uisdom, jer. 9,
neither let the mighty man glory in, his might; and let not '^^'^'
the rich man glory in his riches ; but let him that glorieth,
glory in this; to understand and knoiv that L am the Lord,
tvho do louingkindness and judgment and rigliteousness upon
the earth ; for in these is lily pleas7ire, saith the Lord.
Concerning this same thing in the fifty-fourth Psalm ; In the Ps. 55,
Lord have I hoped; Twill not fear what man can do unto\^^,^Y '
me. Likewise in the same place; My soul is subjected toPs.6\,
none hut God only. Likewise in the himdred and seventeenth k^^'l I;

•^ 2. not V .

Psalm; / will not fear what man may do unto me. The ps. 117,
Lord is my helper. Likewise in the same place ; It is ie^^<?rtl'M6.
to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man. -^^ps. n?
is better to hope in the Lord, than to hope in princes. Con- fi 18.] 8-
ceming this same thing in Daniel ; But Shadrach, Meshach, ^^^^ 3
and Ahednego, answered, and said to king Nebuchadnezzar, 16— \8.
O king,ive have no need to answer thee concerning this matter.
For the God whom we serve is able to deliver us out
of the furnace of burning fire, and He will deliver us out of
thine hands, O king. And if not, he it knoum unto thee, that
we serve not thy Gods, neither icorship the golden image
which thou hast set up. Likewise in Jeremiah ; Cwrsec? it' 5^7 /J^t

V.

80 lie mho has attained to faith should discard this u'orld.

Tny AT. the //lan that hath hoj)e in ?/t<in ; and bfesscd is {he man u-Jio
^ shall trust in the Lord, and whose hope shall be in God.
Dixit. 6, Conceniing this same thing in Deuteronomy ; Thou shalt
13. not 2i.Qy,.],ip fjjf, f^ord thi/ God., and Him only shalt tliou serve.
Horn. 1, Concerning this same thing to the Romans; And they iror-
^^* ^.^" shipped and served the creature, leavinq the Creator. IVhere-

not \ . ' ' 7 ./

fore God also gave them up unto vile ajfections. Concerning

1 John this same thing in John ; Greater is He that is in you, than

^'^\r he that is in this world.
not V.

11. That he who has attained unto faith, having put

off the old man, ought to think only of heavenly and spiritual

things, and lean not towards a world, which he has now

renounced.

Isa. 55, In Isaiah ; Seek the Lord, and when ye have found Him,

not V. ^^^' upon Him. Bid when He hath come nigh unto you, let

the wicked forsake his ways, and the nnrigldeous man his

thoughts ; and let him he turned unto the Lord, and he shall

obtain mercyy because He will abundantly pardon your sins.

Kccles. Concerning this same thing' in Solomon ; / have seen all the

^'}\; works that are done under the sun, and behold all are vanity.

not V. _ ' -^

Exod. Conceniing this same thing in Exodus ; And thus shall ye
^^']}' cat it ; with your loins girded, 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. Conceming this same thing in

Mat. 6, the Gospel according to Matthew; Take no thought, saying,

noi~v"^ ^r/u//.s7///// n-e eat,or wliat shall ive drink, or wherewith shall

we be clothed ? For after these things do the Gentiles seek ;

but your Father knnueth that ye have need of all these things.

Seek yejirst the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and

all these things shall be added unto you. Likewise in the
Mat. 6, same place ; Take no thought for the morrow, /'or the morrow
34. not ^j^^^ii ^^^f.^ thought for itself. SuJ/icient vnto the day is its
Luke 9, otcn evil. Likewise in the same place ; No man looking back,
^2. not and putting his hand to the plough, is Jit for the kingdom of
Mat. fi, (^od. Likewise in the same place ; Behold the fowls of the
26, not air ; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into

barns; and your heavenly Father feedcth than. Are not ye

of more worth than they Y Concerning this same thing ac-

io"-37'' ^'^•''^^'"f^ ^^ ''"^^ ' ^'''^ '-f'^'^' ^^'"^ ^^ girded, and your lamps
"not V. 'f>f'rning; and ye like vnto men that waif for their Lord,

find live to God. 81

when He shall come from the iceddbig ; that ichen He
cometh and knocketh, they viaij open unto Him ; blessed are
those servants, tc/iom their Lord, when He cometh, shall Jin d
tcatehiny. Concerning this same thing in Matthew; 77/6' ^fat. «,
foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the^^^[ y
Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. Likewise in
the same place; JVhoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot l^nkelA,
be My disciple. Concerning this same thing, in the First to y ' ^°^
the Corinthians; Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with 1 Cor.
a yreal price ; glorify and carry God in your body. Likewise I'^^'y^'
in the same place ; It is a shortened time ; it remains i Cor. 7,
therefore, that both they that have tcives, be as theii that have~^~^^-

, ■ '^ not V.

not; and they that lament, as they that lament not; and

they that rejoice, as they that rejoice not ; and they that buy,

as they that buy not ; and they that possess, as they that

possess not ; and they that use this world, as though they nse

it not. For the fashion of this ttorld passeth away. Likewise

in tlie same place ; The first man is of the soil of the earth ; i Cor.

the sec.'td man is from heaven. Such as is he of the earth, !n'^'~

•^' ' 49 not

such are they also that are of earth ; and such as is the V.
heavenly, such also are the heavenly. As we have borne the
image of him that is of earth, let us bear also the image of
Him that is of heaven. Concerning this same thing to the
Philippians; All seek their own, and not those things which Phil. 2,
are of Christ ; whose end is deslruction, whose God is theirVg' ^'i
belly; and their glory to their shame; icho mind earthly not v.
things. But our conversation is in heaven ; from ichence
also tee expect our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change the body of our humility, conformed to the body of
His glory. Concerning this same thing to the Galatians ;
But be it far from me to glory, save in the Cross of our Lord^^^^- 6,
Jesus Christ, by whom the ivorld is crucified unto me, and ly.'
unto the tvorld. Concerning this same thing to Timothy ;
No man thai warreth for God entangleth himself with the 2 Tim.
troubles of this world; that he may be able to please him, to^'J'y'
wliom he hath approved himself. But and if a man strive,
he will not be croivned, except he fight lanfully. Concern-
ing this same thing to the Colossians ; If ye be dead with Col. 2,
Christ from the rudiments of the world, uhy^ as yet living iny' ""'
the world, do ye make vain sects ? Likewise conceniing this

G

82 Atjainst cursing and swearing,

TiuAT. same thing; If ye have risen with Christ, seek those things

'— u-hich are above, wlicre Christ is sitting on the right hand of

)_4. ' God. LjCt your mind he for the things which are above, not for
"'*' ^ • the things irhich are on earth. For ye are dead, and your life is
hid with Christ in God. But ichen Christ, lohich is your life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear icith Him in glory. Con-
Kpli. 4, cerning this same thing to the Ephesians ; Put ojf of the former
not~\^ conversation the old man, ivhich is corrupt according to the lusts
of deceit ; but he renetved in the spirit of your mind, and jmt on
the neio man, him, who according to God is created in righteous-
ness, and holiness, and triith. Concerning this same thing, in
2 Pet. 2, the Epistle of Peter ; As strangers and pilgrims, abstain ye from
not \'. fi<ishly lusts, which ivar against the soul ; hut having a good con-
versation among the Gentiles, that ivhile they detract from you, as
malignant, they seeing your good icorks may magnify God. Con-
j jpl,„ cerning this same thing in the Epistle of John ; He that saith
•2, (). not tJiat lie abidcth in Christ, ought himself also so to tvalk, as He
nolin' i''(dhed. Likewise in the same place; Love not the u-orld,
15—17. neither the things that are in the toorld ; if any man love the
ivorld, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world is lust of the Jiesh, and lust of the eyes, and pride of
life, which is not of the Father, hut of the lust of the world ; and
the world icill pass away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth
the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abidcth for ever.
Likewise in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ;
1 Cor. Purge out the old leaven, that yc may he a new lump, as ye are
^' 'y ■ unleavened. Far Christ also our Passover is slain for us ; there-
fore let us keep the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of
malice aiid wickedness; but in the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth.

12. That \\Q must not swear.
In Solomon ; A man that useth much swearing shall be

filled nilh iniquity, and the plague shall not depart from his
house ; and if he swear rainlij, he shall not he justified, and
if he swear irith no purpose, he shall lie punished doubly.
Concerning this same thing according to Matthew; / say
unto you. Swear not at all; but let your communication he
yea, yea ; nay, nay. Concerning this same thing in Exodus ;
Thou shall not lake the Name ofiJie Lord thy God in vain.

13. That we must not curse.

J-.n:

Us.

23,

11.

not

V.

Mat. 5,

34.

37.

not

Y.

Exod.

20.

7.

not

V.

Against murmuring. 83

In Exodus ; Thou shall Jiot curse, nor speak evil of the Exod.
ruler of thy people. Likewise in the thirty-third Psahn;noty.*
IVhdt man is he, that loveth life, and desiveth to see Vs. ^2,
ijood days ? Restrain thy tonc/ne from evil, and thy lips that \^'\l^'
they speak no guile. Concerning this same thing in Levi- V.
ticus ; And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Bring forth Levit.
him that hath cursed abroad without the camp, and all thati^'^^^
heard him shall lay their hands upon his head, and all the^^-
congregation of the children of Israel shall stone him. Con-
cerning this same thing, in the Epistle of Paul to the Ephe-
sians ; Let no evil communication proceed out of your mouth, Eph. 4-,
but that which is good, for the building up of faith ; that 27?^'"°'
may give grace to the hearers. Concerning this same thing Rom,
to the Romans ; Blessing, and not cursing. Concerning ^'^> ^^•
this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew ; He ]\iat. 5
that shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of^'^- °o'
hell Ji re. Concerning this same thing, according to the same
Matthew ; But I say unto you, that every idle word that men Mat. 12
shall speak, they shall give account for it in the day of judg-^^-'^^'^-
ment. For by thy tvords thou shall be justijied, and by thy
words thou shall be condemned.

14. That we must never murmur, but concerning all things
which befal, must bless God.

In Job ; Say some word against the Lord, and die. But he job 2,
looking on her said, Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish^' ^^
women; if ive have received good tilings at the hand of the
Lord, loherefore shall we not endure the evil things ? Ln all
these things which happened unto him, Job sinned nothing
with his lips in the sight of the Lord. Likewise in the same
place; Hast thou considered My servant Job, for there is Job l,
none like him in the earth, a man without complaint, true '^°^ '
worshipper of God, withholding himself from all evil ? Con-
cerning this same thing in the thirty-third Psalm; / will Ps. 33,
bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be ever iuy'^
my mouth. Concerning this same thing in Numbers ; Let Numb.
their murmuring cease from Me, and they shall not die.^^^^'
Concerning this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles ; But Ac\.s 16,
about midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and gave thanks /o^;^-°°'
God. And the prisoners heard them. Likewise in the Epistle „, ..
of Paul to the Phihppians; But doing all things in love \A. lb!

G 2

not V.

84 Trial proves a man.

TiiEAT. without miirmiirings and di.sj)uti/i(/.s, that i/e may he without

'— complaint and spotless, the sons of God.

15. That to tliis end men are tried by God, that they may

be ])rovcd.

Gen. 22, In Genesis ; And God did tempt Abraham, and said unto

y ' him, Take thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,and go into

the land, placing him there for an offering, on one of the

mountains which I uill tell thee of. Concerning this same

Deut. thing in Deuteronomy ; Tlie Lord your God proveth you, that

„jj,' y He may know whether ye love the Lord your God with all

your heart and with all your soul. Concerning this same

\Vi>d. H, thing, in the Wisdom of Solomon; ThouaJi in the sight of

A O

noi \'. ''^^'* ^^'^y suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality ;
and having been in few things chastised, they shall be in many
reicarded, for God proved them, and found them worthy of
Himself As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and as
a burnt-offering He received them, and in the season shall be
the visitation of them. They shall Judge the nations, and
have dominion over the people; and their Lord shall reign

1 Mac. for ever. Concerning this same thing in Maccabees ; Was
• ^!?: not Abraham found faithful in temptations, and it was im-
puted unto him for righteousness ?
IG. Of the benefit of Martyrdom.

Prov. 1" the Wisdom of Solomon; A faithful Martyr delivereth

14,25. his soul from evils. Likewise in the same place ; TJien shall

not V. ^ ; •' '

Wisd. '''^' righteous men stand in great boldness before them icho

5, i—9.jfaic' aj/licted them, and who took away their labours. Seeing

them they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be

a/nazed at the strangeness of their unhoped salvation, saying

one with another in penitence, and groaning for anguish of

spirit, These are they, whom he had sometime in derision,

and in the manner of a proverb ; we fools coimted their life

madness, and their end to be icithout honour ; how are they

numbered among the children of God, and their end is among the

saints ! Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the

light of righti'ou.sness hath not shined upon us, and the Sun rose

not upon us. We have been wearied in the way of luickedness and

destruction ; and ice have walked in impassable deserts ; hut the

"'".'/ fftb(! Lord 7ce have not known. What hath pride profited

us ? or what hath Ike vaunting of riches brought us ? All those

The benefit of Martyrdom. 85

things are jmssed away like a shadoio. Concerning this same
thing in the hundred and fifteenth Psalm; Precious in thevs.\i5,
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Likewise in the f ^-^
hundred and twenty-fifth Psalm ; They that sow in tears shall pg 125
i-eap 171 joy. JValking they walked, and icept as they cast their ly'^^']
seeds ; but coming they shall come in joy, lifting their gatherings, y.
Concerning this same thing in the Gospel according to John ;
He that loveth his life, shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life z« John 12,
this rvorld, shall find it unto life eternal. Likewise in the same y ' "°^
place ; But lohen they deliver you up, take no thought lohat ye shall m^u 10,
speak ; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father ^^- ^^•
ichicli speaketh in you. Likewise in the same place ; The ho?a\john 16,
shall come, that ivhosncver killeth you, shall think that he doeth \ ^- "°t
God service ; but this also will they do, because they have not known
the Father, nor Me. Concerning this same thinsr in Matthew : Mat. 5,
Blessed are they icliich are persecuted for righteousness sake, for y ' ""
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Likewise in the same place ; Mat. 10,
Fear not them lohich kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; ^?' ""'^
but rather fear Him, which is able to kill the soid and body
in hell. Likewise in the same place; JVhosoever shall confess Ma,t.\o,
Me before men, him ivill I also confess before My Father ivhich is ^^' '^^'
in heave?!. But he ivho shall deny Me before men, him will I also V.
deny before My Father which is in heaven. But he that endareth
to the end, the same shall be saved. Concerning this same thing
according to Luke ; Blessed shall ye be ivhen men shall hate you, Luke 6,
and separate you from their company, and shall cast you out, and ^ 1 y *
speak against your name, as evil, for the So7i of Man's sake.
Rejoice in that day and exult, for, behold, your reward is great in
heaven. Likewise in the same place ; Verily I say iinto yon, hukeXii,
there is no man that leaveth house, or parents, or brethren, or leife, "^^- '^^'
or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, and shcdl not
receire seven times so much in this present time, and in the
tvorld to come life everlasting. Concerning this same thing
in the Revelation ; And ivhen he had opejied the fifth seal. Rev. 6,
/ saw tinder the altar of God the souls of them that u-erc^~\]-

•> •' not V.

slain for the ivord of God and for their Martyrdom ; and they
cried uith a. loud voice, saying, How long, O God, Holy and
True^ dost Thou not judge and avenge o?/r blood, on them that
dwell on the earth ? And white robes loere given unto every
one of them ; and it teas said unto them, that they should rest

86 The henefit of Martyr dom.

TnvAT. yet (I little season, until the number of their feUoiv-serx^anfs
—and of their brethren be fulfilled, and they that hereafter shall

he killed after their e.vaniple. Likewise in the same jilace ;

^—\t' Af^^^' ''^"*' ^ beheld a great multitude, n:hieh no one among

not V. them could number, of every nation and of every kindred and

of every people and tongue, standing before the Throne and

before the Land), and they ivere clothed uith uhife robes, and

palms were in their hands. And they said with a loud i^oice.

Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto

the Lamb. And one of the Elders answered, saying unto me.

What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and ivhence

come they? and I said unto him. My Lord, thou knowest.

Aiid he said to me, These are they which 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 i7i His Temple.

And He, who sitteth upon the Throne, shall dwell among

them : and they shall not hunger, neither shall they thirst ever,

and neither shall the sun light upon them, nor shall they suffer

any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne

shall cover them, and shall lead them to fountains of waters of

life, and God shall ivipe aivay every tear from their eyes.

Rev. 2, Likewise in the same place ; He that overcometh, I will give

him to eat of the tree of life, xtchich is in the Paradise of My

Rev. 2, God. Likewise in the same place ; Be thou faithful unto

y" death, and I ivill give thee a crown of life. Likewise in the

Rev. 16, same place ; Blessed shall they be, who shall watch and shall

y^- "'"' keep their garments, lest they walk naked, and they see their

shame. Concerning this same thing in the second to

2 Tim. 4, Timothy ; J am now ready to he offered, and the time of my

~'^' assumption is at hand. I have foiight a good fight ; I have

^finished the course ; I have kept the faith ,• henceforth there

is laid up for me a crown of riyhteousness, which the Lord,

the righteous Judge, shall render to me at that day ; but not

only to me, hut to nil that love His comivy. Concerning this

Rom. 8, same thing to the Romans; We are the children of God;

no't\\' ^"^ {/ children, heirs also of God, and Joint-heirs with

r.s 118 ^'^'^'"'^ ' i^ •'^(^ ^x' ''^"''^ fee ■'^fiffar toycther, that tee may he also

[119,] ' 'jlorijied inyether. Concerning this same thing in the hundred

lo?v. ^"^^ eighteenth Psalm ; Blessed are they who are nndejiled

The Christian's suffering less than his reward. 87

in the u-ay^ and ivho walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed
are they icho search out the testifyings of Him.

17. That those are less things which we suflbr in this
world, than is the reward which is promised.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans ; The sufferings o/v.om. 8,
this time are of no u-orthiness, before that fntnre-coniing\f'^°^
glory which shall be revealed' in, us. Concerning this same
thing in the Maccabees; O Lord, thai hast the ho/y2Mzc.
knoirlcdi^e.it is manifest that wit He L miiiht he delivered froni^^'^^,:
death,) L suffer most sore pains of the body, being beaten ivith
scourges; but in soul L ic ill ingly suffer these things, because
of His fear. Likewise in the same place; Tliou i/ideed2M?LC.
tfithout power slialt destroy iis out of this present life; but y
the King of the world shall raise its up tcho have died for His
laws, to the everlasting resurrection of life. Likewise in the
same place ; It is better, being given tinto death by men, to2 iMac.
look for hope from God, to be raised up again by Him ; for to ^^^ ^
thee there shall be no resurrection to life. Likewise in the
same place; Having power among men, though thou art 2 Mac.
corruptible thou doest wliat thou wilt; yet think not that ^'^ ^^^
our nation is forsaken of God. Endure, and behold, how His^-
great iJower trill torment thee and thy seed. Likewise in the 2 iNiac.

7 18

same place ; Be not deceived without cause ; for tee suffer jg ^^^^
these things for ourselves, being sinners against our God,- ^'•
but think not thou, that thou slialt be unpunished, having
taken in hand to fight against God.

18. That nothing is to be preferred to the love of God and Christ.
In Deuteronomy; Iliou shalt love the Lord thy God nith

all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and, tcith all thy might.^e\it.6.
Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew ; He that ^'^^^ j^'
loveth father or mother more than Me, is not wortJiy of Me ; 37. 38.
and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not
worthy of Me ; and he that takelh not his cross and folio weth
Me, is not My disciple. Likewise in the E])istlc of Paul to
the Romans ; Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Y II*""' ^'
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or not V.
nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written ; that for Thy
sake we are killed all the day long ; we are accounted as
sheep for the shmghfer ; but in all these we more than
conquer, for His sake that loved us.

88 Our will mustyield to God's— fear tIic(ironndofhopc ami faith .

TiirAT. 19. That we innst obey not our own will, but tliat of
111. ^ ,

(jO(l.

2, 17.
not V

.lolm G, In the Go.spel according to John; / caitfe down from
'\ .' hcarc/i, not to do M/'ne own iri/l, but the trill of Him that
sent Me. Concerning this same tiling according to Matthew;
Mn.26,J[<ai/i('r. if it he possible, let this cup jmss from Me; neverthe-
V ■ "" less, not as I irill, but as Thou uilt. Likewise in the daily
iMat.fi, prayer; Thy tc ill be done, as iu hearen so in earth. Like-
ns" ^ wise according to Matthew; Not erery one that saith unto
not V. ]\[e, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kinydoni of heaceii ; but
'M^'n't' '"' ^^'"^ docth the will of My Father which is in hearen, he
N . shall enter into the kinydoin of heaven. Likewise according
Luke 12, to Luke; And that servant which hnoweth his Lord's will,
y ' ""^^ and oheyelh not His will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
1 Joiin In the Epistle of John ; But lie that docth the will of God
abide Ih for ever, even as He also abideth for ever.

20. That fear is the foundation and ground of hope and

faith.

I's. no, In the hundred and tenth Psalm: The fear of the Lord is

10. not ^^'^ beyinniny of icisdom. Concerning this same thing in the

^ • Wisdom of Solomon ; 70 fear God is the beginning of wisdom.

J -^2' Likewise in the Proverbs of the same; Blessed is the man that

not V. revercnceth all fJunys with fear. Concerning this same thing in

nc^^{A Isaiah ; And upon whom beside will L lookf except the hwnble and

not V. (pact, and tcho trevibleth at My ivords. Concerning this same

2' not V ^^"^S "^ Genesis ; And the Angel of the Lord called unto him

Uen.22,^^^ of heaven, and said unto him, Abraham, Aby-aham; and he

J '• l^. said, Here am L. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad,

neither do thou any thing unto him ; fur now L hnoio that thou

fearest thy God, and hast noi .spared thine only beloved son for

Ps. 2. Me. Likewise in the second Psalm ; Serve the Lord in fear,

and rejoice unto Him in trembling. Likewise in the thirty-

Ps. 33. third Psalm; Fear the Lord, all His saints; for there is no icant

iiotV.^^^ ^/i^'/i that fear Him. Likewise in the eighteenth Psalm;

Ps. ifi, Tlie fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever.

nit^v.'' ~^' '^^^^^ w^ "^"st not rashly judge concerning another.

Luke G, In the Gospel according to Luke ; Judge not, that ye bs not

.57. not judged ; condemn not, that ye be not condemned. Concerning

Horn. <^his same thing to the Romans; Who art thou, that judge st

ioi V. ^""''''''' "'""'* servant? To his own Master he standeth or falleth ;

Christ the only guide, Baptism the only entrance to the kingdom . 80

hut he shall stand ; for God is able to make him stand. And
again; Therefore thou art inexcusable^ O wan, lohosoever thou ar^Roni.2,
that judg est ; for icherein thou judg est another, thou condemncst^y
thyself, for thou doest the same things which thou jiidgest. But
hopest thou, that judgest them, which do evil, and doest the same,
that thoH thyself shalt escape the judgment of God? Likewise in
the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; Ajid let him that i Cor.
tJiinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. And again ; If any ^^; ^^•
man think that he knowetli any thing, he knoweth not yet in xchat i Cor. 8
manner he ought to knoic. 2. not V.

22. When we have suffered an injury, it must be remitted
and forgiven.

In the Gospel, in the daily prayer ; Forgive us our debts, as i\iat. 6,
ive also forgive our debtors. Likewise according to Mark; And '^- °°'
when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have ought against any ; tJiatMrnkW,
your Father also ivhich is in heaven may forgive you your tres- ' '^'
passes ; but if ye do not forgive, neither icill your Father which is
in heaven forgive you your trespiasses. Likewise in the same .,
place; With what measure ye mete, with it it shall be measured to 24. not
you again.

23. We must not return evil.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans ; Bccompensing to no Yiom.
man evil for evil. Likewise in the same place; Be not overcome 'y
of evil, but overcome evil witli good. Concerning this same Rom. 12,
thing in the Revelation; Ajid he said unto me, Seal not they'/^^
sayings of the jjropliecy of this book, for the time is noiv nigh, Rev. 22,
and they which abide injurious, let them injure ; and he who is not V.
flthy, let him be filthy still ; but let the righteous man do things
yet more righteous ; and likeivise the holy man. tilings more holy.
Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to
every man according to his works.

24. That it is impossible to come unto the Father, except
through His Son Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel according to John; I am the way, the truth, ^^i^j^^^
and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. Like- ^- °o' ^'•
wise in the same place; I am the door; by Me if any 7rt«?iJohnio,
enter in, he shall be saved.

25. That except a man be baptized and born again, he
cannot come to the kingdom of God.

In the Gospel according to John; Fxcept a man be bom^^^J^"^*

•• 5. 6. not

V.

90 The iiremissible sin.

Tiir.vT. again ofirafcr and the Spin't, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
'— God. For that ivhich is born oftliejiesh^ isjlesh; and that n-hieJi

is horn of the Spirit, is Spirit. Likewise in the same place;
John 6, Except j/e eat the Jlesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Mood,
V. y^ shall not have life in you.

2(). That to be baptized and to receive tlie Eucharist is a

little thinu;, unless a man improve in deeds and works.

1 Cor. 9, In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; Knoxo ye not,

not \ ''"'' ^^^^y ivhich rim in a race, run indeed all, hut one receiveth the

palm ? So run, that ye may obtain : and they indeed, that they

may obtain a corruptible croicn, hut xce an incorruptible. In the

]\lat. 3, Gospel according to Matthew; Every tree which brinyetlt not

Y ■ forth good fruit, shall he hewn dotvn, and cast into the fire.

aiat. 7, Likewise in the same place; Many will say to Me in that

not V ' ^^^y^ Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name, and in

Tliy Name have cast out devils, and in Thy Name have done

many wonderful icorks ? And then tcill I say unto them, I never

kneiv you ; depart from Me, ye that tvork iniquity. Likewise in

Mat. 5, the same place ; Let your light shine before men, so that they

V. may see your good tcorks, and glorify your Father which is in

Phil. 2, Jicaven. Likewise Paul to the Philippians ; Shine as lights in

V. the world.

27. That the baptized also loses the grace he has been
admitted to, except he keep innocency.
John 5. i^ ^YyQ Gospel according to John ; Behold thou art made

14. not . 7

V. whole ; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Likewise
1 Cor. 3, in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; Know ye not,
not \. f^"^^ y^ «^^ ^''^ temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth

in you ? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
'iChron. destroy. Concerning the same thing in Chronicles; Your God
not V. ^* ^^'^^^' y^'^i ichile ye be with Him; if ye shall forsake Him, He

shall forsake you.
Vid. 28, That remission cannot be to him in the Church, whose

J realise • • • r^ ^

iv. $. 2. fiin IS aganist God.

Mat. 12, In the Gospel according to Matthew; He who speaketh a
32. not j^,^;.^; against the Son of Man, it shall he foi-given him ; hit lie
who speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not he forgiven him,
MAxV^,neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Likewise
not \\ according to Mark ; All sins shall he forgiven unto the so7is of

Th6 world's hatred of the Christian Name predicted. 91

7nen, and blasphemies; hut he that shall llasphcme ac/ainst the
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, but he shall be charge-
able of eternal sin. Concerning this same thing in the first
of Kings ; If one man he guilty of offence against another. \ Sam.
they shall intreat the Lord for him ; hut if a man sin against'^ ''^^-j
God, who shall intreat for him ?

29. Concerning the hatred of the Christian Name, it was
before prophesied.

In the Gospel according to Luke; And ye shall he /if/^cY/Luke2l,
of all men, for My Name''s sake. Likewise according to John ; y^'
If the world hate you, knoiv ye that it hated Me first ; if ye John 15,
were of the world, the ivorld ivould love what is its oivn ,- hut norv. '
because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of
the world, therefore the ivorld haicth you. Remember the
word that I said unto you ; the servant is not greater than
his Lord ; if they have jiersecuted Me, they will also persecute
you.

30. What a man has vowed to God, he must pay quickly.

In Solomon ; According as thou hast voiced a vow to God, Eccles.
make no delay to p)(iy it- Conceraing this same thing in ^
Deuteronomy; But if thou shalt voio a vow unto the Lord Deut.
thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it; for the Lord thy ^^ ^^^
God enquiring shall seek it of thee, and it shall be a sin; V.
tliese tilings which shall go out of thy lips thou shalt perform;
and thou shalt fulfil the gift whicli thou hast spoken nith thy
mouth. Concerning this same thing in the forty-ninth
Psalm ; Sacrijice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy Ps. 49,
vows unto the Most Highest. Call upon Me in the day o/l.'^^'^Y'
trouble; and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. V.
Concerning this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles;
WJiy hath Satan filled thine heart, that thou shouldest lie Acts5,3.
against the Holy Ghost Y When the land was sold, it was in " "°' *
iJiine own possession ; thou hast not lied unto men, but unto
God. Likewise in Jeremiah; Cursed is he, who doelh the Jer. 48,
tvorks of the Lord negligently. y'

31. That he who believeth not, is already judged.

In the Gospel according to John; He that belie reth not, /.<fjohn 3,
already judged ; because he hath not believed in the Name o/"^^| ]^'
the only Son of God. And this is ike judgment, that light is
co)ne into the world, and men loved darkness rather tlian

92 The benefit of Virginity.

Tnr AT. light. Concerning tliis same thing in the first Psahn;
^^*' Therefore the ujigodly shall not arise up in judgment, neither
not V* **'w^'* "* ^^'^ cotmcil of the righteous.

32. On the benefit of vii-ginity and continency.

Gen. 3, In Genesis; Multiplying I trill rmdtiply thy sorrow and

V. f^'ll groans; and in sorrow thou shall bring forth children,

and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over

thee. Concerning this same thing, in the Gospel according

Mat. 19, to Matthew; All men receive not the saying, but they to

jj^l^, ■ irhom if is given; for tliere are eunuchs, ivhich n-ere born

from their mother^s womb; and there are eunuchs, which are

cmnpelled of men; and there are eunuchs^ which have made

themselves eunuchs, for the kingdom of heaven^s sake. He

that is able to receive it, let him receive it. Likewise ac-

Luke 20, cording to Luke; The children of this world beget and are

not~\^ begotten ; but they which have been accounted worthy of that

world, and of the resurrection from the dead, neither marry

nor are given in marriage. For neither shall they begin to

die, for they are equal unto the Angels of God, being the

children of resurrection. But that the dead are raised,

Moses sheweth, when he saith in the bush. The Lord the God

of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;

He is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live

unto Him. Likewise in the first Epistle of Paul to the

1 Cor. 7, Corinthians; It is good for a man not to touch a woman;

not V. ^"^ because of fornication let every man have his wife, and

every woman have her husband. Let the husband render

that which is due unto the wife; and likewise the wife unto

the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but

the husband. And likewise the husband hath not jnmer

of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one another,

except it be with consent, for a time, that ye may have

leisure for prayer; and return thither again, that Satan

tempt you not for your incontinency . I speak this by

permission, not of commandment; for I would that all men

were even as I ; but every man hath his proper gift of God,

one after this manner, and another after that. Likewise in

1 Tor. 7, the same place; He that is unmarried, carelh for those

norv.^" ''""//« thai are of the Lord, how he may please God. But he

that hath runtractcd marriage, careth for those things that

The Christian must not live a Gentile life. 93

are of this world, how he may please his icife; so also
the woman and the unmarried virgin careth for those things
which are of the Lord, that she mag he holg both in body and
in spirit; but she that is married, careth for those things
which are of this world, how she tnag please her husband.
Likewise in Exodus; When the Lord had commanded Moses Ex. 19,
to sand if g the people against the third, dag, he sancti/ied\f^^°^
them, and added; Be ye ready; for three days ye shall not
come unto your wives. Likewise in the first Book of Kings;
And the Priest answered David, and said, There are no 1 Sam.
common loaves in mine hand, save hallowed loaf; if the ^^^\r
young men have been kept font women, theg shall eat.
Likewise in Revelation; TJtese are theg which have wo<Rev. 14,
defiled themselves with ivomen, for theg continued, virgins; ■"°'*^'
these are theg which folloiu the Lamb, whithersoever He
goeth.

33. That the Father judgeth nothing, but the Son : and
tliat the Father is not honoured by him, by wliom the Son is
not honoured.

In the Gospel according to John; Tlie Father judgeth i^x^xib,

nothinq, but hath qiven all judgment nnto the Son; that all'^^-'^^'
•'^ r 7 notV.

men mag honour the Son, even as theg honour the Father.

He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father

which hath sent Him. Likewise in the seventy-first Psalm;

Give the King Thg judgment, O God, and Thg righteousttess Ps. 71,

unto the King's Son; to judge Thy people in I'ighteousness.^ ^^^h

Likewise in Genesis; And the Lord rained upon Sodom Gen. ]9,

and Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven, from ///e?^**"°'-

Lord\

34. That the believer ought not to live like the Gentile.

In Jeremiah; Tlius saith the Lord, According to the wag ofjer. 10,
the Gentiles walk ge not. Concerning this same thing, ^-""'V-
that each ought to sej)arate himself from the heathen, that he
be not companion of their sin, and become partaker of their
plague, in the Revelation ; And I heard another voice from jxev. 18,
heaven, saging, Come out of her. My people, that thou be nof^—^-
partaker of her sins, and that thou be not smitten with her

» The same interpretation is adopted (Cat. x. 6.) Athanasius, (de Synod. 27.)
by Justin, ( rrypli.56. ) Ircnanis, (llair. Hilary, (de Synod. 38.) Cyril A. (in
iii. 6.) TeituUian, (in Prax. 13.) Cyril, Joann.lib. i. 2.) &c.

94 Women not to hejlne in their dress.

\n\Ai.j>hujues. For her sins hare reached even unto heaven, and

1- (lie Lord God hath reineiitbered her i/iiqaiiies. TJiereJ'ore

He hath rendered unto her double, and in the cup which she
hath n/iuf/li'd, dauhle is reniin</lcd nnto her ; and how vntch
she hath ylorijied herself, and possessed pleasures, so much
both torment and sorrow is given her; for she saith in Iter
heart, I am a queen, and cannot be a uidow, and shall see no
sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one hour, death,
mourning, and famine, and she shall be burned up with fire ;
for strong is the Lord Cod, who shall judge her. And the
kings of the earth shall lament and bewail themselves for her,
icho have committed fornication with her, and walked in

Is. 52, delicacies. Likewise in Isaiah; Go out of the midst of them,

■\-'"° ye who hear the vessels of the Lord.

35. That God is to this end patient, that we may repent us
of our sin, and be reformed.

Ecclus. In Solomon in Ecclesiasticus ; Say not, L have sinned,

5,4. not^^^ what harm hath happened unto me. For the Most High

Rom. 2, i^ ^ patient repayer. Likewise Paul to the Romans ; Or

*— •^; despisesl thou the riches of His goodness, and forbearance,

and longsnjfering, not knowing that the goodness of God

leadeth thee to repentance ? But after thy hardness and

impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath in the

day oficrath, and of revelation of the righteous judgment of

God, who icill render to every man according to his deeds.

36. That a woman ought not to be secularly adorned.

Rev. 17, I" ^^^6 Revelation ; And there came one of the seven

1—4^ Angels having vials, and approached unto me, saying. Come,

I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore, that

silteth upon many waters, with icltovi the kings of the earth

have committed fornication. And L saw a woman sit upon a

beast ; and that woman was arrayed in a purple and scarlet

robe, and was decked with gold and precious stones and

pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of curses, and

^filthiness, and fornication of the whole earth. Likewise to

1 Tim. 2, Timothy ; Let your women adorn themselves with sJiame-

9-10. facedness and modesty ; not with broidered hair, nor gold,

nor pearls, or costly array; but, which becomcth womoi

I Pet. 2,V''<fi'>^xi"g Parity, with a good conversation. Concerning this

3. 4. not f^aiuc thing, in the Epistle of Peter to them in Pontus ; Let

Christians not to boast of their works. 95

there be in a woman not the outward adorning, of ornaments,

or gold, or apparel ; but the adorning of the heart. Likewise

in Genesis ; Thamar covered herself icifh a cloak, and (^en. 38,

adorned herself; and tcJien Judas beheld her, it seemed ^qIy'^

to him that she was an harlot.

37. That the believer should not incur punishment for other
offences besides his Name.

In the Epistle of Peter to them in Pontus ; Neither let any i Pet. i,
of you suffer as a thief or a murderer, or as an evil-doer, or a not v.
busjj-bodg in other men's matters ; 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 Romans ; Wilt thou not be Rom.
afraid of the power ? do thai ivhich is good, and thou shall ^^^ y
have praise of the same.

39. That the example of living is given to us in Christ.

In the Epistle of Peter to them in Pontus; For Christ \ Pet. 2,
suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follo?c'~.~
His steps; who did no sin, neither teas guile found in His
mouth ; tvho when He was reviled, reviled not again ; when
He suffered, He threatened not ; but yielded Himself up to the
unrighteous judge. Likewise Paul to the Philippians ; JfV/o Phil. 2,
being placed in the figure^' of God, thought it not robbery that not v.*
he should be equal with God, but enqytied Himself, taking the
form of a. servant, being made after the likeness of a man, and
found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself, becoming
obedient even unto death, and the death of the Cross. Where-
fore God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a
Name, that it should be above every name ; that in the Name
of Jesus every knee should be bended, of things in heaven, of
things in earth, and of things under the earth ; and that
every tongue should confess, that the Lord Jesus Christ is in
glory of God the Father. Concerning this same thing in the
Gospel according to John ; If I your Master and Lord have John l.'J,
ivashed your feet, ye ought also to wash the feet of others.
For I have given you an example, that as I have done,
ye also shall do to others.

40. That works must not be done boaslingly or with
noise.

l> figure, injigurd; in effigie. Teitull. adv. Marc. v. 20 ;— in forma Vulg.

96 According to our faith, so is our power.

'irirAT. In the Gospel acconlinp; to Mattliew ; Let not thy left
..JJJl h(i7id knoic ichat thy right hand doeth ; that thine alms may
3. 4. not '^^' *^^ secret; a?i'l thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall
^ ■ reward thee openly. Likewise in the same place ; When
2,no"t v^Ao?^ doest alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the

hypocrites do, in the streets and in the Synagogues, that they

may have glory of mcJi. Verily I say unto you, they have

fulfilled their reward.

4\. That we must not speak idly and jeeringly.
Kph. 5, ^" the Epistle of Paul to the Ephcsians; Foolish talking
4. not \'.(i)icl jeering, which are Jiot convenie7it, let them 7wt he even

named among you.

42. That faith altogether pi-ofits, and that we are able to

do, in proportion as Ave believe.
Gen 15 ^^ Genesis ; And Abraham believed God, and it teas
6. not y.coutited to him for righteousness. Likewise in Isaiah; And
*t V if y^ believe not, neither shall ye understand. Likewise in
jMat. i4,the Gospel according to Matthew; O thou of little faith,
°^^ ' wherefoi'e didst thou doubt? Likewise in the same place;
Mat. \i,Ifye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto
V. Ihis mountain, be thou removed from hence thither, and it

shall be removed ; and nothing shall be impossible mito you.
Markil, Likewise according to Mark ; All things, whatsoever ye pray
V. "" f^^ ^^^^ desire, believe that ye shall receive them, and ye shall
Mark 9, have them. Likewise in the same place ; All things are
22. not possible to him that believeth. In Habakkuk; But the Just
Hab. 2. shall live by My faith. Likewise in Daniel; Ananias, Aza-
^[j"°* 'rias, Misael, believing in God, were delivered from the flame

Treat, of firC.

Dan. 3. 4'3. That he can immediately obtain, who truly believes.
Acts 8, In the Acts of the Apostles ; See, here is uater; what doth
not \\ hinder me to be baptized? Then said Philip, If thou

believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.

44. That when the faithful have a matter against one

another, they ought not to make use of a Gentile judge.
I (or. fi, I" the first Epistle of Paul to tlie Corinthians; Dare any
L 2. "oioy^/oM, having a matter against another, to go to law before

the unjust, and ?iot before the sai?its ? Do ye 7iot knoic, that
ijor. ti,///c saints shall judge this world ? And again ; Noiv indeed
noT\'. ^''*'''*^ **■ '^^^er/y a fault among you, because ye have judgments

By sinning we lose the presence of God. 97

ane with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? or
why he ye not rather defrauded ? But ye do wrong^ and
defraud, and that your brethren ; know ye not, that the
unrighteous sha/l not inherit the kingdom of God ?

45. That hope is of things futui'e ; and that therefore the
believer in those things which are promised, ought to be
patient.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans ; We are saved hy Rom. 8,
hope; hut hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man^otY.'
seefh, uhy doth he hope for ? But if we hope for thai ue see
not, then do we with patience wait for it.

46. That a woman ought to be silent in the Church.

In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; Let women i Cor.
keep silence in the Church. But if any wish to learn ««2/35'not
tiling, let them ask their husbands at home. Likewise to V.
Timothy; Let the icoman learn in silence, with all subjection. iTim.2,
But L suffer not a iconian to teach, nor to be set over tlie ^^ '
man, but to be in silence. For Adam rcas first formed, then
Eve. And Adatn was not deceived, but the woman teas
deceived.

47. That it comes from our sin and deservings that we
are troubled, and do not feel the help of God in all things.

In Osee ; Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Lsrael, Hosea4,
because the L^ord hath judgment against the inhahitanis of^^x. V.
the land, because there is neither mercy, nor truth, nor
knouledge of God in the land. But cursing, and lying, and
killing, and stealing, and adultery is spread abroad over the
land, and they mingle blood unto blood. Therefore the land
shall mourn., uith all its inhabitants, with the beasts of the field,
with the creeping things of the earth, with the fou-ls of
heaven ; and the fishes of the sea shall fail, so that no man
may judge, no man convince. Concerning this same thing in
Isaiah; Is the I^orcVs hand powerless, that it cannot save, oris. 59,
hath He weighed down His ear, that He cannot hear ? But^~y
your iniquities separate between you and God ; and because
of your sins He hath turned His face from you, that He may
not jnty. For your hands are de/iled with blood, and your
fingers with sins ; and your lips have spoken uickedness, and
your tongue meditates unrighteousness: no man speaketh
truth, neither is there true judgment ; they trust in vanity,

H

})H Tlie Faith not to he sold to the unworthy.

'YuwT. (Hid ftpeak empliuesa : who conceive sorroiv, and hrinfj forth
—ilii- uickedness. Likewise in Sophonias ; In failing let it fail
2^. V.no\ ff'om the face of ike earth, saith the Lord; let man and
^ ■ cattle f<(il, let the foula of the heaven fail, and the fishes of

the sea ; and I will take away the wicked from the face of

the earth.

48. That we must not take usury.

iv. 14, In the fourteenth Psahn j He that hath not given his
not V ^noney to usury, nor taken rewards concerning the innocent ;

whoso doeth these things, shall never be moved. Likewise in
Ezek.is.Ezekiel; But the man who will be righteous, shall not
y ■ ^^°^ oppress any, and shall restore the 2^lcdge 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
Deut. money to usury. Likewise in Deuteronomy ; Thou shall not
23 19. j^j^^i fQ ^j^y j)rother, with usury of money, and with usury of

victuals.

49. That even enemies are to be beloved.

In the Gospel according to Luke ; If ye love them which
love you, what thank have ye ? For sinners also love those
Mat. 5, that love them. Likewise according to Matthew; Love your
not V^ c»e«'/e.'?, and pray for them which jjersecute you; that ye
may be the children of your Father which is in heaven, who
maketh His sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sendeth
rain on t lie just and the unjust.

50. That the Sacrament of Faith is not to be pro-
faned.

l'rov.23. In Solomon in the Proverbs ; Say not any thing in the ears

' ■ ""' 'of a fool; lest uhen he hath heard, he mock thy wise words.

Mat. 7, Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew ; Give not that

'which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before

swine, lest perchance they trample them 7vith their feet, and

turn again and crush you.

51. That none ought to extol himself in his work.

Ecclus. In Solomon in Ecclesiasticus ; Boast not thyself in doing
x' ' thy business. Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke;
LxAiiM, Which of you having a servant ploughing, or a feeder of
noTv. cattle, when he conieih from the field saith to him at once.
Pass on, sit down? But he saith to him. Make ready
n^herewith I may sup, and gird thyself and serve me, till 1

Faith is placed itt free choice. 99

eat and drink; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink.
Doth he thank that servant, because lie did the things that
were commanded him ? So therefore ye also, when ye shall
have done those things ivhich tvere commanded you, say, li^e
are mnprojitable servants ; we have done that ivhich ne had
to do.

52. That the liberty of believing or not believing is placed
in free choice.

In Deuteronomy ; Behold, I have set before thy face life l>eut.
and death, good and evil; choose thee life, that thou mayest'^^^^^i'^
live. Likewise in Isaiah ; And if ye be ivilling and hear Me, is, i . 19-
ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse, and hear^^ '
Me not, the sword shall consume you : for the moutli of the
Lord hath spoken these things. Likewise in the Gospel
according to Luke ; The kingdom of God is within you. i,ukei7,

53. That God's secrets cannot be seen through, and there- -l- ^•
fore our faith ought to be simple.

In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; We see i Cor.

13 1"'

now through the glass in ajigure, but then with face to face, not \~.

Now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as also I

am known. Likewise in Solomon in Wisdom ; And in .?/?«- Wisd.i,

IV.
jylicity of heart seek ye Him. Likewise in the same; //<ep,ov.io,

that icalketh with simplicity, walketh with faith. Likewise ^"o'V.

77- 7 7-77 7 KCCluS.

m the same; Seek not the tinngs that are higher than tlion,2i,2\.
and search not out the things that are stronger than thou. "P^ ^ •
Likewise in Solomon; Be not righteous over-much, and be 7, 17.
7wt a reasoner more than is needful. Likewise in Isaiah ; j°\,g'
Woe unto them that have deep counsel in themselves. Like- 15. not
wise in Maccabees; Daniel, in his simplicity, was delivered ^^i^^ 2,
from the mouth of lions. Likewise in the Epistle of Paul to ^p. not
the Romans ; O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and H,',ni.
knowledge of God! How are His judgments past finding }J^'^^—
out, and how unsearchable His tvays I For who hath known y.
the mind of the Lord ? or who hath been His counsellor ?
Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed
unto him ? For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are.
all things; to Him he glory for evermore. Likewise to
Timothy; But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, know- 2Tim.2,
ing that they do gender strifes. But it behoves not the ffer-^^;^\^;
vant of God to strive, but to be gentle unto all men.

h2

100 JVo7}e, even of Christians, is free from the filth of sin.

1 II » AT. 54 That none is without filth and without sin.

, , ,' In Job ; For who is clean from -filth ? Not one ; even

Job 14, ' .' i' . . . ,

4.5. noi thoNffh his life be of one day in the earth. Likewise in the
Pg r,o_ fiftietli Psahn ; Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in
r^'.] 5. sins did nnj mother conceive me. Likewise in the Epistle of
i.iohni, John; If we say that we have no sin, tie deceive ourselves,
8. noiV. fifni iJiQ truth is not in us.

55. Tliat we must please, not men, but God.

Ps. 52, In the fifty-second Psalm ; TJiey that please men are con-
not V. founded ; because God hath made them nought. Likewise in
Gal. 1, the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians; If I u:ould please men,
y' "° / should not be the servant of Christ.

56. That none of those things that are done is unseen by
God.

Prov.15, In the Wisdom of Solomon ; The eyes of the Lord in every
^•^°^^- place behold the good and the evil. Likewise in Jeremiah ;
Jer. 23, / n7Ji u God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man be
notV hidden in secret places, .<ihall not I therefore see liim? Do
not Infill heaven and earth, saith the Lord'? Likewise in the

1 Sam. fi^'st of Kings; Man looketh on the face, but God in the

16,7. heart. Likewise in the Revelation; And all the Churches

not V. '

Rev. 2, shall know, that I am Searcher of the reins and heart ; and

y "°^ / will give unto every one of you, according to his works.

Likewise in the eighteenth Psalm ; JVho understandeth

ri*9 1i3 ^''^'^^'^^ Cleanse Thou me, O Lord, from my secret faults.

V. Likewise in the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians;

2 Cor. 5, JVe must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that
|0. not ^j.^,^.yy Qf/f, jjffiy ^^^j,. //^^ tliiugs uliich bcloruj to his body,

according to that he halh done, whether good or bad.

57. That the believer is made better, and reserved.

Ps. 117, In the hundred and seventeenth Psalm ; The Lord amend-
18. not "'i' ^'^'^^' u/nended me, and He hath not given me over unto
V. death. Likewise in the eighty-eighth Psalm; / will visit
[B9.]32. 1 heir transgressions with the rod, and their sins with scourges.
33. not /]iff ]\Ju Jovingkindness will I not disperse from them.
I\ial 3 Likewise in Malachi ; A)id He shall sit refining and purify-
3. noi V. iiig^ fj,^ y^)i([ fiiifi silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi.
Mat. 5, Likewise in the Gospel; IVwu shall not go out thence, till
2b. not (/if,„ pfiy f/i^ uttermost farthing.

5«. That none ought to be made sad by death, since in

None oucjht to sorrow at death. 101

living there is trouble and peril, in dying peace and certainty
of resurrection.

In Genesis ; Tlien the Lord said unto Adam, Because thou Gen. 3,
hast hearkened unio the voice of thy tvife, and hast eaten o/^'^T'y^'
that tree, of which alone I commanded thee, that thou
shonldest not eat of it ; cursed shall he the ground in all thy
ivorks ; in sorrow and groaning shalt thou eat of it all the
days of thy life ; thorns and thistles shall it cast out to thee,
and thou shalt eat the herh of the field. In the siceat of thy
face shalt thou eat thy bread, until thou return, unto the
ground, of which also thou wast taken ; for earth thou art,
and into earth shalt thou go. Likewise in the same place ;
And Enoch pleased God, and was not found afterward ; Gen. 5,
because God translated him. And in Isaiah; All flesh e.Sy^"°°*
grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. Thels.i0,6.
grass hath withered, and the flower hath faded; but the
word of the Lord abideth for ever. In Ezekiel; They say, T^^ek. 37,
our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we have expired. n^\. '
TJierefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold,
I open your graves, and ivill bring you forth from your
graves, and will bring you into the land of Israel. And I
will put My Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will
place you in your own land, and ye shall knoio that I the
Lord have spoken, and will i^erform it, saith the Lord.
Likewise in the Wisdom of Solomon ; He was taken away, Wisd. 4,
lest that wickedness should alter his understanding ; for his^J"^^^^'
soul teas pleasing to God. Likewise in the eighty-third
Psalm; How amiable are thy tabernacles, O God of hosts ; Ps. 83,
my soul longeth and hasteth for the courts of God. And in2_noty^
the Epistle of Paul to the Thcssalonians ; But we would not i Thess.
have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them tchich ^^'^^ y *
are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope. For if ice believe that Jesus died and rose again, so
also them tchich are asleep in Jesus will God bring icith
Him. Likewise in the First to the Corinthians; Thou fool, \ Cor.
that which thou so west is not quickened, except first it die.^^-^^-

^ " not V .

And again ; Star differcth from star in glory ; so also the j c„r.
resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it 15,53—
riseth without corruption ; it is sown in dishonour, it riseth v."
in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it riseth in power ; it is
sown an animal body, it riseth a spiritual. And again ;

24

. not

V.

T.u

ke2,

29,

. 30.

uo

t V.

102 Against idolatry.

JiirAT. For this corruptible mast put on incorruption, and this

}"• mortal put on immortality. But when this corruptible

ib.ai— shall hare put on iucorruption, and this mortal shall

'1,^ "°' hare put on immortality; then come to pass the itord

uhich is icritten, Death is su-aUoued up in siriring. O

deaths where is thy sting? O death., where is tliy striving?

John 17, Likewise in the Gospel according to John; Father, I willy

that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be tcith Me, and

may see My glory, which Thou hast given Me before the

foundation of the world. Likewise according to Luke; Lord,

now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to

Thy word ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Likewise

John 14, according to John ; If ye loved Me, ye woidd rejoice, because

y ■ °° I go unto the Father ; for the Father is greater than I.

59. Concerning the idols, which the Gentiles think gods.

Wisd. In the Wisdom of Solomon ; All the idols of the heathen

17.' not ^hcy counted gods ; tchich neither have the use of eyes to see,

^ • nor nostrils to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers in

their hands to handle; but their feet also are slow to walk.

For man wade them, and he who hath borrowed a spirit, he

fashioned tliem. But no man trill be able to make a god

like unto himself; for being mortal, he worketh a dead thing

with wicked hands. But he himself is better 1ha)i they whom

he worshippeih; since he indeed lived, but they never. Con-

\\i«.i. cerning this same thing; Neither by considering the works,

not V\ '^'^^ ''"'.'/ ftcknowledge who was the work-master, but deemed

either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars,

or the abundant icater, or the sun, or the moon, to be gods

uhich govern the world ; because of whose beauty if they

thought this, let them know hoio far more beautiful the Lord

is than these; or if they were astonished at their virtues and

pou-ers, let them understand by thou, that He who made

these mighty tilings, is mightier titan they. Likewise in the

I's. 134, hundred and thirty-fourth Psalm ; The idols of the heathen

16—18. '^''^ silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They

noW. have a mouth, and speak not; eyes have they, and they

see not ; they have ears, and hear not ; for neither is there

breath in their mouth. Let those that make them become

like unto them ; and all that trust in them. Likewise in the

[96,] 5. nintay-fifth Psalm ; All the god's of the nations are dmnons,

noiv. hut Ihc Lord made the heavens. Likewise in Exodus ; Ye

The lust of food and ofyaln to he avoided. 1():3

shall not make to you gods of silver nor of gold. And again ; Exod.
TJiou shall not make unto thee an idol, nor the likeness of'^^l y^'
any thing. Ex.20,4.

60. That too great lust of food is not to be sought after, "°
In Isaiah; Let us eat and drinh^ for to-morrow we shall die ; is. 22.

this iniquity shall not he remitted unto you, even until ye die. ^[ y '
Likewise in Exodus; And the people sat doxvn to eat and drink, i.x.32,6.
and they ro.<;e up to play. Paul in the first to the Corinthians;""^ ^ '
Meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat shall we] Cor. 8.
abound; neither if we eat not shall ice tvant. And again: When ^^^^^^ '

1 Cor.

ye come together to eat^ tarry one for another. If any man 1 1 , 33.
hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto judg- °°' '
ment. Likewise to the Romans; The kingdom of God. is notv^om.
meat and drink, hut righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy ^i^[\ ,
Ghost. In the Gospel according to John; I have meat, w]iich}o\\n 4,
ye knoic not. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, j^^' y '
and to finish His work.

61. That the lust of gain, and money, are not to be sought
after.

In Ecclesiasticus in Solomon; He that loveth silver shall not ^-cc^^^-

5 U).

be satisfied with silver. Likewise in Proverbs; He that holdeth^^x y,
com, is cursed among the people; hut blessing is iqion the head o/'Prov.ll,
him that communicateth it. Likewise in Isaiah; Woe unto them ~\j ^
that join house to house, and lay field to field, that they may take is. 5, 8.
aicay something from their neighbour. JVHl ye divell alone upon
the earth? Likewise in Sophonias; They shall build houses, Z'j,]). i,
and shall not inhabit them ; and they shall plant vineyards, and^'^'^ y '
shall not drink the wine thereof, because the day of the Lord is
near. Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke ; For what LuUe P.
doth a man profit, to gain the whole icorld, but lose his own self? y "
And again; But the Lord said unto him. Thou fool, this night \.Mke\2,
thy soul is required of thee ; then who.se shall those things be, ". • '""^
lohicli thou hast provided? And again; Remember, that thou zwi,„kei6,
thy life-time receivedst good things, and likewise Lazarus evil'-^^- "°'
things. But now lie is petitioned, and thou art tormented. And
in the Acts of the Apostles; But Peter said unto him, Silver AnXiZfi.
and gold have I none ; but that which I have, give I thee ; in the
Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and wcdk. And he
took him by the right liand, and lifted him up. Likewise in the
first to Timothy; We brought nothing into this icorld, andl'^"'^^-'^<

not \ .

104 Marriage not to be made with Geutiles.

Theat. neither can tee carry any thing out. Having therefore provision

■ '— and raiment, let us be hereicith content. But they that tcill

be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many and
hurtful lusts, ichich ptlunge man into perdition and into destruction.
For covetousness is the root of all evils, xvhich while some covet
after they have made shipwreck from the faith, and pierced them-
selves through with many sorroivs.

62. That marriage is not to be made with Gentiles.

Tobit4, In Tobias; Take a wife of the seed of thy parents, and take

y" °° not a strange xooman, which is not of thy pai'ents' tribe. Likewise

Gen.24.in Genesis; Abraham sends his servant, to take of his seed

1 Es. 8 Rebekah, unto his son Isaac. Likewise in Esdras ; God was

iV ''^^^ satisfied, ichen the Jeics ivere laid rcaste, except they relin-

ipiished the strange wives, together with the children also ichom

they had begotten of them. Likewise in the first Epistle of

1 Cor. 7, Paul to the Corinthians; The wife is hound, so long as her

not V. husband liveth ; but if he be dead, she is at liberty to be married

to ichoin she icill ; only in the Lord. But she will he happier if

1 Cor. 6, site so abide. And again ; Know ye not, that your bodies are the

not V. members of Christ? Shall I take the members of Christ, and

make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Or knoiv ye

not, that he loho is joined to an harlot, is one body ? For they

two shall be one flesh. But he that hath joined himself unto the

Lord, is one spirit. Likewise in the second to the Corin-

2Cor.6. thians; Be not yoked together icith unbelievers; for ichat felloiv-

^r ' "" ship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? or lohat communion

hath light with darkness ? Likewise concerning Solomon in the

1 Kings third of Kings ; And strange wives turned away his heart after

iJtV. their gods.

63. That the sin of fornication is a grievous sin.

lCor.6, Paul to the Corinthians; Every sin that a man docth is

20 not '^'-^^fhout the body ; hut he that committetli fornication, sinneth

V. against his oicn body. Ye are not your own ; for ye are bought

with a great j)rice. Glorify and carry God in your body.

64. What are those carnal things w hich beget death ; and
what those spiritual, which lead to life.

Gal. 5. Paul to the Galatians; The flesh lusteth against the Spirit,

no7\'. ^'^'^ '^'^ Spij'it against the flesh. For these are contrary the one

to the other, so that ye do not those things that ye would. But

the irnrks nf the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries, forni-

All sins put off in Baptism. 105

cations, uncleannesses, lasciviousness, idolatries, loitchcrafts, mur-
ders, xcrath, contentions, emulations, anger, provocations, hatred,
strijes, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.
Of the xohich I tell you before, that they which do such things,
shall not possess the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, greatness of mind, goodness, faith, meekness,
continence, chastity. For they that are Chrisfs have crucified
their flesh, xoith the vices and lusts.

65. That all sins are put off in Baptism.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; Neither forni- i Cor. 6,
cators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of^y'
themselves icith mankind, nor thieves, nor extortioners, nor drunk-
ards, nor revilers, nor robbers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Arid these things ye were; but ye are ivashed, but ye are sanctified,
in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our
God.

QQ. That the Discipline of God in Church precepts is to be
observed.

In Jeremiah ; And I zvill give you pastors according to Mine Jer. 3,
heart, and they shall feed sheep, feeding them loith Discipline, y ' "°
Likewise in Solomon in the Proverbs ; My Son, neglect not the Prov. 3,
Discipline of God, and faint not when thou art rebuked of Him. Ir'
For lohom God loveth He rebuketh. Likewise in the second
Psalm; Take hold on Discipline, lest perchance the Lord iePs.2,12.
angry, and ye perish from the right way : ivhcn His wrath hath "°
quickly been kindled upon you, blessed are all tliey that put their
trust in Him. Likewise in the forty-ninth Psalm ; But unto Ps. 49,
the sinner God saith, Wherefore dost thou set forth My statutes, l^^^'i^^-
and fakest My covenant in thy mouth : xchereas thou hatest V.
Discipline, and hast cast My words behind thee? Likewise in
the Wisdom of Solomon; He who casteth awa?/ Discipline, zsVVisd.s,
miserable. V.

67. That it was foretold, that they would despise whole-
some Discipline.

Paul in the second to Timothy; There will be a time, tohcn 2 Tim. 4,
they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their desirings y
shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears ; and
shall turn away their hearing from the truth, and shall be turned
2into fables.

1 06 The Church sustained, not by mans wisdom, hut hy faith.

iiii AT. 68. That we must withdraw from him who lives disorderly,

^'^' and contrary to Discipline.

2 Thcs. Paul to the Thessalonians ; Now we command you, in the

V. ' "° Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye separate yourselves from

all brethren that walk disorderly, and not after the tradition which

I's. 43, they have received of us. Likewise in the forty-ninth Psalm :

18. v. If thou saivest a thief, thou consentedst with him, and placedst thy

portion with the adulterers.

()}). That the kingdom of God is not in the wisdom of the

world, or in eloquence, hut in the faith of the Cross, and

virtuousness of conversation.

I Cor. 1, In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; Christ sent

not V. ^"^ to preach, not in wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ

should be made of none effect ; for the word of the Cross is to

them that perish foolishness ; but unto them which are saved

it is the pou-er of God. For it is written, I will destroy the

tcisdom of the wise, and I will convince the prudence of the

2>rudent. Where is the wise ? Where is the Scribe ?

Where is the dispuier of this world ? Hath not God made

foolish the wisdom of this world 9 For since in the wisdoyji

of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God

hy the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

For the Jeivs desire signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom ;

but we preach Christ crucified; nnto the Jews indeed a

stumbling block, and nnto the Gentiles foolishness ; but unto

them which are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of

\CoT.:i,God, and the wisdom of God. And again; Let no man
iQ 20 . . . ""

not V. deceive hitnself; if any man among you thinketh himself to
be wise, let him become a fool unto this world, that he may
be wise. For the wisdom of this uorld is foolishness with
God; for it is written. Thou shalt rebuke the wise in their
craftiness. And ((gain ; The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the
wise, that Ihey are foolish.

70. That we must obey Parents.

Kph. (j, In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephcsians; Children, obey

n^V l/<^'"' ^^<(''^''ils ; ff>^' f^'i^ is right. Honour thy father and thy

mother, which is the first commandment icith promise ; that

it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on

the earth.

71. Neither ought fathers to hv bitter toward their children

Wetmist not speak with heretics. 107

And ye, parents, provoke not your children to math, Kpfi. 6,
bat nourish them in Discipline, and in, the admonition of ""'*^-
the Lord.

72. That slaves when they have believed, ought the more
to obey their masters according to the flesh.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians ; Servants, he Kph. 6,
obedient to your masters according to thejiesh, with fear and'h^' "°'
trembling, and in singleness of your heart, as to Christ; not
loilh eye-service, as pleasing men, but as the servants of
God.

73. That masters also ought to become more mild.

Likewise in the same place ; And ye, masters, do the same Eph. 6,
things unto them, forbearing anger ; knowing that both your^'^°^^'
and their Master is in heaven ; and there is no election of
2)ersons in Him.

74. That all widows who are approved are to be honom-ed.

In the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy ; Honour widotm iTim. 5.
that are ividoivs indeed. But the widow that liveth in y ^" ""^^
pleasure, is dead while she liveth. And again; But thenim.5,
younger widows refuse ; for when they have become wanton in ^ ^' ^ •
Christ, they ivish to marry ; having judgment, because they
have cast off the first faith.

lb. That each person should chiefly take care of them who
belong to himself, and especially of believers.

In the first to Timothy ; But if any have not care for his\ I'im.
own, and specially for those of his own house, he denieth the y^
faith, and is worse them an infidel. Concerning this same
thing in Isaiah; If thou seest the naked, clothe him, andls.sa,
despise not the household of thine own seed. Concerning
which household is said in the Gospel ; If they have calledM^t. lo,
the Master of the House Beelzebub, how much more shall they\r' "°
ccdl them of His Household ?

76. That one who is older is not to be rashly accused.

In the first to Timothy ; Against an elder, receive not i Tim.

5 19

an accusation. j^^^ y^

77. That he who sins is to be publicly relinked.

In the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy ; Them that sin i ri,„.

rebuke before all, that the others also may fear. ^' ^O-

• . not \ .

78. That we must not speak with heretics.

To Titus ; A man that is an heretic after the first or second l^^)^'l ^ '

not V.

108 Continuance in true doctrine no excuse for schism.

Tut AT. admonition reject; knoicing that such an one is subverted^
'—and sinncth, and is condemned h\j himself. Concerning this

1 John siinie tiling in tlie Epistle of John ; They uent out from us,
I'Jy but they nere not of us ; for if they had been of us, they uould

no doubt have continued nith us. Likewise in the second to

2 Tim. Timothy ; Their word creepcth as doth a canker.

y ' 79. That innocency asks with confidence, and obtains.

1 Jolin In the Epistle of John ; //' our heart rebuke us not,

not\'^^ ^^'^' ^'^"'^ confidence toward God, and tchatsoever toe ask,

wc shall receive of Him. Likewise in the Gospel according
Mat. 5. to Matthew ; Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
«.not \ . ^.^^^ Likewise in the twenty-third Psalm ; Who shall ascend
[24,] 3. into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy
4. not \ -J, lace y The innocent in hands, and pnre in heart.

80. That the devil has no liberty against man, unless God

permit.

John 19, In the Gospel according to John; Jesus said, TJiou

y ' °" couldest have no pouer against Me, except it were given thee

1 Kings/ro?« above. Likewise in the third of Kings ; A7id God

no' \^ 5//r7rc? up the Adversary against Solomon himself Likewise

Job 2, in Job ; God first permitted, and then it was allowed to the

^~'' Devil. And in the Gospel the I^ord first permitted, in saying

John 13, to Judas; That thou doest, do quickly. Likewise in Solomon

Y ■ °° in the Proverbs ; Tlie heart of the King is in the hand

Prov. of God.
21, 1. ,

V.' ' 81. That payment must quickly be made to the hireling.

Levit. In Leviticus ; The wages of thine hireling shall not sleep
19, 13. j^.iff^ ff^^^g until morning.
not \ . ....

82. That divination is not to be used.

])eut. In Deuteronomy ; Use ye not omens nor divination.

18 10 J ' ./

not V. ^^' That the comer of the head is not to be rounded.

Levit. Ye shall not round the corner of your head.

J^JJ[ 'y • 84. That the beard is not to be plucked.

Levit. Ye shall not mar the figure of your beard.

^^\V' 85. That we must rise up, when Bishop or Presbyter

comes.
Levit. Thou shall rise up before the face of the Elder, and honour
not V.' '^"' pct'-^ffn of the Presbyter.

80. That schism must not be made, even though he who

secedes remain in one faith and in the same tradition.

No one tempted beyond his strength. 109

In Ecclesiasticus in Solomon; He Unit cleavelh wood ^^dns.
shall be endangered therebj/, if the iron fall forth. Likewise lo! not
in Exodus ; Iji one Itouse shall it be eaten ; ye shall not cast^'
forth the Jlesh abroad out of the house. Likewise in the 12, 4,
hundred and thirty-second Psalm ; Behold how qood and ""^ ^'

. . . Ps, 132

hoio "pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity. Likewise in [133,] '
the Gospel accordine; to Matthew: He that is not itith il/«?, ^•°°'^-

. Mat 1 2

IS against Me ; and he that gathereth not icith Me, scattereth. 3Q |,„j '
Likewise in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; Now V.
/ beseech you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord «^'^*'"*' 10. not '
Christ, tJiat ye all speak the same thing, and that there be not V.
schisms among you. But be ye joined together in the same
mind, and in the same judgment. Likewise in tlic sixty-
seventh Psalm ; God, who maketh men to dwell tcith one Ps. 67,
7ni)id in an house. [68,] 6.

not V.

87. That the faithful ought to be simple as well as prudent.

In the Gospel according to Matthew; Be ye prudent Msit. 10,
as serpents, and simple as doves. And again; Ye are the]?'^°^
salt of the earth ; but if the salt have lost his savour, where- Mat. 5,
with shall it be salted ? It is good for nothing, but to be cast y ' "°^
forth abroad, and trodden under foot of man.

88. That a brother must not be defrauded.

In the first Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians ; That no \ xhes.
man defraud his brother in any matter ; because that God is ^; ^- "°^
tlie avenger of all these.

89. That the end of the world comes suddenly.

Saith the Apostle ; Tlie day of the Lord so shall come, as l Thes.
a thief in the night. When they shall say 2)eace and safety^ not" v.*
then shall sudden destruction come upon them. Likewise in Acts 1,7.
the Acts of the Apostles ; No man can knouj the time, or the^°
times, which the Father hath jjut in His own power.

90. That the wife is not to separate from her husband ; or
if she separate, is to remain unmarried.

Paul to the Corinthians ; And to them which are married'^ Cor. 7,
/ command, yet not I, but the Lord, that the wife be not „„[ y/
separated from her Jmsband ; but and if site depart, that she
remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband ; and that
the husband put not away his wife.

91. That every one is so much tempted, as he is able to
bear.

110 Thv Eucharist to be received with fear.

ihiAT. Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians ; T]tere hath no

111.
'- lemptatio)! taken you., hut such as is of man ; but Cod is

\o°]^ fc'^hj'ul, rrho nill not sujfer you to be tempted above that ye

not V. are able, but uili with the temptation also make a uay to

escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

92. That not whatsoever is lawful is to be done.

1 Cor. Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians ; All things
not \ . are laicful, but all thi)tffs are not expedient ; all things
are lauj'ul to me, but all things edify not.

93. It is foretold that heresies should be,

1 Cor. In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ; There

1 1, 19.

not \'. inust be also heresies, that they which are approved may

be made manifest among you.

94. That the Eucharist is to be received with fear and
honoui".

Lcvit. In Leviticus ; Whatsoever soul shall eat of the Jlesh of the

not X. saving sacrifice, which is of the Lord, his uncleanness being

upon him, that soul shall perish out of his people. Likewise

1 Cor. in \}^Q first to the Corinthians ; Whosoever shall eat the bread

11, 27.

not \. or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily ^ shall be guilty of the
body and blood of the Lord.

95. That we must company with the good, and avoid the
Prov. wicked.

not \. I^^ Solomon in the Proverbs ; Bring not the nicked into

Ecclus. the habitation of the just. Likewise in the same in Eccle-

Ecclus ' siasticus ; f^et Just men be thy guests. And again ; A fait h-

6, I6.v.y>// friend is the medicine of life, and of immortality.

Ecclus. Likewise in the same place; Be thou far from the man that

9, I'S.V.ff^ffi poicer to kill, and thou shall not have suspicion of fear.

Ecclus. Likewise in the same place ; Blessed is he that Jindeth a true

' ' 'friend, and that speaketh righteousness to the hearing ear.

Ecclus. Likewise in the same place ; Hedge thine ears with thorns,

28 24 ...

y' ■ and do not hear a wicked tongue. Likewise in the seven-

I's. 17, teenth Psalm; Ji'ith the just Thou wilt be just, and with

2fi noT ''"^ ^^^"ocent man Thou wilt he innocent; and with the

V. ]>erverse Thou wilt be perverse. Likewise in the first Epistle

1 Cor. of Paul to the Corinthians ; Evil communications corrupt

15,33. , '

not \. yood ma)iners.

9(>. That our works must be in deeds, not in words.
4^29^ In Solomon in Ecclesiasticus ; Be not hasty in thy tongue,

not V.

The grace of God should not be sold at a price. 1 1 1

and in Ihy deeds profitless and remiss. And Paul in the first

to the Corintliians ; TJie kingdom of God is not in word, hut iCor. 4,

in power. Likewise to the Romans ; Not the hearers ofthe^?' "°*

law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall iel{om.2.

justified. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew ; y"*' "°'

He who shall do, and so teach, shall be called greatest in the^^^^- ^i.

kingdom of heaven. Likewise in the same place ; Every one \',

that heareth My ttords and doeth them, I will liken him ^^^^- ^•
'' ' 24 27

unto a, wise man,ichich built his house upon a rock; the rain not V.
descended, the floods came, the winds blcir, and beat upon
that house, and it fell not ; for it was founded upon a rock.
And every one that heareth My words, and doeth litem not,
I will liken him unto a j'oolisli man, which built his house
upon the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, the
winds blew, and beat ujwn that house, and it fell; and great
was the fall of it.

97. That we must hasten to Faith, and to the attainment
of Baptism.

In Solomon in Ecclesiasticus ; Make no tarrying to turn EccIus.
to God, and put not ojfjrom day to day ; for suddenly cometli §; ^- "°*
His wrath.

98. That the catechumen ought now to sin no more.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans; Let us do evil, U7itil Rom. 3,
the good things come ; wliose damnation is just.

99. That judgment will be according to the times; either
of equity, before the Law ; or after Moses, of the law.

Paul to the Romans; As many as have sinned without law, T>om. 2,
shall perish without lufc ; and as many as have sinned in tJie^'j' "'*'
law, shall be judged also by the late.

100. That the grace of God should be given freely.

In the Acts of the Apostles; Thy money perish with thee, acisH,
because thou hast thought thai the gift of God is possessed by'^^' "°*
money. Likewise in the Gospel; Freely ye have received, ■s\^x.\q,
freelu aire. Likewise in the same place; Ve have made My^- ""' V.

•^ . ..... -P . , John 2,

Fatlier'^s house an house of merchandize. Likewise in Isaiah; le. Mat.
Ye that thirst, come ye to the ttater ; and as many as ^'^''^^oly^'
no money, come and buy, and drink without money. Like- is. 55, l.
wise in the Revelation; I am Alpha and Omega, the begin-^^ '
ninq and the end, I will give unto him that is athirst of the q. 7. not
founttr'ni of the uater of life freely. He that orercometh^ '

112 Resentment to he quenched and injuries left to God.

TutAT. nfiall possess these thi/n/s, and their inlieritance ; and I will
^^^- he his God, and he shall be My son.

101. Tliat the Holy Sj^irit hath often appeared in fire.
p,xod. In Exodus; And mount Sina was altogether on a smoke,
19, 18. i,.cause God had descended on it in Jive. Likewise in the Acts
Acts 2 o^ the Apostles; And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
2—4- as of a mighty rushing ivind, and it filed all that place, in icliieh

they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, which also settled upon each of them ; and they
were all filled icith the Holy Ghost. Likewise in whatever
sacrifices God accounted accepted, fire descended from hea-
Ex.3,2. ven, to consume the things sacrificed. In Exodus; llie
not V . jljigpi of the Lord appeared in aflame of fire out of a hush.

102. That all good men ought willingly to hear reproof.
Prov. 9, In Solomon in the Proverbs; He that rehrdwth a wicked

■ man, shall be hated by him : rebuke a wise man, and he will love
thee.

103. That we must withhold from much speaking.

Prov. In Solomon ; Jn much speaking thou shalt not avoid sin ; but
• }j^' refraining thy lips thou shalt be wise.

104. That we must not lie.

Prov.l2, In Solomon ; Lying lips are abomination to the Lord.

105. That they are oftentimes to be coiTected, who eiT in
domestic duty.

Prov. 13, In Solomon; He that spareth the rod hateth his son. And

^- ■ °° again ; Stay not from correcting a child.

Prov. 19, lOG. That when injury has been received, patience is to be

y ■ "°* kept, and vengeance to be left to God.

Lev. 19, Sny not, I trill avenge me of mine adversary ; but await the

lb. not ]^Qy(j^ fjifjf Uc jj^Qy ic tiiy Jiglp, Likcwisc in another place ;

Deut. To Me belongeth vengeance, I will recompense, saith the Lord.

^jjj Y * Likewise in Sophonias ; Wait thou upon Me, saith the Lord,

Zeph. 3, ?/t f/ie day of My rising up to the Testimony ; since My judgment

' is to the congregations of the Gentiles, that I may take hold on

kings, and pour out Mine anger upon them.
107. That we must not sjjeak detractingl}'.
Prov .20, In Solomon in the Proverbs; Love not to detract, lest thou
^^^^^y^'be taken array. Likewise iu the forty-ninth Psalm; Thou
I's. 49, sattcst and sjmkest against thy brother ; and puttedst a slander
not V. ogainst thine oxen mother's son. Likewise in the Epistle of

Tlie duty of protccthuj the ividow and orphan. 1 1.')

Paul to Titus; To speak evil of no man; and not to be'[\t\iso,
brawlers. 2.notV.

108. That we must not lay snares against a neighbour.

In Solomon in the Proverbs ; Whoso diggeth a pit for Piov.
his neighbour, shall fall therein. not V

109. That the sick are to be visited.

In Solomon in Ecclesiasticus ; Be not slow to visit the Eccius.
sickf for by these things thou shall be strengthened in love. ^'^^\'
Likewise in the Gospel ; / was sick, and ye visited Me ; /Mat. 25,
was in prison, and ye came unto Me. y ' "°'

110. That backbiters are accursed.

In Ecclesiasticus in Solomon ; The backbiter and double- Ecdus,
tongued is accursed ; for he will disturb many that have .f'
peace.

111. That the sacrifices of wicked men are not acceptable.

In the same ; The Most High approvetk not the offerings Eccius.
of the wicked. Y'.'

112. That a heavier judgment is upon those, who in this
world have had more power.

In Solomon ; The hardest judgment shall be made on wisd. 6,
them that govern ; for to the mean man mercy is granted, but '' """^ '
mighty men shall snffer torments mightily. Likewise in the
second Psalm; And now understand, 0 ye kings ; be instructed, Ps.2,io.
ye who judge the earth.

113. That the widow and the orphans ought to be pro-
tected.

In Solomon in Ecclesiasticus ; Be merciful to the orphans Ecdus.
as a father, and as a husband to their mother ; and thou shall ^'^^ y/
be as the son of the Most High, if thou shalt obey. Likewise in
Exodus ; Ye shall not afflict any widow and fatherless child. Exod.22.
But if ye shall afflict them, and they cry with the voice unto i^l~y^ '
Me, I will hear their cries, and will be lorathful in mind
against you, and will kill you with the sword ; and your
wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. Like-
wise in Isaiah; Judge for the fatherless, and justify Mejs. i.T?.
widow : and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. }^- "°^
Likewise in Job; / have kept the needy from the hand 3 oh 29,
of the powerfid, and I have helped the orphaji who had no ^^■^}^-
helper ; the widow's mouth blessed me. Likewise in the sixty- p^ g^
seventh Psalm ; Father of orphans, and Judge of tridoios. [68,] 6

[.3]. V.

1 14 The duty of making confession.

TnrAT. 114. That while any is in the flesh, he ought to make

III. n c •
Coniession.

IN. G. fi In the fifth Psalm; But in death who "jiill cojifess to
[f^''°^ Thee? Likewise in the twenty-ninth Psalm; Shall the
Ps. 29. dust make Co7\fession unto Thee ? Likewise elsewhere that
[9]. not Confession is to he made ; / had rather the repentance of the
^' mcked, than his death. Likewise in Jeremiah ; Thus saith
\\. ' the Lord ; Shall he that falleth not arise ? or he that is
[•y 'turned away, not be converted?

115. That adulation is pernicious.

Is. 3, 12. In Isaiah ; They which call you blessed lead you into error,
^°^ ' and disturb the jxiths of your feet.

116. That God is more loved by him, to whom in Baptism
more sins are forgiven.

In the Gospel accoi'ding to Luke ; To whom much is
forgiven, he loveth much ; ahd to ivhom little is forgiven, he
loveth little.

117. That we have a hard com^ at against the Devil, and
that therefore we ought to stand firmly, that we may be able
to overcome.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians ; Our wrestling is
not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and princes
of this tvorld, and of this darkness, against spiritual things
of ivickedne&s in high places. Wherefore put 07i the arms of
God, that ye may be able to withstand in the most evil day^
that nhen ye have dime all, ye m ly stand ; having your loiris
girt in the truth of the Gospel, putting on the breast-plate of
righteousness, and having your feet shod with the preparation
of the Gospel of peace ; in all filings taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
most Wicked ,- ajid take the helmet of solvation, and the sword
Verbum of thc Spirit, wliicfi is the Word of God.

118. Concerning Antichrist, that he will come in man's
nature.

In Isaiah ; This the ynan ivhich shaketh the earth, which
maketh kings disturbed, ivhich maketh the whole earth a
wilderness.

11!). That the yoke of the law was heavy, which is cast off
by us ; and the yoke of Christ is light, which is put on by us.

In the second Psalm ; Why are the nations in tumult, and

Ts.
16.
V.

14,

not

P».

1-
not

2,
-3.
V.

Christ s yoke light. 115

the people imagine vain things ? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together^ against the Lord,
and against His Christ. Let us break their haiids asunder,
and cast away their yoke from us. Likewise in the Gospel
according to Matthew; Come unto Me, all ye that Zaftow?', Mat. li,
and are heavy-laden, and I will make you to rest. Take My „ iv
yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am mild and louly of
heart, and ye shall find rest for your soids. For My yoke is
kind, and My burden is light. Likewise in the Acts of the
Apostles ; It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay Actsi5,

• 28 2Q

upo)i you no burden, than these things which are necessary ; ^^[y '
that ye should abstain from things offered to idols, and from
the shedding of blood, and from fornication. And whatsoever ^'^d-Mdit.
ye ivould not to be done to you, do ye not to others. Luke 6

120. That we are to be instant in prayers. 3i.

In the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians ; Continue in Colos. 4,
prayer, and watch in the same. Likewise in the first Psalm ; 7,' ,2
But in the law of the Lord is his pleasure, and in His laiv V.
will he meditate day and night. Likewise in Solomon ; Be Ecclus.
not hindered from praying ever, and delay not unto death to ^^[ 1^'
be justified; for the repayment of the Lord abideth for
ever"".

" S. Cyprian's agreement or dis- that in referring to " the Gospel ac-
agreement from the Vulgate, will not be cording to St. Matthew," &:c. he in-
noticed henceforth. It may be observed, variably uses " cala,"

12

TREATISE IV.

ON THE DRESS OF VIRGINS.

[Fell and Pearson consider tiiis Treatise to have been written A.D. 248,
when St. Cyprian was a priest; others assign it to his Episcopate, on
which he entered before the end of the year. It is written, after
the Author's manner, in apparent imitation of Tertullian's De Cultu
FcEminarum and de Virginibus velandis; for instance, (as Fell observes.
Adv. Jud. i. prsefat.) whereas Tertullian wrote on Baptism, St. Cyprian
wrote on the grace of God ; as Tertullian on Idolatry, so did St. Cyprian
on the Vanity of Idols. As Tertullian wrote against the Jews, on
Patience, to the Martyrs, on Prayer, on Penitence, and on the Pre-
scription of Antiquity, so St. Cyprian in turn wrote his Testimonies
against the Jews, his benefit of Patience, his exhortation to Martyrdom,
on the Lord's Prayer, on the Lapsed, and on the Unity of the Church.]

TnFAT. Discipline, the safe-guard of hope, the stay of faith, our

'— guide in the way of salvation, the stimulant and nutriment of

inward goodness, the teacher of virtue, makes us to abide in

Christ alway, and live unto God continually, and to come to

the promises of heaven, and the divine rewards. It tends to

salvation to follow her, to death to turn away and neglect her.

Ps. 2, The Holy Ghost speaks in the Psalms; Hold Discipline, lest

''^- the Lord he angry, and so ye perish from the right xcny, if His

Vs. 50, icrath he qiiichly kindled against you. And again : But nnto the

ungodly said God; Why dost thou preach My laws and takest My

covenant in thy mouth ; whereas thou hatest Discipline, and hast

\\\%A.2,cast My words hehind thee? And again we read, JVhoso

despiscth Discipline is miscrahle. From Solomon again we

Prov. 3, receive the instructions and warnings of wisdom : My son,

"• despise not thou the Discipline of the Lord, and faint not when

thou art rchuhed of Him; for ichom the Lord loveth He rehuketh.

If then God rebukes whom He loves, and tlie end of His

The regenerate cleansed from all impurity of original sin. 117

rebuke is amendment, then is it from love and not from
hatred, that the brethren, and Clergy especially, rebuke whom
they would amend ; God having afore told and signified our
times by the word of Jeremiah; Aiid I will give you pastors Jet. 3,
according to My heart, which shall feed you ivith the food of '^'
Discijdine.

2. Since then in holy Scripture Discipline is oftentimes
and in every part inculcated, and since the whole foundation
of religion and faith proceeds from obedience and fear, what
is there, that we should aim after with more heart, what wish
for or lay hold on rather, than, with foundation ever deeper,
with our house reposing in solid vigour upon the rock, to
stand undisturbed against the storms and winds of this world,
so as to attain unto God's recompense through obedience to
His will? thinking as well as knowing that our members are
the temples of God, purged from all impurity of the old
contagion, by the cleansing of a lively washing, and must not
henceforth undergo injury or pollution, since he who injures
them, is injured himself. In tliose temples we are wor-
shippers and priests; let us submit ourselves to Him, whose
we have now begun to be. Paul tells us in those Ejaistles of
his, wherewith he hath formed us by divine instructions for

our course in life ; Ye are not your own : with a great price ye i Cor. 6,
are bouqlit. Glorifii and possess God in your body. Let us ^^'
glorify and possess God in a pure and chaste body, and with D,tim,
an increased obedience ; let us who are redeemed by the y *°
blood of Christ, do service to our Redeemer in all the
attentions of devotion, and take heed that nothing unclean
or profane be brought into the temple of God, lest He
be offended, and leave the place wherein He dwells.

3. It is the word of the Lord, when giving health and
teaching together, at once curing and admonishing, Behold, John s>,
thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse tiling come unto '
thee. He gives him his rule of life; having granted him
health, he gives the law of innocency; suffering him no more

to wander with lax and easy rein, but threatening more
grievous things to him who becomes the slave again of those
evils of which he had been healed; seeing it is less guilt
to have offended before one learnt the discipline of God, but
there is no more license to offend further, when one has

ll» J^oiL's uf Virginity lead to high rewards.

1 iiKAT. attained tu know Him. Let men and women alike, let

'^- young and old, of cither sex and every age, give heed and

care herein, according to the duty and (aiih which they owe

to God, lest what is received in holiness and purity from

the Lord's condescension, may be kept with an inadequate

i\:at. 10, solicitude; for it is written, He icho perseveres unto the end, the
same shall be saved.

ad \ir- 4. My present word is with those females, who have

°'"^*" professed the single life; proportioned to the high place they
fill, is the interest that excite. They are the flower of the
Church's growth, the charm and ornament of spiritual grace,
a happy nature, a perfect and inviolate work of praise and
honour, an imaging of God fashioned after the Lord's sanctity,
the more famous portion of the flock of Christ. Through
them doth rejoice, in them doth richly flourish, the glorious
fruitfulncss of Mother Church ; and as Her numerous Virginity
multiplies, so grows the Mother's joy. To these I speak,
these I exhort, in affection rather than by authority ; not
claiming a liberty of censure, — last and least as I am, and
very conscious of unworthiness, — but because the growing
interest which I feci, is attended by an increase of fear of
the assaults of Satan. It is not a vain caution, nor a ground-
less fear, which turns its regard into the way of salvation, and
guards the Lord's living precepts, to the end that Females, who
have dedicated themselves to Christ, and retiring from carnal
lusts, vowed themselves to God in flesh and spirit, may complete
this work of theirs which is destined to high reward, and aim
no more at adornment, or at acceptance, except at the Lord's
hands, from whom, according to His own word, they expect

Mat. 19, the reward of virginity; as He Himself has said. All men
cannot receive this sayings save they to whom it is given.
For there are some eunuchs which were so horn from their
mother s womb : and there are some ennuchs ivhich tvere made
eunuchs of men : and there are eunuchs which have made
themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven s sake. Again,
in these words of the Angel, is the condition of continency

Rev. 14, held forth, and Virginity is preached; These are they which
have not defiled themselves with women., for they have re-
mained virgins; these are they which follow the Lamb whither-
soever He goeth. Not that to the male sex only, doth God

They who are chaste in person should he chaste in dress. 119

promise the grace of coutinency, passing over women, but
seeing woman is part of man, from him taken and made,
God, in Scripture generally, does name the first-formed, as Proto-
being two in one flesh, so that in the male is signified the '^''^^'

<-' turn.

woman also.

5. If then continency is a following of Christ, and the
virgin life has its destiny in God's kingdom, what have they
to do with this Avorld's apparel and adornings, wherewith
while seeking to please men, they offend God, not con-
sidering the word written ; They who please men are put to Ps. 52,
confusion, because God hath despised them ; and those high ^^^'^ ^'
noble tones of Paul, If I yet pleased men, I shoidd not be the Gal. l,
servant of Christ. Continency and chastity lie not in mere ^^'
integrity of the flesh, but in honesty and modesty of dress
and apparel, in order that, in the words of the Apostle, she
who is unmarried may be holy both in body and spirit. Paul
thus instructs and teaches us: He that is unmarried carethi Cot.7,
for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord: but "'
he that is married careth for tlie things that are of the world,
how he may please his ivife. So both virgin and ivoman,
who are unmarried, care for the things of the Lord, that they
may be holy both in body and spirit. The Virgin ought not
only to be, but to be recognized and believed to be; so that no
one who sees her may doubt whether she is: perfection
should be maintained in all points, and not the good within
be injured by pretensions without. Why move about in
garniture of dress and hair, as though she had or sought a
husband } Rather ought she to fear to be attractive, if she
is a Virgin, and not invite danger when she is reserving
herself for what is better and divine. Let those who have
no husband, whom they profess to be pleasing, maintain
incorruption and purity, not only in body, but in spirit. It
may not be, that the Virgin should plait her hair for display of
beauty, or glory in the flesh and its charms, when her chief
contest is against the flesh, and her unwearied striving is to
conquer and subdue the body. Paul cries out in strong and
lofty voice, God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross Gal. 6,
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by ichom the world is crucijied '
unto me, and I unto the world. Yet does a Virgin, within
the Church, glory in beauty of the flesh, and the body's

120 True gluryiny in the Jitsh lies in crucifying it.

•i„, VI. favour? Paul says moreover; they that are Chrisfs have
_iY- crucijied thejlesh, nith thefmdls and lusls. Yet is she who
^'^'' ^' professes to have renounced these faults and lusts, found
lingering amongst them. Virgin, thou art detected, thou art
exposed ; thy pretensions go one way, thy attempts another.
Thou art bedimming thee with the stains of fleshly concu-
piscence, who art the white-robed candidate of inconuptness
Is. in. and modesty. Cry, saith the Lord of Isaiah, that all J/esh is
grass, and all tlie glory iJtereof as the Jlower of (he Jield.
s.in-.o The grass triihereth, and the flower fadeth. But the Word
of the Lord enditreili for ever. It becomes not the Christian,
and least of all the Virgin, to set much by any glory or
honour of the flesh, but to make the Word of God her only
desire, and embrace blessings which are to endure for ever.
Or, if she must glory in the flesh, then let her do so, when
she is tormented for confession of the Chi'istian name, — when
she, a woman, proves more strong than the men her torturers,
when she suffers fire, or cross, or sword, or wild beasts, for her
Crown's sake. This is jewellery for the flesh worth the wear-
ing, these are the body's best embellishments.

6. Some females however there are, who are rich in
the enjoyment of ample possessions, and who make their
opulence an excuse, contending that they are bound to make
use of the blessings which they have. Let them learn first,
that she is the really rich, who is rich to God-ward, that she
is wealthy, who is wealthy in Christ, and that those are bless-
ings, which are spiritual, divine and heavenly, which lead us
to God, which remain with us in God's presence, for an ever-
lasting possession. But those earthly things which are given
in sa:- to US in this life, and which but in this life will abide, ought
*^" "• to be as much despised, as is the world itself despised, whose
pomps and pleasures we did then renounce", when by a
happy exchange we passed over to God. The spiritual and
Uolin 2, heavenly voice of John thus rouses and exhorts us; Love not
'^~ ■ the norld, saith he, neither the things that are in the world;
if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world is lust of the flesh, and
lust of the eyes, and pride of life, which is not from the Father^

» AtUulinj.' to the words of the Hnp- Anti<iu. xi. 7. t^t. Cyiil, f'atech. xix. 6.
tiMnal .ibrenunriaiion. vid. Bincham

Wealth no excuse for finery in the case of Virgins. 121

hut is of the lust of the world. And the world passeth away^
and the lust thereof: hut he that doeth the will of God
ahideth for ever, like as God also ahideth for ever. Abiding
things therefore and divine must be our pursuit, and all be
done after the will of God, in order that we may follow the
footsteps and divine instructions of our Lord, who hath ad-
monished us and said, I came down from heaven, not to c?oJohn6,

OQ

My oivn will, hut the will of Him that sent Me. If then the "
servant is not greater than his Lord, and he who has been set
free, owes service to Him that freed him, we who would be
Christians ought so to act, as Christ also spoke and acted.
It is written, and we read and hear it, and it is set forth for
our example by the mouth of the Church, He that saith he \ joha
ahideth in Christ, ought himself also so to walk, even as He'^' ^'
walked. With steady step must we therefore move, with
earnestness and striving we must advance. It is then that
our following on unto truth corresponds to our Christian
profession, it is then that the believer receives his reward,
when he acts as he believes.

7. You say that you are wealthy and rich. But Paul comes
upon your riches, and gives a rule with his own mouth, to
restrain within due limits your dress and adorning. Let iT\m.2,
women, adorn themselves with shamefacedness and sohriety; ^' *
not with hroidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
hut [ivhich hecometh women professing godliness) uith good
works. Peter likewise consenteth to these same instructions,
saying, Let there he in women not the outward adorning of\ Pet. 3,
array, or gold, or apparel, hut the adorning of the heart.^- '
If these then injoin, that those women who make a hus-
band an excuse for their display, should be restrained, and
kept to the Church's disciphne, by a rehgious observance,
how much more is such observance a duty to the Virgin, who
is provided with no permission to adorn herself, has no one
else to whom she can transfer a pretence of her fault, and
who stands by herself in blame? You say that you are
wealthy and rich. Yet not every thing we can, ought we
also to do ; nor should yoin- large desires which have their
birth in the pride of life, be extended beyond the honour
and modesty of Virginity. It is written. All things are icorio,
Inwfnl, hut all things are not expedient. All things are^

,23.

122 Virgins should give their worldly means to Christ.

Thtat. lawful, hut all things edify not. Moreover if you broider
— • your liair, and parade yourself in public, attract the eyes of
youth and raise their sighs, feed the desires of concujiiscence
and give fuel to its longings, so that, without ruin to yourself,
yet you become a ruin to others, and are like sword and
poison upon those who look at you, you cannot be acquitted,
on the ground of your chastity of heart and modesty. That
improper dress, those immodest ornaments arraign you; nor
among the maidens and virgins of Christ, can you be counted,
who are living with the view of attracting love. You say
that you are wealthy and rich. But the Mrgin may not
Wisd. 5, vaunt her riches ; for chvine Scripture says, M7iat hath jjride
^' projited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting

brought us? All those tilings are passed a nay like a shadow.
iCor. 7, And the Apostle again admonishes us, saying, And they that
' ' buy, as though they bought not; and they that possess, as
though they possessed not ; and they who use this icorld,as not
using it : for the fashion of this icorld passeth auay. Peter also,
to whom the Lord commends His sheep to feed and keep them,
on whom He laid and founded the Church, says, that silver
and gold he has none, but that he is rich in Christ's grace,
wealthy in His faith and virtue, through which he performed
many great and miraculous works, and which made him
abound iu spiritual blessings unto the free gift of glory.
This wealth, these riches, she cannot possess, who had
saculo. rather be rich to this life, than to Christ. You say that you
are wealthy and rich, and think you ought to make a use of
that which it is God's will you should possess. Use it, but for
the things of salvation ; use it, but for good designs; use it, but for
ends which God has commanded and our Lord pointed out.
Teach the poor that you are rich ; teach the needy that you
are wealthy ; lend God your fortune, and give bread to Christ.
Prevail by the prayers of many to cany out the glory of Vir-
ginity, and be permitted to attain unto the Lord's recompense.
There trust your treasures, where no thief digs through, and no
crafty assailant can force his way. Get yourself a property,
but let it be in heaven, an unfailing perpetual fruitage, free from
all contact of worldly injury, neither wasted by mildew, nor
bruised by hail, nor scorched by sun, nor spoiled by the
rain. It is itself a sin against God, to think that riches are

Rich dress given in Scripture to the abandoned and reprobate. 1 '23

given you, to riot in to your soul's peril. Voice also God has
given to man, yet not to sing love songs and indecencies
withal ; God provides iron for the cultivation of the land,
but not therewith to commit murder; nor again, though God
give frankincense and wine and fire, ought these therefore to
be used for idol sacrifices ; nor though your fields abound in
flocks, may you immolate them as victims and offerings. A
large estate is nothing but a temptation, unless it minister to
good uses ; and every wealthy man ought to employ his
property in redeeming rather than multiplying his trans-
gressions.

8. A gaudiness of ornament and apparel, and the attractions
of figure, are fit for none but fallen and shameless women ;
they are really richest in their dress, who are poorest amid
their modesty. Hence in the Holy Scriptures, in which the
Lord designs us to gather in truction and warning, the Harlot
City is described in a finery of dress and array, and, with
all her bravery, or rather on account of it, going to de-
struction. And there came one of the seven Angels, which Rev. 17,
liad the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, '
Come hither ; / ivill shew unto thee the judgment of the
great whore, that sitteth upon many tvaters : with whom the
kings of the earth have committed fornication. So he carried
me away in the Spirit ; and I saw a woman sit upon a beast,
and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and
decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a
golden cup in her hand, full of curses and Jilthiness, and
fornication of the uhole earth. Chaste and modest Virgins
ought to hold far off from the fashions of the unchaste, the
dress of the immodest, the tokens of wicked haunts, and the
decoration of harlots. Isaiah likewise cries out, full of the
Holy Spirit, and makes charge against the daughters of Sion,
who were corrupted by their gold, and silver, and raiment,
rebuking them as abounding in pernicious plenty, and
as forsaking God, for love of this world's pleasures. 77/^18.3,16.
daughters of Sion, saith he, are haughty, and walk with
stretched forth necks, and beckoning eyes, trailing their
gowns, and mincing as they go ; and God will humble
the princely daughters of Sion, and the Lord uill uncloke
their dress, and the Lord will take auay the glory

1'24 The apostate anyeh tduyht women the arts of dress.

inttr, of their apparel, and their ornaments, and their hair, and
^^ • curls, and their round tires like the moon, and their crisping-
pins, and their bracelets, and their clusters of pearls, and
their armlets, and rings, and ear-rings, and silks woven with
gold and hyacinth ; and instead of a sweet smell, there shall
he dust, and thou shall he girt with a rope instead of a girdle,
and for a golden ornament of thy head, thou shall have
baldness. This is what God blames, this is what He marks
out. He declares that it is hereby that Yii'gins are coiTupted,
and through this that they have broken away from the garb
of truth and godliness. They became haughty, and hence
they fell ; their garnished dress earned for them what was
base and odious. For them who put on silk and puii^le,
there can be no putting on of Christ. Amidst their orna-
ments of gold, of pearls, of necklaces, they lose the adorning
of heart and mind. Who will not regard with aAcrsiou and
feai* whatever has brought death on another.? Who would
either wish or take, what has been like sword and weapon in the
slaying of his neighbour ? If a man swallowed a draught and
then fell dead, you would know that it was poison which he
had been drinking. If he took food and so came to his
end, you would know that that was deadly, which could kill as
soon as taken ; nor would you either eat or drink of what had
been the destruction of others in your sight. Whatblindnesg is
it then to truth, and what infatuation of mind, to wish for that
which hurtful both ever was and is, and to think that will not
prove destructive to yourself, which you know has been the
destruction of others !

9. It was not the work of God, that sheep should be scarlet
or purjole; nor was it His teaching, to die and colour wool
with the juice of herbs and with shell-fish; nor framed He
necklaces of stones and pearls inlaid with gold, and arranged
in chains or groups, wherewith to hide that neck He made,
covering the workmanship of God in man, and exposing that
upon it, which the devil has added. Is it God's will, that the
ears should be pierced, with which pain is given to innocent
infancy, ignorant of the world's evil, in order that in time to
come, from those scan-ed and traversed ears may hang
the precious beads, ponderous in their cost, if not in weight t
All which did sinning and apostate Angels put forth, accord-

A sin to attempt to improve the ivork of God. VIT)

ing to their arts'', when degrading themselves to the contami-
nation of earth they left their heavenly strength. It was they
who taught to draw a circle of black round the eyes, to paint
the cheeks with a dishonest tint, to die the hair with false
colouring, and to make away with all truth of face and fore-
head, by the inroads of their corruption ". And on this point,
in the fear which faith suggests to me, and the love which
brotherhood demands, not virgins and widows only, but
I consider, that the married also and all females whatever, ought
to be cautioned that what God has formed, what He made
and fashioned, ought in no wise to be tampered with, whether
with yellow dye, or black powder, or rouge, or any other
preparation at all, which undoes the lineaments of nature.

God says. Let us make man after our imaae and likeness ; Gen. l,

26
and does any dare to change and pervert what God hath *

made ? Theirs is a doing of violence to God, who set them-
selves to re-make and transform what He hath made, for-
getting that every production is God's work, every change
the devil's. If a linmer were to paint in admirable colouring
the countenance, likeness, personal appearance of any one,
and having at length done so and given the portrait its last
strokes, another put forth his hand and, as if with better
experience, added fresh finish to what was finished and
painted already, the former artist would suffer heavy
injustice, and would shew a fair displeasure. Think you,
that your adventarous boldness will carry no penalty, where
the injustice is against God as an Artificer? However you
keep your virtue in respect of man, and are chaste for all
your seductive embellishments, still if you corrupt and spoil
the things of God, you are convicted of a similar but more
heinous crime. AVhat you consider ornament and fashion, is
violence to God's workmanship, and a betrayal of truth. It
is the warning of the Apostle : Purge out the old leaven, that i Cor.
pe may he a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even '
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for i/s, therefore let us keep
the feast, not uitJi old leaven, neither uith the leaven of
malice and wickedness, hut uitli the unleavened head of
sincerity and truth. Are sincerity and truth preserved, when

h This interpretation of Cien. vi. is Catech. ii. 10.
almost Catiiolic, \\d. note on Tr. Cyri!. = Vid. infr. Trratisc vi. 4.

14

\''26T/teJud^eicillnotknowsuchashideHisUhenessi7ithesei'penCs.

TnFAT. by adulterate tints sincerity is polluted, and truth turns false

- — '■— by the deceit of dyes ? Your Lord says, T/iou canst not

Mat. 5, * "^ •' '

36. make one hair wliite or black. Are you for the mastery to

unsay your Lord's word? With bold effort and profane
presumption you stain your hair, you begin with fiery locks
in ominous presage for hereafter, and (O miserable!) place
sin upon the head, which is the body's worthiest portion.
Rev. 1, While it is written of the Lord, His head and His hair were
ifhite, like wool or snow, you execrate that hoarness, and
abhor that whiteness, which is after the similitude of the
Lord's head. Tell me, have you no fear, seeing you are
such, that at the day of resuiTection your Maker will not
recognize you, but will set you aside and shut you out, when
you come for His promised rewards, and will with the stenmess
of censor and judge severely say, ' This is not My work ;
This is not Our Image ?' Your complexion you have pol-
luted with false colouring, your hair you have altered by
unnatural dyes, your countenance is captured by a lie, your
natural appearance lost, your look is not your own. You
will never be able to see God, whose eyes are no longer
God's workmanship, but the devil's craft. He is it you
follow; those glaring painted eyes are copied from the serpent;
you dress after your foe now, you will burn after his fashion
hereafter. Say, are these matters no subject of thought for
the servants of God, no occasion for daily and nightly fears ?
Let wives see to it, how they are beguiling themselves in
their endeavours to please for the satisfaction of their hus-
bands, whom they use indeed as their excuse, but are really
making their partners in guilt. Virgins certainly, (for whom
this Discourse is intended,) if they trick themselves out in
such devices, I must strike out from the catalogue of Virgins,
but like sheep which are infected and sick, must part them
oft" from the holy and pure flock of ^■irginity ; lest the rest
catch ])ollution from the intercourse, and more be lost through
those who are already fallen.

] 0. And, whereas we are seeking the benefit of continency,
and are guarding against all things that involve mischief or
hostility, T notice a practice which has obtained through
neglect, and has converted usage into a permission, to the
detriment of \irtuous and sober manners. Some there nre.

Licentious merry-ntaking sand the public baths to be avoided. 127

who make no scruple to attend marriage parties, and in that
liberty of wanton converse to interchange unchaste speeches,
to hear what is unbecoming, to say what is unlawful, to be
exposed to view, and countenance with their presence shame-
ful words and convivial excess, by which lust is inflamed, the
bride encouraged to endure, the bridegroom to dare. What
place has she in a marriage, who has no heart in it? or what
pleasure and enjoyment can there be, amongst engagements
and wishes the reverse of her own ? What is there leamt,
wdiat seen ? How much ground has been lost in her resolve,
when the Virgin who came with modest feelings, returns with
bad ones! In body and mind a A^irgin still, but by eyes
ears and tongue, having wasted a portion of her gift.

1 1. What however shall be said of those, who frequent the
public baths, who to prying eyes expose a person dedi-
cated to modesty and chastity, themselves both seeing
men and seen by them? Are not they themselves offering
enticement to vice? Do they not solicit and invite those
present, to compass their corruption and ruin ? You reply
" that every one should look to the purpose with which he
goes thither: that for yourself you merely think of \vashing
and refreshment." Such a reason is no defence, no excuse
for light and wanton conduct. A washing like that instead of
cleansing does but defile you, instead of purifying does but
sully. Though you suffer not from seeing others, they
suffer from seeing you; no sinful gratification may pol-
lute your eyes by taking sinful pleasure yourself, but
you yourself are polluted by supplying it to others. You
make the bath a show, and you frequent what is worse
than a theatre. You are there all dismantled of your
modesty; the body's honour and reverence is put off with its
covering; the virgin estate is open to notice and insult.
Consider, then, whether when dressed you have still that
modesty which has been carried into innnodesty by the
recklessness of that exposure. Hence it is, that the Church
so often bewails her Virgins, that she groans over scandalous
and hateful tales conceraing them, that the flower of her
Virgins is quenched, the honour and modesty of continency
is wounded, its glory and dignity profaned. Thus our foe
masters us by his craft; thus creeps in the devil by dark

1 -28 Eochortnt'wii to sshiplicity and strictness.

Thf.at. deceitful stratagems; thus while Virgins would attire them-
.-IXl- selves more finely, and nio\'e about with greater freedom,
Virgins they cease to be, corru])ted by this undetected dis-
honour, widows without marriage, false if not to a husband
yet to Christ, exposed to such penalties for the loss of their
condition, as they were destined to high rewards for its
maintenance.

12. Listen then to nie, ye Virgins, as to a parent ! Listen, I
beseech you, to one who teaches while he warns, and is
faithfully consulting for your benefit and advantage. Be the
persons, whom God your Creator made you. Be what you
were fashioned by your Father's hand ; remain with your
countenance simple, your shoulders let alone, your figure
natural. Wound not your ears, circle not ann or neck
with precious chaui, fetter not ankles with golden bonds,
stain not your hair, and keep your eyes worthy of seeing
God. Frequent the baths of women, amongst whom your
bath will be with modesty. Avoid vicious feasts and wanton
convivialities at weddings; which have a dangerous infection.
Gain a conquest over dress, thou who art a Virgin : gain a
conquest over gold, who art conquering flesh and world. It is
inconsistent to be superior to the greater, and fail in the less.
Mat. 7, This is a strait and narrow uay^ uJiich leads to life; a rough
and steep track which reaches to glory. By this track of
life Martyrs proceed, Virgins advance, the just of whatever
sort step forward. Avoid the wide and open ways. Deadly
delights are there, and poisonous pleasures. There the
devil flatters that he may deceive, smiles that he may injure,
vid. attracts that he may kill. The first I'eward is for the Martyrs
g ' 'an hundred-fold; the second, sixty-fold, is for yom'selves.
As the Martyrs have no thought of flesh and world, no minute
or slight or gentle encounter, it remains for you, who have
the next prize in God's grace, to have next excellence in
endurance. The ascent to great things is not easy. What
exhaustion, what effort do wc go through, in the attempt to
climb hills or mountain summits ! And what then, wlien we
would be climbing to heaven? If you count the reward
assured you, your labour is easier. Immortality is given to
the persevering, eternal life is promised, the Lord assures
them a kingdom. Hold fast, O Virgins, hold fast what

Virginity not of necessity hut of free choice. 129

you now are, hold fast what you are to be. It is a plen-
teous repayment that awaits you, a vast prize of virtue, the
chiefest recompense of chastity.

13. Would you know from what ills the virtue of conti-
nency is relieved, and of what blessings possessed ; / ivill mul- Gen. 3,
tiply, said God to the woman, thy sorrow and thy pangs ; in ^^'
sorroiv slialt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall he to

thy husbandf and he shall rule over thee. Ye are freed from this
sentence, ye have not to fear the sorrows and pangs of women.
To you belongs not the peril of childbearing, neither is a
husband lord over you, but yom- Lord and Head is Christ, in vid. i
the likeness and lot of the man ; your lot and condition is the 3""^' '
same as his. It is the Lord's word which says. The children Luke20,
of this world beget and are begotten; but they who are
counted worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from
the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage ; neither
shall they have any more death, for they are equal unto the
Angels of God, being the children of the resurrection. Wliat
we are all to become, you have begun to be. The glory of
the resurrection in the next life you possess already : you are
passing through life without life's contagion. In persevering
in chasteness and virginity, you are equal unto the Angels of
God. Only let that virgin profession remain and abide
perfect and inviolate; as it began courageously let it go on
unintcrmittently, seeking ornaments not in necklaces and
dresses, but in conduct; looking unto God and unto heaven,
not lowering the uplifted eye to desires of the flesh and worldly
lusts, or settling it upon the things of earth.

14. The first commandment was to increase and multiply, the
second has enjoined continency. While the earth was yet in
its rudimental and vacant state, we are nuiltiplied and
multiply, and grow for the increase of the human race. Now
that the earth abounds and the world is full, they that are Spado-
able to accept continency, living the life of the unmarried, are JJ^"J^
severed unto the kingdom. The Lord does not enforce this,
but He exhorts it, not imposing a yoke of necessity, in that
the choice yet remains free. Still, when He tells us that with
His Father are many mansions, He guides us to seek a home
in the best. That best home you are seeking, and by cutting
off the desires of the flesh, you will obtain a recompense of

K

more.

I... 17.

130 The nnc hirth sprrialli/ raiUzcd in Virginity.

Tr» »T. higher grace in the heavenly places. All indeed who proceed
'^'- unto the divine Laver, by the sanctification of Baptism, do
there lint oft" the old man by the grace of the saving Laver,
and being renewed by the Holy Spirit, are cleansed from the
filth of the old contagion by a second nativity. But of that
second nativity the sanctity and truth lie more fully in you,
win) have ceased from the desires of the flesh and of the body.
With you remain only the things of virtue and of the Spirit,
and that unto glory. It is the word of the Apostle, whom
the Lord named His chosen vessel, whom God sent to mani-

1 ("r. fest the commands of heaven; The first man, said he, is from
the earth, the second man is from heaven. Such as is the
earthly, such are they also that are earthly; and as is the
heavenly, such also are the heavenly. As ?(e have home the
image of him that is earthly, may we also hear the image of
Him that is heavenly. This image Virginity bears, perfectness
bears it, holiness and truth bear it. Rules of discipline bear it
which keep God in thought, which maintain righteousness with
religiousness, are stable in faith, lowly in fear, strong to all
endurance, meek to suffer injury, swift in exercising pity,
uniting heart and mind in brotherly love. All these things it
is your duty, O gentle Virgins, to regard, to love, and to
fulfil, who, giving your time to God and Christ, are already
proceeding forward unto the liOrd, to whom you have dedi-
cated yourselves, in the higher and better way. Let the elder
among you become a rule to the younger. Let the younger
supply an incitement to their companions. Rouse yourselves
by mutual exhortation ; challenge each other unto glory, by
rival evidences of holiness. Endure with courage, proceed
spiritually, and end your course with happy fortune. And
when Virginity begins to be honoured*^ in you, then remember
us.

' i. e. beftins to suffer.

TREATISE V.

ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

[The occasion of this Tract, which was written A. D. 251, after its
author's elevation to the Episcopate, seems to have been the disturbance
which Felicissimus and Novatian were causing in the African and
Roman Churches respectively, Felicissimus having been schismatically
ordained deacon, and Novatian claiming possession of the Roman See
against Cornelius. They were supported, the latter certainly, and pro-
bably the former, by the influence of the Confessors, or persons who had
witnessed for Christ, who were allowed to intercede for those who had
incurred Church censuies, and who used their privilege on this oc-
casion to the detriment of Christian peace and episcopal authority. In
consequence, S. Cyprian wrote the following Treatise, with the view
of reminding his brethren, that Unity is the first element of the Christian
State, and that those who break oflF from the principle of unity, which is
lodged in the Episcopate, even though they be Confessors and Martyrs,
have no portion in the hopes of the Gospel.]

Forasmuch as the Lord warns us, saying, Ye are the salt Mat. 5,
of the earth, and bids us to possess an innocent simplicity,
yet being simple, to be also prudent, is it not befitting,
dearest brethren, to hold ourselves in wariness, and by
keeping watch with an anxious heart, to become forewarned
and withal forearmed, against the snares of our subtle enemy ?
lest we, who have put on Christ, the Wisdom of God the
Father, should yet be found to lack wisdom, for the making
sure of our salvation. That persecution is not the only one to
be feared, which advances by open assault to the ruin and
downfal of God's servants ; caution is easy, where the clanger
is manifest; and the mind is in readiness for the battle,
when the enemy makes himself known. More to be feared
and more to be watched is a foe, who creeps upon us

k2

132 Tlie craft of Satan more dangerous than his violence.

I'l-iAT. unawares, who deceives under the image of peace, and glides

— forward with those hid movements, which have given him

the name of Serpent. Such always is his deceitfulness ;
such the dark and backward artifices, by which he compasses
man ; thus in the first beginning of the world he wrought his
deceit, and by lying words of flattery, led away unformed
souls in their incautious credulity. Thus when he would
tempt the Lord Himself, he came unawares upon Him, as if
to creep on him a second time and deceive ; yet was he seen
through and driven back : beaten down was he, by reason
that he was discovered and exposed. Herein is the example
given us, to flee from the way of the old man, and to tread in
the footsteps of Christ who conquered ; lest we slide back by
incaution into the toil of death, instead of, through foresight of
danger, partaking the immortality that has been gained for us.
Yet how can we partake immortality, unless we keep those
commandments of Christ, by which death is taken prisoner

!M.it. 19, and overcome? For Himself admonishes us, and says. If thou
icilt enter into life, keep the commandments ; and again, If ye

j.)hn do the things I command you, henceforth I call you not
' ' servants but friends. It is such persons, in fine, that He

^ declares to be stable and enduring; founded in massive

strength upon a rock, and settled with firmness untroubled

Mat. 7, and untouched, amidst all the storms and winds of this world.
Whosoever, saith He, heareth these sayings of Mine and
doeth them, I loill liken him unto a icise man, that built his
house upon a rock ; the rain descended, the floods came, the
winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for
it u-as founded upon a rock. We ought therefore to have our
footing in His words, to learn and to do all that He taught
and did. But how can he say he believes in Christ, who
does not that which Christ has bade him do ? or how come to
the reward of faith, who will keep no faith with the com-
mandment.'' Needs must he totter and fall astray; caught by
a spirit of teiTor, he will be wafted up like dust in a
whirlwind ; nor will his walk lead forward to sahation, who
does not hold the truth of the saving way.

2. We must be warned then, dearest brethren, not only
against things open and manifest, but also against those which
deceive us, through the guile of cralt and fraud. What now

Heresy and schisvi the croft of Satan. 133

can be more crafty, or what more artful, than for this cnemv^,
detected and downfallen by the advent of Christ, now that
light is come to the nations, and the beams of salvation shine
forth unto the health of man, that the deaf may hear the
sound of spiritual grace, the blind may open their eyes upon
God, the sick regain the strength of an eternal healing, the
lame run to church, the dumb lift on high their voices to
speak and worship, for him, thus seeing his idols left,
his seats and temples deserted by the manifold congregation
of believers, to invent the new deceit, whereby to carry the
incautious into error, while retaining the name of the
Christian profession ? He has made heresies and schisms,
wherewith to subvert faith, to corrupt truth, and rend unity.
<«! Those whom he cannot detain in the blindness of the old way,
he compasses and deceives by misleading them on their new
journey. He snatches men from out the Church itself, and
while they think themselves come to the light, and escaped
from the night of this world, he secretly gathers fresh shadows
upon them; so that standing neither with the Gospel of
Christ, nor with His ordinances, nor with His law, they yet
call themselves Christians, walking among darkness, and
thinking that they have light; while the foe flatters and
misleads, transforms himself, according to the word of the
Apostle, into an Angel of light, and garbs his ministers like 2 Cor.
ministers of righteousness : these are the maintainers of night !•» ''^•
for day, of death for salvation, giving despair while they
pi'ofFer hope, faithlessness clothed as faith, Antichrist under pefi-
the name of Christ ; that by putting false things under '*'''""•
an appearance of true, they may with subtilty impede
the truth.

3. This will be, most dear brethren, so long as there is no
regard to the source of truth, no looking to the Head,
nor keeping to the doctrine of our heavenly INIastcr. If any
one consider and weigh this, he will not need length of com-
ment or argument. It is easy to offer proofs to a faithful
mind, because in that case the truth may be quickly stated*.
The Lord saith unto Peter, I saij unto thee, (saith He,) that^\,^^_ k;^
thou art Peter, and upon thin rock I will hidld My Church, and •«• ''>■
the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And 1 icill give
» Vid. note at the end of this Treatise.

134 S. Peter the principle of unity.

I Ki AT. unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven y and whatsoever

—li—thou shall bind on earth, shall he bound also in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.
To him again, after His resurrection, He says, Feed Mtj
sheep. Upon him being one He builds His Church; and though

Jolin20,He gives to all the Apostles an equal power, and says, ^s
My Father sent Me, even so send I you ; receive ye the Holy
Ghost : tvhosesoever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted to him,
and whosesoever sins ye retain, they shall be retained; — yet in
order to manifest unity, He has by His own authority so placed
the source of the same unity, as to begin from one. Cer-
tainly the other Apostles also were what Peter was, endued
with an equal fellowship both of honour and power ; but a
conmiencement is made from unity, that the Church may be
set before us as one ; which one Church, in the Song of
Songs, doth the Holy Spirit design and name in the Person

Cant. 6, of OUT Lord : My dove, My spotless one, is but one ; she
is the only one of her mother, elect of her that bare her.

4. He who holds not this unity of the Church, does he
think that he holds the faith ? He who strives against and
resists the Church, is he assured that he is in the Church ?
For the blessed Apostle Paul teaches this same thing, and

Eph. 4, manifests the sacrament of unity thus speaking ; There is
One Body, and One Spirit, even as ye are called in One
Hope of your calling ; One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism,
One God. This unity finnly should we hold and maintain,
especially we Bishops, presiding in the Church, in order that
we may approve the Episcopate itself to be one and undivided.
Let no one deceive the Brotherhood by falsehood; no one

iu soli- corrupt the truth of our faith, by a faithless treachery. The
Episcopate is one ; it is a whole, in which each enjoys full
possession. The Church is likewise one, though she be
spread abroad, and multii)lies with the increase of her pro-
geny: even as the sun has rays many '', yet one light; and the
tree boughs many, yet its strength is one, seated in the deep-
lodged root; and as, when many streams flow down from one

» riie oneness here spoken of is. ac- isfiilfiUeil iu uacli Cis/iopric/c, each Bishop

cordjnj,' to Roman Catholics, fulfiUt-il viewed by liimsclf beinj; a full rcpre-

in the organization of the u'/i()/(; Church; sentation and successor of St. I'eter.

whereas according to An^io-Catholics it vid. note at the end of this Treatise.

duin te-
netur.

The Church is one, and onhj in that one Church is salvation. 135

source, though a multiplicity of waters seems to be diffused
from the bountifulness of the overflowing abundance, unity
is preserved in the source itself. Part a ray of the sun from
its orb, and its unity forbids this division of light ; break a
branch from the tree, once broken it can bud no more ; cut
the stream from its fountain, the remnant will be dried up.
Thus the Church, flooded with the light of the Lord, puts
forth her rays through the whole world, with yet one light,
which is spread upon all places, while its unity of body is
not infringed. She stretches forth her branches over the
universal eai'th, in the riches of plenty, and pours abroad her
bountiful and onward streams ; yet is there one head, one
source, one Mother, abimdant in the results of her fruitfulness.
5. It is of her womb that we are born ; our nourishing is
from her milk, our quickening from her breath. The spouse
of Christ cannot become adulterate, she is undefiled and
chaste ; owning but one home, and guarding with virtuous
modesty the sanctity of one chamber. She it is who keeps
us for God, and appoints unto the kingdom the sons she has
borne. ^ Whosoever parts company with the Church, and
joins himself to an adulteress, is estranged from the promises
of the Church. He who leaves the Church of Christ, attains
not to Christ's rewards. He is an alien, an outcast, an
enemy. 'iHe can no longer have God for a Father, who
has not the Church for a Mother. If any man was able to
escape, who remained without the ark of Noah, then will that
man escape who is out of doors beyond the Church. The
Lord warns us, and says. He who is not with Me is against Mat. 12,
Me, and he who gathereth not with Me, scattereth. He who '
breaks the peace and concord of Christ, sets himself against
Christ. He who gathers elsewhere but in the Church, scat-
ters the Church of Christ. The Lord saith, / and the Father John lo,

30
are one; and again of the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Ghost, it is written, and these three are one; and does any ij„1ip5.
think, that oneness, thus proceeding from the divine inmiuta-
bility, and cohering in heavenly sacraments, admits of being
sundered in the Church, and split by the divorce of anta-
gonist wills ? ^He who holds not this unity, holds not the
law of God, holds not the faith of Father and Son, holds not
the truth unto salvation.

136 Unity signified in the type of Christ' s garment.

Theat. 6. This sacrament of unity, this bond of concord insepa.

'■ — rably cohering, is signified in the place in the Gospel, where

the coat of our Lord Jesus Christ is in no-wise parted nor
cut, but is received a whole gannent, by them who cast lots
who should rather wear it, and is possessed as an inviolate and

John 19, individual robe. The divine Scripture thus speaks, i^«/ /or
the coat, because it was not sewed, but ivoven from the top
throughout, thcg said one to another, Let us not rend it, but
cast lots ichose it shall be. It has with it a unity descending
from above, as coming, that is, from heaven and from the
Father ; which it was not for the receiver and owner in any
wise to sunder, but which he received once for all and indi-
visibly as one unbroken whole. lie cannot own Christ's
garment, who splits and divides Christ's Church. On the
other hand, when, on Solomon's death, his kingdom and
people were split in parts, Ahijah the Prophet, meeting
king Jeroboam in the field, rent his garment into twelve

1 Kings pieces, saying, Take thee ten pieces ; for thus saith the
Lord, Behold, L will rend the kingdom out of the hand of
Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee; and two tribes shall
be to him for My servant David^s sake, and for Jerusalem, the
city which L have cJiosen, to place My Name there. AMien
the twelve tribes of Israel were torn asunder, the Prophet
Ahijah rent his garment. But because Christ's people cannot
be rent, His coat, woven and conjoined throughout, was not
divided by those it fell to. Individual, conjoined, coen-
twined, it shews the coherent concord of our people who put
on Christ. In the sacrament and sign of His garment, He
has declared the unity of His Church.

7. Who then is the criminal and traitor, who so inflamed
by the madness of discord, as to think aught can rend, or to
venture on rending, God's unity, the Lord's garment, Christ's
Church } He Himself warns us in His Gogpel, and teaches,

John 10, saying. And there shall be one flock, and one Shepherd. And
does any think that there can in one place be either many
shepherds, or many flocks? The Apostle Paul likewise,

J^^'"'-'' intimating the same unity, solemnly exhorts, L beseech you,
brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all
speak the same thing, and thai there be no schisms among
you ; but iluit ye be joined together in the same mind, and in

Peace signified in the type of the Heavenly Dove. 137

the same judgment. And again he says, Forbearing one Kph. 4,
another in love ; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit '
in the bond of peace. Think you that any can stand and live,
who withdraws from the Church, and forms himself a new
home, and a different dwelling? Whereas it was said to
Rahab, in whom was prefigured the Church, T/iy father, and Josh. 2,
thy mother, and thy brethren, and all the house of thy father, '^'
thou shall gather unto thee into thine house; and it shall come
to pass ; whosoever shall go abroad beyond the door of thine
house, his blood shall be on his own head. And likewise the
sacrament of the Passover doth require just this in the law of
Exodus, that the lamb which is slain for a figure of Christ,
should be eaten in one house. God speaks and says. In one Ex. 12,
house shall ye eat it ; ye shall not send its Jiesh abroad from *^'
the house. The Flesh of Christ, and the Holy Thing of the Sanctum
Lord, cannot be sent abroad ; and believers have not any
dwelling but the Church only. This dwelling, this hostelry
of unanimity, the Holy Spirit designs and betokens in the
Psalms, thus saying, God who maketh men to dwell with one'^^- 68,
mind in an house. In the house of God, in the Church of
Christ, men dwell with one mind, in concord and singleness
enduring.

8. For this cause the Holy Spirit came in the fonn of a
dove : a simple and pleasant creature, with no bitterness of
gall, no fierceness of bite, no violence of rending talons :
loving the houses of men, consorting within one home, each
pair nurturing their young together, when they fly abroad
hanging side by side upon the wing, leading their life in
mutual intercourse, giving with the bill the kiss of peace in
agreement, and fulfilling a law of unanimity, in every way.
This singleness of heart must be found, this habit of love be
attained to in the Church; brotherly affection must make
doves its pattern, gentleness and kindness must emulate lambs
and sheep. What doth the savageness of wolves, in a Chris-
tian breast ? or the fierceness of dogs, or the deadly poison
of serpents, or the cruel fury of wild beasts ? We nmst be
thankful when such become separate from the Churcli, that
so their fierce and poisoned contagion may not cause a havoc
among the doves and sheep of Christ ; there cannot be
fellowship and union of bitter with sweet, darkness with

138 No one can rule the Chwrh hut an ordained Bishop.
1 HKAT. light, foul weather with fair, war with peace, famine with

'■ — plenty, drought with fountains, or storm with calm.

9. Let no one think tliat they can be good men, who leave
the Church. Wind does not take the wheat, nor do storms over-
throw tlie tree that has a solid root to rest on. It is the light
straw that the tempest tosses, it is trees emptied of their
strength that the blow of the whirlwind strikes down. These

i.»olin2,the Apostle John curses and smites, saying, Tliey ivent forth
from us, but they were not of tts ; for if they had been
of lis, surely they would have remained tcith us. Thus is it
that heresies both often have been caused, and still continue ;
while the perverted mind is estranged from peace, and unity
is lost amongst faithless discord. Nevertheless, the Lord
permits and suffers these things to be, preserving the power of
choice to individual free-will, in order that while the discri-
mination of truth is a test of our hearts and minds, the

^ perfect faith of them that are approved may shine forth in the

manifest light. The Holy Spu'it admonishes us by the Apostle

iCor.li, and says. It is needful also that heresies should he, that they

^^" which are approved may be made manifest among you. Thus
are the faithful approved, thus the false detected ; tlius even
here, before the day of judgment, the souls of the righteous
and unrighteous are divided, the chaff separated from the
wheat.

10. These are they who, with no appointment from God, take
upon them of their own will to preside over their venturesome
companions, establish themselves as rulers without any lawful
rite of ordination, and assume the name of Bishop, though no
man gives them a Bishopric. These the Holy Spirit in the

Ts. 1, Psalms describes, as sitting in the seat of pestilence, a plague
and infection of the faith, deceiving with the mouth of a
serpent, cunning to corrupt truth, vomiting out deadly poisons

2Tim.2,from pestilential tongues. Whose words spread as doth a

17

canker : whose writings pour a deadly poison into men's breasts
and hearts. Against such the Lord cries out; from these
Jer. 23, he curbs and recalls His straying people, saying. Hearken
~ ' not unto the words of the Prophets which prophesy falsely,
for the vision of their heart maketh them vain. They speaks
but not out of the mouth of the Lord ; they say to those who
cast aivay the word of God, Ye shall have peace : and every

Heretics and schismatics not gathered together in Christ's Name. 1 39

one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no
evil shall come upon him. I have not spoken to them, yet
they 2^t'ophesied ; if they had stood in My substance and
heard My it: or ds, and taught My people, I would have turned
them from their evil thoughts. These same persons the
Lord designs and signifies, saying, Tliey have forsaken Me, Jer. 2,
the fountain of living water, and hewed them out broken
cisterns, that cayt hold no water. While there can be no
Baptism save one only, they think that they can baptize.
They forsake the fountain of life, yet promise the gift of a vital
and saving water. Men are not cleansed by them, but rather
made foul ; nor their sins purged avv^ay, but even heaped up :
it is a birth that gives children not to God, but to the Devil.
Born by a lie, they cannot receive the promises of truth, G en-
dered of misbelief, they lose the grace of faith. They cannot perfidia.
come to the reward of peace, because they have destroyed the
peace of the Lord, in reckless discord.

11. Neither let certain persons beguile themselves by a
vain interpretation, in that the Lord hath said. Wheresoever
two or three are gathered together in My Name, I am with
them. Those who corrupt and falsely interpret the Gospel,
lay down what follows, but omit what goes before; giving
heed to part, while part they deceitfully suppress; as them-
selves are sundered from the Church, so they divide the
purport of what is one passage. For when the Lord was
impressing agreement and peace upon His Disciples, He said,
/ say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth. Mat. 18,
touching any thing that he shall ask, it shall be given you by ^^- 20-
My Father which is in heaven. For wheresoever two or three
shall be gathered together in My Natne, I am itnth them.
Shewing that most is given, not to the many in number when
they pray, but to oneness of heart. //; He saith, two of you
shall agree together on earth; He places agreement first;
hearts at peace are the first condition ; He teaches that we
must agree together faithfully and firmly. Yet how can he
be said to be at agreement wdth other, who is at disagreement
with the body of the Church itself, and with the miiversal
brotherhood? How can two or three be gathered together in
Christ's name, who are manifestly separate from Christ and
from His Gospel? We did not go out from tliem, but they

140 The ])rayer of many avails not, if they differ.

TnfAT. went out from us. And whereas heresies and schisms

'— have a hiter rise, from men's setting up separate meetings for

worship, they have left the fountain head and origin of
truth. But it is of His Church, that the Lord is speaking;
and in respect of those who are in His Church, He says,
that if they are of one mind, if according to what He bade
and admonished, two or three though they be, they gather
together with agreement of the heart; then (though but
two or three) they will be able to obtain from the majesty
of God the thing which they ask for. Wherever two or
three are gathered together in My Name, /, saith He,
am uith them : that is, with the single-hearted, and them
that live in peace, fearing God, and keeping His command-
ments. With these, though they be two or three. He has
said that He is. So was Pie with the Three Children in the
fiery furnace: and because they continued in singleness of
heart toward God, and at unity with themselves, He refreshed
them in the midst of the encircling flames with the breath of
Daniel dew. So too was He present with the two Apostles who

3 25 1 • •

i-gjj^^ jjj-werc shut m prison, because they continued in singleness
Three and agreement of heart; and undoing the prison-bolts, He

Ch 27 1 . o 1 ^

■-' placed them again in the market-place, that they might
deliver to the multitude that Word which they were faithfully
preaching. When therefore He sets it forth in His command-
ment, and says, Jtliere tiro or three are gathered together in
My Name, I am tcith them, He does not divide men from
the Church, Himself the institutor and maker of it, but
rebuking the faithless for their discord, and by His voice
commending peace to the faithful. He shews that He is more
present with two or three which pray with one heart, than
with many persons disunited from one another; and that
more can be obtained by the agreeing prayer of a few persons,
than from the petitioning of many where discord is among
them. For this cause when He gave the rule of prayer. He
Mark added. When ye stand praying, forgive if ye have ought
"•25- against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may
forgive you your trespasses ; and one who comes to the Sacri-
fice with a quanel He calls back from the altar, and corn-
Mat. ;>, niands Him first to be reconciled with his brother, and then,
24- when he is at peace, to return, and offer his gift to God ; for

The Martyrdom of heretics and schismatics avails nothing. 141

neither had God respect unto Cain's offering; for he could
not have God at peace with hira, who through envy and
discord was not at peace with his brother.

^12. Of what peace then are they to assure themselves, who
are at enmity with the brethren ? What Sacrifice do they
believe they celebrate, who are rivals of the Priests? Think
they Christ is still in the midst of them when gathered together,
though gathered beyond Christ's Church ?"t^lf such men were
even killed for confession of the Christian Name, not even by Nomi-
their blood is this stain washed out. Inexpiable and heavy
is the sin of discord, and is purged by no suffering. lie
cannot be a Martyr, who is not in the Church ; he can never
attain to the kingdom, who leaves her, with whom the king-
dom shall be. Christ gave us peace ; He bade us be of one
heart and one mind ; He commanded that the covenant of
affection and charity should be kept unbroken and inviolate ;
he cannot shew himself as a Martyr, who has not kept the love
of the brotherhood, j The Apostle Paul teaches this, thus wit-
nessing; And though I have faith, so that I can remove moun- \ cor.
fains, and have not charity, I am nothing: and though I give ^'^•
all luy goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
he burned, and have not charity, it 2>>'oJiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not,
charily acteth not vainly, is not puffed up, is not easily pro-
voked, thinketh no evil; is pleased with all things, bclieveth
all things, hopetJi all things, endureth all things; charity
never faileth. Charity, he saith, never faileth ; for she will
reign for ever, she will abide evermore in the unity of a brother-
hood which entwines itself around her. In the kingdom of
heaven discord cannot enter; it cannot gain the reward of
Christ who said. This is My comma)idment, that ye love one John 15,
another, as I have loved you. It will never be his to belong
to Christ, who has violated the love of Christ by unfaithful
dissension. He who has not love, has not God. It is the
word of the blessed Apostle John, God, saith he, is love; andi John
he that direUeth in lore, dweUeth in God, and God in him. '
They cannot dwell with God, who have refused to be of one
mind in God's Church ; though they be given over to be
burnt in flame and fire, or yield thoir lives a prey to wild
beasts, theirs will not be the crown of faith, but the penalty

142 Love and rif/hfeoiisness the chief requisites.

jutAT. ^^ unfaithfulness; not the glorious issue of dutiful valour,
^- but the death of despair. A man of such sort may indeed
be killed, crowned he cannot be.

13. He professes himself a Christian after the manner in
which the Devil oftentimes feigns himself to be Christ, as the

iMark Lord Himself forewarns us, saying. Many shall come in My
13. 6. j^r^nic, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. No
more than he is Christ, though he deceive beneath His
Name, can he be looked upon as a Christian, who does not
abide in tlic truth of His Gospel and of faith. To prophesy,
to cast out devils, to perform great miracles on earth, is a high,
doubtless, and a wonderful thing ; yet the man who is found
in all these things attains not to the heavenly kingdom, unless
he walk in an observance of the straight and righteous way.
]\lat. 7, The Lord speaks this denunciation ; Many shall say to Me in
2^- that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name ?
and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in T7iy
Name done many iconderful works ? And then will I jjro/ess
unto them, I never knew you ; depart from Me, ye that work
iniquity. Righteousness is the thing needful, before any one
can find grace with God the Judge. We must obey His in-
merita. structions and warnings, in order that our deserts may receive
their reward. When the Lord in the Gospel would direct the
Mark path of our hope and faith in a summary of words; The
12, 30. j^Qj-cl thy God, He said, is one : and thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy strength. Tliis is the first commandment ; and the
second is like nnto it; Tliou shall love thy neighbour a*
Mat. 22, thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and
'"^- the Prophets. Unity and love together is the instruction which
He teaches us; in two commandments He has included all
the Prophets and the Law. Yet what unity does he keep,
what love does he either maintain, or have a thought for, who,
maddened by the heat of discord, rends the Church, pulls
down faith, troubles peace, scatters charity, profanes the sa-
crament ?

14. This mischief, dearest brethren, had long before begun,
but in these days the dire havoc of this same evil has been
gaining growth, and the envenomed pest of heretical perverse-
ness and of schisms is shooting up and sprouting afresh ; for

Heresies and schisms the sign of the end of the icorld. 143

thus must it be in the end of the world, the Holy Spirit
having forespoken by the Apostle, and forewarned us. In 2 \im.3,
the last days, saith He, perilous times shall come, for nien^'
shall be lovers of their own selves, proud, boasters, covetous,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, nnthanlcj'ul, unholy,
u-ithotit natural affection, trucebreakcrs, false accusers, in-
continent, ^fierce, despisers of the good, traitors, heady, high
minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Of this sort
are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly tvomen
laden with sins, led away with divers lusts; ever learning,
and never corning to the knowledge of the truth. Now as
Jannes and Jambres ivithstood Moses, .so do these also resist
the truth ; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the
faith ; but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall
be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. Whatever things
were predicted, are in fulfdment ; and, as the end of time
draws nigh, they have come to us in ti'ial both of men and
times. As the adversary rages more and more, error deceives,
haughtiness lifts aloft, envy inflames, covetousness blinds,
unholiness depraves, pride puffs up, quarrels embitter, and
anger hurries men headlong. Let not however the extreme
and sudden faithlessness of many move and disturb us, but
rather let it give support to our faith, as the event was
declared to us beforehand. As some have become such,
because this was foretold beforehand, so (because this too was
foretold beforehand) let the other brethren take heed against
them, according as the Lord instructs us and says, But takeUAiUS,
ye heed; behold, I have told you all tilings. Do ye avoid
such men, I beseech you, and put away from beside you, and
from your hearing, their pernicious converse, as though a
deadly contagion; as it is written, Hedge thine ears about Ecdn%.
with thorns, and refuse to hear a wicked tongue. And again, y u'lj;. '
Evil communications corrupt good manners. The Lord 1 Cor.

/• \b 33

teaches and warns us, that we must withdraw ourselves from '
such. They he blind, saith He, leaders of the blind ; and //Mat. if.,
the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Who- ^^•
soever is separated from the Church, such a n:an is to be
avoided and fled from. Such an one is subverted and sinneth, Tit. 3,
being condemned of himself Thinks he that he is with

144 Warnings of Korah and of Uzziah.

Tn.AT. Christ, who does counter to the Priests of Christ? who sepa-

— '■ — rates himself from the fellowship of His clergy and people ?

That man boars arms against the Church, he withstands

God's appointment ; an enemy to the altar, a rebel against

the Sacrifice of Christ, for faith perfidious, for religion

sacrilegious, a servant not obedient, a son not pious, a brother

not loving, setting Bishops at nought, and deserting the

Priests of God, he dares to build another altar, to offer

another prayer with unlicensed words, to profane by false

Domi- sacrifices the truth of the Lord's Sacrifice. He is not per-

l"^*^ mitted to a knowledge of what he does, since he who strives

against the appointment of God, is punished by the divine

censure, for the boldness of his daring.

15. Thus Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who endeavoured to
maintain to themselves the privilege of sacrificing, in oppo-
sition to Moses and Aaron the Priest, forthwith paid
penalty for their attempts. The earth burst its fastenings,
and opened the depth of its bosom ; standing and alive, the
gulf of the parting ground swallowed them. Nor those only
who had been movers, did the wrath of an angered God
strike ; but the two hundred and fifty besides, partakers and
companions of the same madness, who had mixed with them
in their bold work, a fire going out from the Lord with speedy
vengeance consumed ; warning and manifesting, that that is
done against God, whatsoever evil men of human will endea-
vour, for the pulling down of God's ordinance. Thus also
Uzziah the king who bare the censer, and contrary to God's
law, did by violence take to himself to sacrifice, refusing to
be obedient and to give way when Azariah the Priest with-
stood him, he being confounded by the wrath of God, was
polluted by the spot of leprosy upon his forehead ; in that
part of his body was marked by his offended Lord, where they
are marked, who have the grace of the Lord assigned them.
The sons of Aaron also who put strange fire upon the altar,
which the Lord had not commanded, were speedily
consumed in the presence of their avenging Lord. AU
such are imitated and followed by them, who, despising
God's tradition, lust for strange doctrines, and give inlet
to ordinances of human imposition ; these the Lord rebukes
Mark 7, ^nd reprovcs in His Gospel, thus saying, Ye reject the

Confessorship as necessary proof of holiness. 145

commandment of God, that ye may establish yotir onn
tradition.

<^l6. This crime is worse, than that which the lapsed
appear to commit; who, at least, when in the condition of
penitents for their offence, seek their peace with God, by
full satisfactions. In this case the Church is enquired after
and ai^plied to ; in the other the Church is resisted : here there
may have been compulsion in guilt ; there free choice is
involved : the lapsed harms only himself, but one who
undertakes to raise heresy and schism, is a deceiver of
many, by leading them along with him. The one both un-
derstands that he has sinned, and laments and mourns it ; the
other, puffed up in his wickedness, and finding pleasure in his
own offences, separates sons from the Mother, entices sheep
from their shepherd, and disturbs the Sacraments of God.
And whereas the lapsed has committed one offence, the other
is an offender every day : lastly, the lapsed, if he be admitted
to martyrdom afterwards, may reap the promises of the king-
dom ; the other, if he be killed out of the Church, cannot
attain to the Church's rewards.

17. Neither let any one wonder, dearest brethren, that
some, even from among Confessors, adventure thus far: that
even from among them there are those who sin thus greatly,
and thus grievously. Confession does not make a man safe
from the crafts of the Devil, nor, while he is still jilaced
in this world, encompass him with perpetual security
against its temptations, and dangers, and assaults, and
shocks ; were it so, we should never witness in Confessors
those after-commissions of fraud, fornication, and adultery,
which we now groan and grieve at seeing in some of them.
Whosoever any Confessor may be, he is not a greater man
than Solomon, nor a better, nor one more dear to God : who,
nevertheless, so long as he walked in the ways of the Lord,
continued to be gifted with that grace which from the Lord
he obtained; but when he deserted the way of the Lord,
he lost the Lord's grace ; as it is written, And the Lord j Kings
raised up the Adversary against Solomon. It is for this i'' 14.
cause written, Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man^^y^s^
fake thy crown. This the Lord would not threaten, that the "•
crown of righteousness can be taken away, except because

L

22

14C Omfessorship a cull for hif/her obedience

T...M. when righteousness goes from us, the crown must go from
^- us also. Confession is the beginning of glory, not the full
m.-ri- price of the crown ; it is not the perfection of our praise,
'"'"• but the entrance upon our honours : and whereas it is writ-
Mat, lo, ten, ^<? that eiidurelh to the end shall be saved, all that is
^"^- before the end, is the stepping whereby one mounts toward
the height of salvation, not the close at where the full summit
is gained. If any is a Confessor, then his danger is the
greater after confession, because the Adversary is more pro-
voked ; if he is a Confessor, he ought the more truly to stand
with the Gospel of the Lord, since through the Gos])el he has
i.ukc 8. jrained his glory from the Lord : for the Lord says, To nhom
'"■ much is given, of him shall much be required; and to uhom
mm-e dignity is ascribed, of him more service is exacted. Let
none ever perish through a Confessor's example ; let none
pp,f,. leani injustice, insolence, or misbelief, from the manners of
aiam. ^ Confessor. If he is a Confessor, let him be humble and
quiet ; let him exercise in his conduct the modesty of a dis-
ciplined state, and being called a Confessor of Christ, let him
i\iat.23,imitate Christ whom he confesses. For since He says, Who-
^^' soever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall
humble himself shall be exalted ; and since Himself has been
Seimo. exalted by the Father, because being the Word, and Power,
and Wisdom of God the Father, He humbled Himself upon
earth, how can He love exaltation, having both commanded
humility from us by His law, and Himself received from the
Father a most excellent Name, as the reward of His humilia-
tion ? If any is a Confessor of Christ, he is such no more, if
the iiiaiesty and dignity of Christ is afterwards blasphemed
through him. The tongue that has confessed Chiist, must
not speak evil only, not be clamorous, not be heard dinning
with reproaches and quarrels, nor, afterwords of worship ,dart
servient's poison against the Brethren and the Priests of God.
But if a man afterwards becomes guilty and hateful, if he is
wasteful of his confession by an evil conversation, and blots
his lil'e bv a vile unholincss ; if, in fine, deserting that Church
in which he had become a Confessor, and rending the concord
pcifuiia. of imity, he transforms what was faith before, into faithless-
ness afterwards, he must not flatter himself on the score of his
Confession, that he is one elected to the reward of glory,

ayid an increase of glory to those who remain obedient. 147

since the desert of punishment is rendered greater on this
ground ; for the Lord chose Judas among the Apostles, and
yet Judas afterwards betrayed the Lord .

18. The faith and firmness of the Apostles did not there-
upon fall, because the traitor Judas was a deserter from their
fellowship; and thus neither here is the sanctity and dignity
of Confessors forthwith impaired, because the faith of certain
of them is broken. The blessed Apostle in his Epistle thus
speaks; For what if some did not helieve? shall their '^o^-'^>
unbelief make the faith of God without effect'^ God forbid :
yea, let God he true, hut every man a liar. The larger and
better part of the Confessors stands in the strength of their
faith, and in the truth of the law and discipline of the Lord.
Neither do they depart from the peace of the Church, who
bear in mind that in the Church they gained grace from
God's bounty; but hereby they reach a higher praise of faith,
because that separating from the faithlessness of persons, who perfidia.
were fellows with them in Confession, they withdrew from
the contagion of guilt; and illuminated by the true light of the
Gospel, overshone with pure and white brightness of the
Lord, they have praise in keeping Christ's peace, not less
than their victory, in combating the Devil.
)(iQ. It is my desire, dearest brethren, it is the end both of my
endeavours and exhortations, that, if it be possible, no one of
the Brethren may perish, but our rejoicing Mother may fold
within her bosom the one body of a people agreeing together:
but if saving counsel cannot recal to the way of salvatioji
certain leaders of schisms and authors of dissensions, who
abide on in their blind and obstinate madness, yet do the rest
of you w^ho are either betrayed through simplicity, or drawn
on by error, or deceived through some artfulness of a canning
craftiness, release yourselves from the toils of deceitfulness,
free your wayward steps from their wanderings, submit to
that straight path which leads to heaven ! It is the word of
the Apostle uttering witness ; We command you, he says, in 2 Tiiess.
the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw your-' '
selves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not
after the tradition that he hath received from us. And
again he says, Let no man deceive you with vain words; /«;Epli..5,
because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the

L 2

148 Peace and unanimity the Jirst principles of Christian life.
J nr AT. children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with

X

them. We must withdraw from them that go astray, nay
rather must flee from theui, lest any joining himself with
those who walk evilly, and going in ways of en'or and guilt,
should himself lose the true path, and be found in an equal
guilt. There is One God, and One Christ, and His Church
One, and the Faith One, and a people joined in solid oneness
of body by a cementing concord. cHJnity cannot be sundered,
nor can one body be divided by a dissolution of its structui'e,
nor be cast piecemeal abroad with vitals torn and lacerated.
Pai'ted from the womb, nothing can live and breathe in
its separated state; it loses its princi2;)le of health. The Holy

]'s. ?A, Spirit warns us and says, IVliat man is he that histeth to live,

12. i.{. ^^^^f n-oit/d fain see good days? Refrain thy tongue from evil,
and llnj lijis that they speak no ynile. Eschew evil and do
good, seek peace and ensue it. Peace ought the son of peace
to seek and to ensue ; he who understands and cherishes the
bond of charity, should refrain his tongue from the evil of
dissent. Amongst His divine commands and saving instruc-

John i4,tions, the Lord now nigh to passion spoke this beside; Peace

^'" / le((ve nifh you, My peace I give unto yon. This is the
legacy which Christ has given us; all the gifts and rewards
which He foretokens to us. He promises to the preserving of
peace. If we are Christ's heirs, let us abide in the peace of
Christ; if we are sons of God we ought to be peacemakers;

IM It. 5, Blessed, He says, are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the sons of God. The sons of God ought to be peace-
makers, mild in heart, simple in word, agreed in feelings,
faithfully entwining one with another by links of unanimity.
Under the A])ostles of old there was this oneness of mind; it
was thus that the new congregation of believers, keeping the
commandments of the Lord, preserved its charity. Divine

Acu 1, Scripture proves it, which says, The multitude of them that
believed irere of one heart and of one soul: and again;

Acts 1, These all co)ttinued niih one mind in prayer with theuomen,
and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and nith His brethren.
Therefore they prayed with ellectual prayers, and were with
confidence enabled to obtain whatsoever they required of the
Lord's uiercy.

'20. I5ut in us mianimity has as greatly fallen away, as has

Decay of bountifuhcess as icell as of unanimiti/. 149

b'ountifulness in works of charity decayed. Then they gave opera-
houses and lands for sale, and laying up for themselves ^'°"'*'
treasures in heaven, offered the price to the Apostles to be
distributed for the uses of the needy. But now we give not
even the tithes from our property, and while the Lord bids us
to sell, we rather buy and heap up. It is thus that the
vigour of our faith has waxed faint, and the strength of the
believers has languished; and hence the Lord, looking to our
times, says in His Gospel, When the Son of Man comet h, l-uke
shall He fnd faith on the earthf We see come to pass that '
which He foretold. In the fear of God, in the law of righte-
ousness, in love, in good works, our faith is nought. No man opere.
from fear of things to come, gives heed to the day of the Lord
and the anger of God; none considers the punishments which
will come on the unbelieving, and the eternal torments ap-
pointed to the fiiithless. What our conscience would fear if it
believed, that, because nowise believing, it fears not: if it
believed, it would take heed ; if it took heed, it would escape.
Let us awaken ourselves, dearest brethren, what we can, and
breaking off the slumber of our old slothfulness, let us be
watching, for observance and fulfilment of the Lord's com-
mands. Let us be such as He bade us be when He said.
Let your loins he girded about, and your lamps burning, Luke
and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, '
ichen He tvill return from, the tvedding, that tchen He
Cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him: blessed are
those servants, ivhom their Lord, tchen He cometh, shall find
watching. We need to be girded about, lest when the day
of march cometh, He find us hindered and impeded. Let our
light shine in good works, let it so beam forth, as to be our
guide out of this night below, into the brightness of eternal
day. Let us ever in anxiety and cautiousness be awaiting
the sudden advent of the Lord, that when He knockcth our
faith may be on the watch, and gain from the Lord the
reward of its watchfulness. If these connnandments are
observed, if these warnings and precepts are kept, we can
never be overtaken in slumber by the deceit of the Devil,
but shall reign, as servants who watch, in the kingdom of
Christ.

150 On the linlij of I In- ('Inirch.

Nole on p. 1.33, 134.

TIu' translation of this passajije is made from Fell's text, from
which the Benedictine remarkably differs. How and under what cir-
cumstances shall be mentioned presently; first, however, the point of
controversy between Rome and ourselves should be clearly under-
stood, on which it bears. Our divines then (in controversy with
Romanists) consider that the Church is one, and that, as there is
but one Bishop Invisible, so in theory there is but one visible
Bishop, the type of the Invisible, how many soever tliere actually
are; each separate individual Bisho]) being but a reiteration of
every other, and as if but one out of innumerable shadows cast by
one and the same Object; each being sovereign and supreme over
the whole flock of Christ, as if there were none other but himself.
Such is the Iheorjj of the Apostolical system; but in order to avoid
the differences of opinion and action, and consequent schism, which
the actual midtiplicity of governors would occasion, certain eccle-
siastical regulations have from the first been observed, accommo-
dating the abstract theory to the actual state of human nature, as
we find it. First, Bishops have been restrained, as regards Christ's
flock, into local districts called Dioceses; next as regards each otlier,
by the institution of Synodal meetings or Councils, the united
decisions of which bind each Bishop as if it was his own individual
decision ; and moreover, still for the sake of order, by prescribed
rules of precedence. Such seems to be our view of the Church, and
accordmgly our controversy with the Romanist lies in this,
whether these regulations are part of the mere ecclesiastical system
and for the observance of order, or whether they are essentially
part of the strictly divine framework and means or conditions
of grace; whether, whereas both the Episcopal and Ecclesiastical
provisions come from the Apostles, both are immutable, or
the latter accidental only and discretionary. The Roman
Schools consider both to belong to the revealed system, the
English only the former. Accordingly when St. Peter is said
to be the head of the Church, whether in Scripture or
the Fathers, we interpret it of his representing the abstract
Bishop, the one and only Ruler who is put over the household,
that which each Bishop is by office, nay, and is actually, except
so far as he is shackled by what may be called the byelaA.s
of the Divine Polity; Roman Catholics, however, understand
tliat title of him as an ac/iial head of the actual Apostles, not
merely as representing them, nor as taking rank before them in the
system of order, but as really governing them. Ihey make
St. Peter the real centre of unity, we the emphatic i7nage and
lesson of it; they make St. Peter's Chair, the Holy Roman See, a
necessary inslrumcnt of grace, we a sijmbol; we make every Bishop
the real centre, they the one Bishop wlio succeeds in the Apostle's
seat; we make schism and separation from Christ lie in opposing
our liislioj), they in opposing the Bishop of Rome. After this
intr<)(hu-tion, perhaps it will appear that it does not matter a great
deal which reading is taken in the passage under consideration.

On tlieJL-^/iHt/ of the (7u(n;h. 151

as our own view is as compatible or almost so with the Bene-
dictine as with Fell's text. However, it will also appear, that Fell's
has the weight of authority on its side. The Benedictine text
then runs thus, the differences from Fell's being placed within
brackets: — " The Lord saith unto Peter: / say tuilo ihee, (saith
He,) that thou tu't Peter, Sec." To him again, after His resur-
rection. He says, " Feed My sheep." Upon him being one He
builds His Church, \_a\\d. commits to him His sheep to feed.]
And thougli He gives to all the Apostles [[after His resurrection]
an eqvial power, and says. As My Father sent Me, so S^c. yet
in order to manifest unity. He has by His own authority placed
the source of the same unity as beginning from one. Certainly
the other Apostles also were what I'eter was, endued witli an equal
fellowship both of honour and power, but a commencement
is made from unity, [[and primacy is given to Peter that the
Church of Christ may be set forth as oue, and the See (Cathedra)
as one. And they all are shepherds, yet the flock is shewn to
be one, such as to be fed by all the Apostles with unanimous
agreement] that the Church [[of Christ] may be set forth as one.
Which our Church, &c. &c. He who strives against and resists
the Church, [he who deserts the See of Peter, on whomtlie Church
is founded,] is he assured that he is in the Chvn'ch?" ^-c. — Here
then, with reference to what has been said above, the question
between us and Roman Catholics would be, whether, admitting this
text to be genuine, " the See of Peter" be a figurative name for any
see, a designation of the one abstract chair of the one Bishop, (and
so, accordingly to the drift of the Treatise, applicable against Feli-
cissimus in Africa who opposed S. Cyprian, as well as against Nova-
tian in Rome who opposed Cornelius,) or whether it means litei-ally
the Roman See, i. e. the See of the Successors of S. Peter. But to
proceed to the history of the Benedictine reading. The additions
it contains are not found in the first editions of Cyprian (representing
probably very ancient and independent MSS.) between A. D.
1471 — 1563, viz. one at Rome in 1^1 \, one at Venice in the same
year, one without date or place, one at Paris 1512, (according to
the Benedictines, a very accurate edition, and agreeing with the
MSS. when other editions had changed for the worse,) that of
Erasmus, Basle 1520, one at Cologne 1520, of Gravius (a very
learned Dominican) at Cologne 1544, (in which fresh MSS. were
consulted,) y\ntwerp 1541, and 1542, Venice 1547, and in which
list reprints are not included. Nor are the additions found in
two extant MSS. each more than a thousand years old. Nor
are they found in eight of the Vatican MSS; and Haluzius num-
bered up twenty-seven which he had seen, in which they Avere
wanting. Bp Fell mentions nine English MSS. and one of Bene-
ventum, which are without the additions. '1 he jjassage is quoted
without them by Pope Callixtus H. in the twelfth century, by
the meeting of Cardinals at Liburnum in tlie fifteenth, and by the
Roman correctors, after Manutius had inserted it in his edition.
They appear moreover to have been unknown to the German
MSS. in the age of Venericus, (A.D. 1080.) For these reasons
Baluzius omitted them in his edition of S. Cyprian's works in the

152 On the I 'nit !/()/' t/ic C/iurch.

Ti.Kvi In-i- inning of the eighteenth century; but on his dying suddenly
V. while the work was jiassing through the press, the Benedictines,

into whose liands it came, retaining his note in which he gave his

reasons against them, cancelled the leaf in the text and restored
them, giving as their reason, that the additions had been preserved
in all the editions which liad a})peared in France for the 150
years beft)re their time. The history of the additions is as
follows; Manutius first gave them to the world in 1563 on the
authority of one \^•^tican MS. Iligaltius characterizes which as
'' imjjerfect and corrupt." Three'other MSS. of S. Cyprian have
been discovered to contain them, one at Bologna, one at the Abbey of
Cambron, and one in Bavaria. Fell mentions four others which
had come under his own inspection, two being in the Bodleian.
Thov occur moreover in a MS. belonging to Marcellus II. a Pope
of Manutius'stime, and are cited in a MS. letter of Pope Pelagius II.
the one MS. however, extant of that letter, belonging, at the
earliest, to the beginning of the twelfth century, (A.D. SQO,) and in
Gratian's Collection of Canons, (A.D. 1 130.) On the other hand,
in one place of Gratian (Cans. 24. quaest. 1.) where the passage is
(pioted at length, there is no trace of the additions; in the other
Distinct.y,". c. 'A. according to a marginal note in the old edition, they
;ire referred, Fell observes, not to this Treatise, but to S. Cypi'ian's
letter to Florentius Pupianus. It may beobserved also, that the MSS.
which contain these additions for the mostpart vary, containing some
more, some less; and in different order. In one of the Bodleian
co])ies, the text is given twice over, once wath, and once without,
the interi)olation. Latinius (cjuoted by Baluzius) says that the ad-
ditions in this place were brought into the text from summai'ies in
the margin, and that not at one time; he instances one such
addition in a MS. of Cardinal Hosius, mentioned by Pamelius, in
which the words, " In this place the primacy is given to Peter,"
were incorporated in the text, which would account for the
additions, without any imputation of dishonesty. Of Editors of
S. Cyprian, Pamelius follows Manutius in inserting them; Morel
omits tlicm; and Ivigaltius gives them up in the notes, but admits
them into the text. Baluzius also, it would seem, spoke more
strongly against tliem, than his words now stand; the Benedictines
confessing, that they were obliged to " alter not a few things in
his notes, and that they would have altered more if they could
conveniently."

TREATISE VI.

ON THE LAPSED.

[S. C}'prian wrote this Treatise A.D. 251, or 252, iauuediately on the ter-
mination of the short but sharp persecution under Decius, with the view of
inciting those Christians who had lapsed in the course of it to a true and
thorough repentance. Such an exhortation was the more necessary, be-
cause the party of Felicissimus, who lias already been mentioned, oflFered
thorn comnuuiion with themselves, if they would accept it, on easier
terms.]

Peace, dearest brethren, we see restored to the Church;
and while weak behevers thought it not likely, and false ones
impossible, by God's help and defence, our safety is reesta-
blished. Our minds are recovering their cheerfulness ; and after
a season of trouble the cloud has dispersed, and the sunshine
succeeds of tranquillity and calmness. We must yield praise
to God, and celebrate His bounties and gifts with thanksgiving ;
though from giving thanks not throughout the persecution
hath our voice desisted. The enemy can never so avail, but
that we who love the Lord with all our heart and soul and
strength, will at all times and in all places tell out the adora-
tion of His blessedness and praise.

2. Day has arrived, the desire of all our thoughts ; and
alter a long night of dreadful and miserable darkness, light
from the Lord issues forth, and gives its radiance upon the
world. Confessors, bright in the honours of an unsidlied
name, and glorious in the praise of virtue and faith,
we with joyful countenances beliold ; we salute, with an
holy kiss; we embrace after many longings, with infinite
delight. Soldiers of Christ are before us, a whitcrobcd army,

154 Triumph of the Confessors and the Upright after persecution.

ThEAT. \\hose firm encounter broke the fierce assault of the perse-
—^^1:— cution which was upon them, men prepared to endure a
prison, and armed to imdergo death. Manfully have ye
fought against the m orld ; a glorious spectacle you have been
in the sight of God, and an example to brethren, who shall
follow in your track. Tliat conscientious voice hath said
the Name of Christ, which had already made confession of
ilivinis His Creed; those honoured hands, used to no Service but
JP^'' that of God, would nought of the sacrifices of the sacrilegious ;
those mouths sanctified by heavenly food, after the Body
and Blood of the Lord, loathed the profane contagion and
the relics of idol-feasts; from the impious and sinful veil",
which covered the heads of those who were led to sacri-
fice, your heads have continued free ; the forehead which,
purified by the mark divine, was unable to sufller the Devil's
crown, has reserved itself for the crown of the Lord. How
joyfully does Mother Church receive you into her bosom,
returning from the battle ! With what bliss, what gladness,
does she open her gates, that you may enter in united
squadrons, carrying the trophies of a prostrate foe ! With the
men \\ho triumjih, come women also, who, in fighting against
this world, have even triumphed over their sex ; virgins too
appear, twice glorious in warfare, and boys, whose virtues
Stan- mount higher than their years. There is besides an upright
multitude, attendant on your honours, who accompany your
steps with insignia of merit, proximate and almost conjoined.
Theirs is a like sincerity of heart, a like fast faith untouched.
Leaning on the im^jregnable foundation of the heavenly pre-
cepts, and strong in the evangelic traditions, no exile de-
noimced, no threatened torments, no penalties of estate or
person occasioned them a fear. The term for making trial of
their faith had been limited ; but limits of time are little
heeded by him, who remembers that he has renounced the
world ; and earthly seasons become mireckoncd, when eternity
is hoped for from God. Let no one, dearest brethren, let no

» The veiled head was the sisin of In inspired Scripture we read of Moses

Roman worship, .lineas, according to veiling his face, a typical reason heing

Virgil, having introduced it from Phry- added, vid. 1 Cor. xi. 4. 2 Cor. iii. l.S.

gia. vid. ,'En. iii. 4();5— 9. .'>45. The In Greek worship no veil was worn,

Eastern Priests ohsen-ed the same nor in such of the Latin as came from

custom, vid. Hvde Rel. Pers. c. 30. Greece.

tium.

Diaichack iqwn their Tritmip/i. 155

one dispraise such merit ; no one lower by unkind detraction
the unimpaired fidelity of such as did not fall. When the ap-stan-
pointed term for recanting was over, whoever had not made^'"'"'
his submission within the time, was understood to confess
himself a Christian. It is the highest kind of victory, for
a man to be seized by the hands of the Gentiles, and to confess
the Lord; it is the next step unto glory, to reserve himself to the
Lord, by withdrawing away beforehand. The former is publicly
and the latter privately a Confessor. The one conquers an
earthly judge; the other, contenting himself with God's
judgment, preserves a pure conscience in integrity of heart.
In the former case courage enjoys a readier employment; in
the latter self-caution a longer exercise : the one, when his
hour approached, was found prepared ; the other who post-
poned it, relinquishing his property, did shew by his retiring,
that he would not recant; no doubt he would have made
Confession, had he too been seized.

3. These heavenly crowns of Martyrs, these spiritual ex-
cellences of Confessors, these great and eminent attainments
of brethren who stand upright, are saddened by one cause ofstan-
grief, which is, that the violence of the enemy has torn from"""'"
us a portion of our own bowels, and cast it away in his
devastating cruelty. How, dearest brethren, shall I rule
myself on this point.'' Amidst the changeful tide of feeling,
with what words or in what manner shall I speak to you ?
Tears more than words are wanted, to express the pain with
which we have to mourn this blow to our community, and
lament the manifold losses of a once numerous society. For
who has so hard or iron an heart, who is so lost to brotherly
love, as amidst the manifold dismembennent among us, and
standing amongst the melancholy and disfigured remnants, to
refrain his eyes from weeping, and not rather in the out-
breaking of grief to express with tears before words, the
sorrow that he feels within? I grieve, brethren, I grieve
with you ; my own truth, my individual stedfastness, offers
no flattering beguilement of my pain ; for no blow so reaches
the shepherd as that which falls upon his flock. I join my
breast to each, I partake the sad weight of sorrow and
mourning. I lament with them that lament; I weep with them
that weep; I feel myself prostrate amongst the fallen. Those

156 Corruption oftkc diunhfrom Ioikj peace.

Tio AT. darts of the Ibe who grappled us, have pierced my limbs;

^''' through my body those cruel swords have gone. Amid the

blow of persecution my mind could not remain independent,

and unaffected; in the fall of my brethren, I too have suffered

downfal.

4. Still, brethren beloved, the cause of truth must be kept
in view; and we must not allow the gathered darkness of
this fearful persecution so to blind our mind and understand-
ing, as to leave nothing of light and illumination, for the
jjerceiving of what God requires. If we apprehend the cause
of our losses, we have then a remedy for the blow. It has
pleased the Lord to prove His family; and as long repose''
had con-upted the discipline which had come down to us
from Him, the Divine judgment awakened our faith from
a declining, and, should I so speak, an almost slumber-
ing state; and whereas we deserved yet more for our sins,
the most merciful Lord hath so moderated all, that what has
past has seemed rather a trial of what we were, than an actual
infliction. Every one was applying himself to the increase
of wealth; and forgetting both what was the conduct of
believers under the Apostles, and what ought to be their
conduct in every age, they with insatiable eagerness for gain'
devoted themselves to the multiplying of possessions. The
Priests were wanting in religious devotedness, the ministers
in entireness of faith ; there was no mercy in works,
no discipline in manners. Men wore their beards dis-
figured, and women distained their complexion with a
dye. The eyes were changed from what God made them,
and a lying coloin* was passed upon the hair. The hearts
of the simple were misled by treacherous artifices, and
brethren became entangled in seductive snares; ties of mar-
riage were formed \\'\\h unbelievers ; members of Christ
abandoned to the heathen. Not only rash swearing was
heard, but even false ; persons in high place were swoln
with contemptuousness, poisoned reproaches fell from their
mouths, and men were sundered by unabating quairels.
Numerous Bishops, who ought to be an encouragement and

•• Thirty-eight years in Africa, ac- a similar neglect of religious duties in

cording to Sulpieius, viz. from Severus Alexandria A. D. 223 ; twelve years

to Decius, (A. D. 212— 250.) vid. Fell, after the death of Severus.

' Origen (in Geu. Horn, x.) speaks of

Consequent defection in the persecution. 157

example to others, despising their sacred calling, engaged
themselves in secular vocations, relinquished their Chair,
deserted their people, strayed among foreign provinces,
hunted the markets for mercantile profits ; tried to amass
large sums of money, while they had brethren starving vrithin
the Church, took possession of estates by fraudulent proceed-
ings, and multiplied their gains by accumulated usuries.

5. For sins like these what do we not deserve to
suffer, after warning and word of divine judgment already
given ? If they forsake My law, and icalk not in My judy- pg 39
7nents, if they break My siati(tes,and keep not My coinniand-'^^-
ments, I will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their
sins tvith scourges. These things were afore declared and
predicted. But we, becoming mindless of the rule and con-
duct assigned to us, have been acting in so guilty a wise,
that from our contempt of the Lord's commandments we are,
by remedies the more severe, reduced to a correction of our
sins, and test of our faith. Neither at the last were we so
turned to the fear of the Lord, as to submit ourselves with
patience and fortitude to this His rebuke and trial upon us.
At the first voice of threat from the enemy, a large number of
brethren betrayed their faith ; not being thrown down by the
actual persecution, but throwing down themselves by a volun-
tary fall. Tell me, what unusual, whatnew thing had happened,
that as if at an event unheard of and unimagined, the vow to
Christ was broken with this precipitous rashness ? Did not the
Prophets of old, did not the Apostles after them, declare
these things ? Did they not predict, full of the Holy Spirit,
the sufferings of the just and the cruelties of the heathen ?
Does not the Holy Scriptvn-e say, which is ever giving
weapons to our faith, and heartening Cod's servants by its
heavenly voice; Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Deut. 6,
Him only shall thou serve? And again, manifesting thcj^j^^ ^
greatness of the wrath of God, and warning us of the 10.
dreadfulncss of His punishments, says it not further; They is. 2,8,
tcorsliip litem lohom their fingers have made; and the mean"
man hoiveth doitm, and the great man humhlelh, himself, and
I will forgive them not ? And again, God speaks and says,
He that sacrificeth unto any God, save unto the Lord only, hev,xo^\,
shall utterly be destroyed. ^^' ~^"

15S Voluntary sacrijicings on heathen altars.

itiFAT. (5. In the Gospel likewise afterward, the Lord, Instructor by

^Ilis words, and Fulfillor by His deeds, teaching what to do,

and doing all which lie taught, did He not before advise us
of all that is now happening, or is yet to happen ? Did He
not assign eternal penalty to them that deny Him, and
rewards imto salvation to them that confess ? Alas ! there
are, from whom all this is fallen and passed out of memory.
They did not even wait to be aiTested before they went up,
or questioned before they made their denial. Many were
they that fell before the fight, laid low without meeting the
foe, and not even leaving it to themselves to seem unwilling in
sacrificing to the idols. They ran to the jNIarketplace of
their own accord, of their own will they hasted to their
death ; as if they had always wished it, as if embracing
an opportunity, to which they had all along been looking.
How many, whom the magistrates put off at the time, through
press of nightfall, and how many who even entreated that their
undoing might not be delayed ! How can any one make violence
an excuse for his guilt, when the violence was rather on his
own part, and to his own destruction ? When they came (thus
willingly) to the Capitol'', when they spontaneously submitted
themselves to the commission of that dreadful deed, was there
no tottering in the limbs, no blackness upon the face, no
sickness of the heart and collapsing of the arras ? Did not the
senses die, the tongue cleave, and speech fail ? CoiUd the
Servant of God stand there, and speak, and renounce Christ,
he who before had renounced the Devil and the world ^? The

aia. altar where he went to perish, was it not a funeral-pile ?

aliare. I-'rom an altar of the Devil, which he witnessed in the smoke
and redolence of its vile odour, ought he not to shudder at it
and flee otf, as from the deatli and sepulchre of his existence '^.
'Why bring an oftering, wretched man, why present a victim,

aras. for slaughter .? You arc yourself an offering for the altar, you
are yourself come as a victim : you have slaughtered there
your own salvation, your hope ; your faith was burnt in those
funereal flames.

7. Many, however, were unsatisfied with doing destruction

^ It waa usual in the provincial e An allusion to the solemn question

cities to give the Roman name to the asked at Baptism, vid. supr. iv. G. and

citadel. Thus we read of a Capitol a( I Pet. 3, 21.
Capua, Verona, Treves, &c.

Aggravations of the guilt. 15JJ

n]3on themselves ; men were urged to their ruin by mutual en-
couragements, and the fatal cup of death was offered from
mouth to mouth. That nothing might be wanting to their
load of guilt, even infants in their parents' arms, carried or led,
were deprived while yet tender of what was granted them in
the commencement of life. Will not these children in the
day of judgment say, " We did no sin ; it was not our will to
hasten from tlie Bread and Cup of the Lord*^, to an unhallowed
pollution. We perish through unfaithfulness not our own, perfidia.
and our parents on earth have robbed us of the parentage in
heaven: they forfeited for us the Church as a Mother, and
God as a Father ; and thus while young and unaware, and
ignorant of that grievous act, we are included in a league
of sin by others, and perish through their deceit."

8. Neither, alas ! is there any equal and weighty motive, to
excuse so grievous an act. A man had to leave his country,
and suffer loss of his property ; yet who can be born and die,
and not one day either be leaving his native land, or suffei'ing
loss of his possessions ? Only, let him not leave Christ ; let the
loss of salvation and of the home eternal be his dread. Lo,
the Holy Spirit cries out by the Prophet, Depart ye, go ye out is. 52,
from thence, tench no unclean thing ; go ye out from the '
midst of her, he ye clean, that hear the vessels of the Lord.
Yet those who are vessels of the Lord and the Temple of God,
to escape touching the unclean thing, and being polluted and
violated by a deadly food, will not come out from the midst,
nor depart. Elsewhere likewise the voice is heard from
heaven, afore instructing what the Servants of God ought to
do, and saying. Come out of her, My people, that ye he not^^^A^,
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
He who comes out and departs, becomes not a partaker of the
sin: but whoever is found a companion in the guilt, will be
sharer of the plagues. Hence it is that the Lord conmiands
us in persecution to retire and escape*, both teaching us to

' Vid. ini'r. ^. 16. persecution, (vid. Ath. Apo!.dcfu^^'.)nii(l

g The Bishops of the Church were, S. Polycarp before them. The text, on

as was natural, the chief objects of which these great authorities seem to

attack in the persecution. Fabian of have rested, is Mat. 10, 2."{. and the pre-

Rome wa.s martyred. Others, among cedents of our Lord's flight into Egypt

whom was S. Cyprian and S. Diony- and St. Paul's from Damascus. S. Au-

sius of Alexandria, fled. In like man- gustine on the other hand, while re-

ner S. Athanasius fled in the Arian cognizing the dutv of flight under the

160 Voluntary poverty the way to Confessorship.

Til. AT. do thus, and Himself doing it. For as the Crown is conferred
^^' at God's good pleasure, and can only be enjoyed, when
the hour comes for accepting it, the man who continuing in
Christ withdraws himself for a season, is not a denier of the
faith, but only awaits until his time. But one who would
not depart and then fell, remained that lie might deny it.

9. Dearest brethren, truth must not be hid, neither ought I
to conceal the matter and cause of the blow we have under-
gone. It was blind love for their wealth that deceived many,
for they could have no readiness nor ease in moving away,
when their property was as a chain that fastened them. It
was that bondage that confined them back, these the shackles,
by which virtue was clogged, and faith weighed down, the
mind fettered, the soul imprisoned, in order that they, whose
desire is earthward, might become spoil and food to that
Serpent, who, according to God's sentence, doth feed on
the dust. It is therefore that the Lord saith, the Teacher of
good things, and shewing knowledge unto the time to come ;
JftJiou wilt he perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give In
the poor, and thou sh(dt hare treasure in heaven : and come
and follow Me. If rich men did thus, they would not be lost
through their riches, but laying up a treasure in heaven,
would have no enemy at home to master them. If the trea-
sure were in heaven, in heaven would heart, thoughts, and
feeling be ; nor could this world conquer those, who possessed
nothing in this world, wherewith to be conquered. A man
would Ibllow the Lord in freedom and liberty, as the A];)ostles
did, and many under them ; nay, not a ievr, who, deserting
their parents and their all, united themselves to Christ by ties
inseparable. How can men thus follow Christ, when their
possessions are as a chain that holds them back ? or how
look heavenward, and mount to things that are above
and aloft, when earthly longings ^^•eigh them down ? They
think they are masters of that by which themselves are

circumstances in which S. Cyprian, &c. ttce ; or again, when there arc others

found themselves, yet on the ground of left to take his ministerial duties ; but,

John 10, '22. thought it wrong in Bishops when all the Church is equally em-

to retire from their posts on the approach perilled, or there is no one but he to

of the Vandals ; laying down the fol- perform the rites of Baptism, Absolu-

lowing rule: — that when an individual tion, &c. then he is to remain at his

Bishop is aimed at, and not the people, post. vid. Ep. 228.
he oufiht, even for the sake of peace, to

A defection excusable in the midst of torture. 161

masters, servants of gain, and bondmen mider money, rather
than its owners. It was these days and these men, that were
signified by the Apostle, when he says, But they that will he iTim.e,
rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish j^^^^,
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and per- Pi''""?-
dition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which 2. ei.'
while some have coveted, they have erred from the faith, and
pierced themselves through icith many sorrows. But with
what promises doth not the Lord invite us to a contempt of
worldly wealth ! The light and brief sacrifices of this
present time, with what plentifulness does He compensate !
There is no m,an, saith He, that leaves house, or land, or Mark 10,
parents, or brethren, or u-ife, or children, for the kingdom of
God's sake, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this
time, and in the world to come life everlasting. If we know
these things, and ascertain them on the truth of that Lord
who gives the promise, loss of this kind ought not only never
to be feared, but it should even be wished for ; for the Lord
Himself again sets forth and discovers to us ; Blessed are ye, Luke 6,
when men shall persecute you, and when they shall separate '
you from their company, and cast out your name as evil, for
the Son of ManbS sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for
joy ; for, behold, your reward is great in heaven.

10. Torments however were ensuing, and grievous suffering
was to be expected by those who resisted. He, indeed, may
complain of torments, who has suffered till he has been over-
come by them ; there is excuse in what he endures, if he has
given way beneath it ; he may then offer petition and say, —
" I did indeed wish to fight boldly, I remembered my vow, and sacra-
took up the weapons of devotion and faithfiilness, but ^vhile "'®"^'-
I was contending in the struggle, my successive torments and
protracted pains became too much for me. My mind con-
tinued stedfast, and my faith kept its coiu-age ; my spirit
long wrestled, unswerving, with the torturing penalties. But
when my most hard Judge's cruelty again freshened, and my
body was tired and wearied out, and the scourges lashed me,
clubs bruised me, the rack strained me, the iron claw dug into
me, and the flame scorched me, the flesh fell short in the effort,
the infirmity of my frame yielded, and my body, not my mind,
gave way beneath the suffering." Such plea as this will find

M

162 Vif/orous measures necessary against the lapsed.

Treat, its ready compliance ; such an excuse will be attended with
^'^' pity. It was tluis that one time the Lord shewed mercy to
Castus and Ii^milius; thus, that having been worsted in the
first struggle, He in the second fight enabled them to conquer:
baffled by the flames, amongst the flames they overcame,
and triumphed in the scene of their subdual. Their petition
was the entreaty not of tears but wounds, not the mere word
of c(ini})laint, but the rending and suflerings of the body.
Their bloodsliedding was in the place of weeping, and flowed
from the scorched frame in exchange for tears. But what
wounds are there now to be shewn by those who haNc made
surrender, what seam in the gashed body or torturing of the

pcrfidia. limbs, where faith did not fall in fighting, but faithlessness

prevented the fight ? A wrong act, when there has been a

fi-ee will in committing it, can have no excuse in compulsion.

11. I speak not thus, in order to put burthen in their

present circumstance upon the brethren, but as one who

precem would Urge them to make their peace the more by prayer.

tbnU^'^ For, since it is written. They icho call you happy cause you to

ls.i,\2.err, and destroy the icay of your paths, he who sooths the
sinner by a flattering gentleness, supplies the seeds of future
sinning, and does not stifle, but feeds transgression. But
he who with manlier counsel, at once rebukes and instnicts his

Rev. 3, brother, is leading him to salvation. As many as I love,
saith the Lord, / rebuke and chasten. In the same way
should God's priest, not mislead by treacherous compliances,
but use the remedies that will end in health. It is an ill-in-
structed physician, that puts a sparing hand to the swoln
edges of wounds, and collects the virus deep within the body
by not expelling it. The wound must be opened and pierced,
and the more powerful restoratives be applied of cutting away
the ulceration. He may call, and he may shriek, and complain
of us, sick man, impatient through the pain ; but he will be
thankful afterwards, when he feels he is cured. There has in
fact, dearest brethren, a new S])ecies of havoc made its appear-
ance, and as if the storm of persecution had not ravaged to the
full, we find added to the load a deceitful mischief and fair-
seeming pestilence, under the title of mercy. Contrary to the
vigour of the Gospel, contrary to the law of our Lord and
God, by the bold conduct of some heedless persons, terms of

Sin of their jmrtaking of the Eucharist before penance. 163

intercourse are opened, a peace void and vain, perilous to
them who grant, and of no use to them who enjoy it. They
do not look for a patient return to health, and the true medicine
which lies in making amends. Repentance is driven forth from de satis-
men's breasts, and the recollection put aside of their most '^^"'°"®*
heinous and extreme offence. The wounds of the dying are
covered over, and a fatal blow, resting in the depth and
secrecy of the vitals, has a veil of concealment drawn over its
poignancy. Men turn from the altars of Satan to the Holy Sanctum
Thing of the Lord, with foul and tainted hands ; still over- ^^"ra^'^*
charged with the poisonous idol-feasts, their jaws breathing v. 7. infr.
their crime, and fresh from the deadly infection, they invade
the Body of the Lord, in despite of IToly Scripture, its
resisting voice and word ; TJicy that he clean shall eat of the Levit. 7,
flesh ; hilt the soul that eaietlt of the flesh of the sacrifices of '
the peace-offerings, that pertain unto the Lord, having his
uncleanness upon him., even that soul shall he cut off from his
people : while the Apostle likewise bears witness, saying,
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils ; i Cor.
ye cannot he partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of ' '
Devils ; and he further threatens and denounces the stubborn
and perverse, saying. Whosoever eateth the bread or drinketh l t'<""-
the cup of the Lord unworthily, is guilty of the Body and
Blood of the Lord. In scorn and dishonour of all this,
a violence is offered to His Body and Blood, and they
sin more now against the Lord, with hand and mouth, than
when they were denying Him. Without expiating their
crimes, without making confession'' of their sin, before they
have purged the conscience by the sacrifice and hand
of the Priest, before appeasing the resentment of an angered
and threatening Lord, they think that is peace, which
some with false words are vending. It is not peace,
but war ; for he is not joined to the Church, who is sepa-
rated from the Gospel. Why call that a kindness, which is
an injury ? or why assign to profaneness the title of piety ?
Why, when men ought to be weejung continually and making
entreaty to their Lord, do they interrupt the sonowing of
their repentance, and pretend to receive them into com-

h Exoinologfsiii. The pu1)lic confes- times, vid. Hooker, Ecfles. Pol. vi. 4.
sion in Church which ol.tiiined in early §. G. Dinghain Antiq. xviii. S.

M'2

1 64 God alone jHintuns sin : the ( '/i urch cannotheyondher commission .

iniAT. iinuiion? Their mercies are like the mercies of hail to the
.XL- corn, the storm-star to the trees, a wasting pestilence to the
flocks, and a fierce tempest to shipping. They rob them
of the comfort of the eternal hope, they overthrow the
tree from its roots, they help on a deadly contagion through
baneful words, and dash the vessel upon the rocks, so that it
gain not the harbour. Facility like this does not give peace,
but takes it away ; instead of conferring comuumion, it is an
impediment to salvation. It is a fresh persecution and a new
temptation, by which the subtle enemy cames forward his
secret dei)oi)ulation of the lapsed, setting lamentation at
rest, silencing sorrow, blotting out the remembrance of the
offence, smotheiing sighs within the breast, staunching
the flow of tears, and ceasing with long and full repent-
ance to deprecate that Lord whom they have deeply offended,
Kev.2, though it be written, Remember from whence thou art fallen,

,t"£.- '^"'f repent.

liam. 12. Let no man deceive, no man beguile himself. The

Lord only can have mercy. He alone can grant a pardon for
sins which against Himself have been committed, who bare
our sins, who grieved for us, whom God delivered for our
offences. Man cannot be greater than God: it is not for
the servant to yield his grace and indulgence, when the
offence is in main weight against the Lord ; for then the
lapsed will be committing a fresh ciime, by ignorance of that

.Tpr. 17, which is afore- written. Cursed is the man, that putteth his
hope in man. To the Lord we must pray, the Lord we must

nostri appease by making amends ; to Him who saith, that if we

Kaiisfuc- (ie,iy l[iiii. He will deny us; and who alone hath received all

tione. . • . '

judgment from the Father. We believe indeed that the merits
of Martyrs and works of the Just, before that Judge will greatly
avail ; but that is when the day of judgment is come, when,
after the finishing of this life and the world, the ;jeople of
Christ aie placed before His judgment-seat. But if, with
untimely haste, any rash man thinks he can give remission of
sins to any, or dares to rescind the prectpts of the Lord, he
brings not gain to the lapsed, but harm'. Thus to disobey

' " Anciently Martyrs were allowed and was near upon being recei .ed
this privilepe;— when any Penitent had again, to write Letters to the Bishop,
well nigh performed his legal Penance, that such an one might he admitted to

Martyrs have not. now the power of pardoniny sin. 165

His will, is to provoke His anger ; it is forgetting that God's
mercy must first be gained, it is taking hold on it of his own
power, in despite of his Lord. Under the altar of God theara.
souls of Martyrs slain cry with a loud voice, saying, Hoiv lon<j^ Rev. 6,
O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and vindicate our
blood, on tliem that dwell on the earth ? And it was said
unto them that they should yet rest and keep patience for
a while. Shall then a man suppose, that any one, in opposition
to the Judge, caa hope to avail for the universal remission
and condonation of offences, or shelter others, when he has
not gained his own vindication } The Martyrs direct that
something should be done ; but if just, if licit, if nothing is
to be done by God's Priest in disobedience to the Lord Him-
self, if he who grants be accordant and ready, and he who
asks confine himself within limit of duty. The Martyrs
direct that something should be done ; but if the things
which they claim are not certified in the law of the Lord,
we have first to leam that they gain of God what they ask
for, and then we must do what they direct. Man may
undertake j)romises, but it remains to appear that the divine
majesty consents to grant them. Moses prayed for the sins
of the people, yet neither when he asked pardon for the
simiers did he obtain it. [I pray Thee,) said he, O Lord, thin E\od.
people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of ' '
gold. Yet now if Thou uilt forgive their sin, forgive it ; hut
if not, blot me out of the book which Thou hast written. And
the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me,
him tcill I blot out of My book. That friend of God, he who
spake often with the Lord face to face, could not gain what he
asked, nor appease by his entreaty the offended wrath of God.
God approves and distinguishes Jeremiah, saying. Before Jerem.

1,5.

Communion, though his full term of admit such a penitent, but all that be-
Penance was not quite expired. And longed to him ; which was a very un-
so far their petition was commonly ac- certain and blind sort of petition, and
cepted. But these crafty men, for a created great envy to the Bishop, when
little underhand gain, had got a trick perhaps twenty or thirty, or a greater
to desire the Martyrs to intercede for number, of nameless persons were in-
such as had done little or no penance ; eluded in one libel, and the Bishop was
nay, they abused their privilege so far, forced to do a very ungrateful office,
as peremptorily to request the admission and deny them Mltogether." Bingh.
of such, without any previous examina- Antiqu. xvi. 3. §. 4. vid. S. Cyprian's
tion of their merits. And sometimes Epistles.
they requested the Bishop not only to

166 The greatest Saints have before now asked in vain.

TnFAT. / formed thee in the belli/ I knciv thee, and hefoie thou

^''- earnest out of the tromb I sancti/icd thee, and I ordained thee

a prophet vnto the nations: and lo liim lie saith, when lor

the sins of the people he oftentimes entreated and prayed,

Jcr. 7. Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up ery nor prayer

'^' frr them. for I nill not hear them in the time uherein they
call on Me, in the time of their affliction. Was any more
righteous tlian Noah, who when the earth was filled with
wickedness, was alone found righteous in the world ? Any
nobler than Daniel ? Any, for endurance of Mailyrdom, more
strong in the strength of faith, or in God's favour more
abounding ? who so often fought and conquered, conquered
and lived on. Was any than Job in good deeds more ready, in
temptation more strong, in suffering more patient, more sub-
missive in his fear, or more genuine in his faith ? ^ et God said,
that even if these should entreat, He would refuse their inter-
cession. When the Prophet Ezekiel made entreaty for the

I'.zek. offence of the people, Whatsoever land, said He, shall sin
' ' against Me, by trespassing grievowily, I will stretch out Mine
hand upon it, and nill break the slajf of the bread thereof,
and uill send famine upon it, and will cut ojf man and beast
from it. Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job
were in it, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but
they only shall be delivered themselves. Not all therefore
that is asked, is in the anticipation of the asker, but in the
disposal of the giver ; neither can human counsel possess or
assume to itself any thing, unless the divine pleasure consent
to it.

I,ukel2, 13. In the Gospel the Lord thus speaks; Whosoever shall
confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My
Father whicli is in heaven. But he that denieth Me, I also
will deny him. If him that denies He denies not, then too
He confesses not him that confesses. The Gospel cannot
hold in one part, and fail in the other. Either both pails
must abide, or both lose the force of truth. If they who
deny arc not answerable for their sin, neither will they who
confess receive the reward of virtue. For if faith by conquer-

pcrfidia. ing gains a crown, faithlessness by being conquered must
suffer thi- i)enalty. The Martyrs then can give no help at all,
if the Gospel covenant can be broken ; if it cannot, they can

The Martyrs cannot really oppose Chrisfs Law. 167

do nought against the Gospel, who become martyrs of the
Gospel. Let no one, dearest brethren, let no one obscure
the dignity of Martyrs, or spoil their honours and crowns.
Their unruined faith abides in strength; he never can
either say or do any thing against Christ, whose hope, whose
faith, whose virtue, whose glory, is all in Him. They who
have themselves fulfilled God's will, can give no authority to
Bishops for disobeying it. Is any man greater than God, or
merciful beyond the compass of Divine lovingkindness, that
he should wish that undone, which God has permitted; or as
if God had not sufficient power for the protection of His ow^n
Church, imagine that himself is able to supply our safety ?
Or, belike, these things have been carried on, without God's
cognizance, and the condition of things wrought apart from His
permission, whereas holy Scripture teaches those who are
unteachable, and reminds those who remember not, by saying,
Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers ? Did not Is. 42,
the Lord against whom they sinned, and ivoiild not ivalk in '
His ways, neither were obedient unto His law ? There/ore
He hath poured upon them the fury of His anger. And
elsewhere it testifies and says. Is the Lord's hand shortened,is.59.l.
that it cannot save? or His ear heavy that it cannot hear?
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and because of your sins He hath hid His face from you, that
He may not have mercy. Let us rather be reckoning back
our offences, recounting our past conduct and the secrets of
the heart, and weighing the deserts of our conscience. Letmerita.
it find its way into our mind, that we have not been walking
in the ways of the Lord, that we have cast aside the law of
God and had no wish to keep His saving precepts and counsels.
14. What favourable esteem can be had, what fear or what
faith can you ascribe to one, whom terror availed not to
mend, or persecution itself to alter ? That high and sti(f neck,
is unbent even by its fall ; and that swelling and proud
heart, is unbroken even after it is overcome. The fallen
and wounded raises threats against the upright and sound ;
and is impiously wrathful against the Priests, because he is
not pennittcd at once, to take the Lord's body in his defiled
hands, and drink the Lord's blood with his polluted mouth.
And, O thou far-frantic madman, thou art wrathful at him, who

168 Mad impiety of the lapsed against God and His Priests.

Triat. is trying to turn away God's wrath from you ; threatening him
_Xil- who is entreating the Lord's mercy in your behalf, who feels
your wound, which you do not feel yourself, and pours these
tears for you, which you perhaps are never pouring. You
yet further load and heighten your offence ; and think you,
while in strife with the Rulers and Priests of God, that the
Lord can be at peace with you ?

15. Give audience rather, and yield submission to what
we say. Why are your ears deaf, that they hear not the
saving precepts which we apply ? Why your eyes blind,
that they see not that path of repentance to which we point .''
Why is the mind stricken and estranged, that it understands
not the lively remedies which from the Holy Scriptures we
both leani and teach ? If however the things to come fail of
a hold on the belief of some, at least let dread of the present
reach them. Those who were guilty of recantation, what
penalties have we seen come on them, what a miserable issue
have wc deplored in them ! Not even here can they escape
punishment, though the day of punishment is still future.
Meanwhile punishment comes on some, that the rest may be
corrected ; the sufferings of a few are an example to all. One
of those who went up to the Capitol of choice to make denial,
so soon as lie had denied Christ, fell dumb. The punishment
began there, where began the ciime ; nor could he petition,
who had no words to ask mercy withal. Another, who was
in the baths, (for this was wanting to her offence and its
miseries, that having lost the grace of the Laver of Hfe, she
must forthwith go to the baths,) there unclean as she was,
being by an unclean spirit seized, she tore with her teeth
that tongue, which had been occupied whether in wicked
eating, or wicked speech. After the unhallowed food had
been swallowed, the mouth did frantic destruction on itself.
She did execution on her own person, and continued alive
not long, for she was seized with internal bodily torture, and
expired.

16. Listen to an event that took place in my own presence, and
on my own testimony. Some parents who made their escape,
in (he thoughtlessness of teiTor left behind them at nurse an
mfant daughter, whom the nurse finding in her hands gave
over to the magistrates. Unable through its tender years to

Miracvlous judgments on the sacrijicers. 169

cat flesh, they gave it, before an Idol to which the crowd
assembled, bread mingled with some wine, which however
was remains of that which had been nsed in the soul-slaughter of
perishing Christians. The mother afterwards got back her
child ; but the infant was as unable to express and make known
the act that had been committed, as she had before been to
understand or to prevent it. Through ignorance therefore it
arose, that, when we were sacrificing, the mother brought
it in with her. The child however, mixed with the holy
congregation, could not bear our prayers and worship ; it
was at one moment convulsed with weeping, then became
tossed like a wave by throbs of feeling, and the babe's soul,
while yet in the tender days, confessed a consciousness of
what had happened with what signs it could, as if forced to
do so by a torturer. When, however, after the solemnities
were complete, the Deacon began to offer the Cup to those
who were there, and in the course of their receiving, its turn
came"*, the little child turned its face away, under the
instinct of God's majesty, compressed its lips in resistance,
and refused the cup. The Deacon however persevered, and
forced upon her, against her will, of the Sacrament of the
Cup. There followed a sobbing and vomiting. The Eucharist
was not able to remain in a body and mouth that had been
polluted. The draught which had been consecrated in the
Blood of the Lord, made its way from a body which had
been desecrated. So great is the power of the Lord, so great
the majesty. The secrets of the darkness are laid open
under His light, and God's Priest could not be deceived in
crimes however hidden. Thus much concerning an infant,
which had not the age to make known a crime which was
committed on her by the act of others. Another however,
advanced in life, and of maturer years, who secretly introduced
herself while we were sacrificing, seeking bread found a

k Infant. Communion, whether of the kinds, as among Armenians, Jacobites,

cup only or in both kinds, seems to have Abyssinians, and other oriental com-

been the usage of the Latin Church up munities. This is not the place to say

to the time of the Hildebrandine Popes, more on the subject, which will be

It was formally abolished by the Coun- found discussed, among other works,

oil of Trent, to whose decision in this in Bingham, Antiq. xv. 4. §. 7. Zorn.

point we practically assent. The evi- Euchar. Infant. Garner in Mar.

dence of its antiquity in the Greek Mercat. vol. i. p. 79. Suicer Thesaur.

Church is scanty, but it is rigidly v. «uymT(f$, and Taylor, Worthy Comm,

observed in it at this day in both iii. 2.

1 70 Miraculous judgments on the sacrijicers.

Treat, sword, and us if slie had admitted some deadly poison into

1- tlie nioutli and body, was presently seized with a fit of agony

and frenzy : smitten no more by persecution, but by her
guilt, quivering and trembling she fell to the ground. The
o/Fence, secreted in her conscience, was not long unpunished
or concealed ; though she had deceived man, the retribution
of God found her. When another person endeavoured with
arcam. desecrated hands to open her ark, in which was the Holy
I'hing of the Lord, by fire rising from within was she frighted
off from daring to touch it. Another person also, who adven-
tured secretly, after having defiled himself, when the Sacrifice
was celebrated by the Priest, to accept his portion with the
rest, was disabled from eating or handling the Holy Thing of
the Lord; on opening his hands, he found that they con-
tained a cinder'. Thus, by the instance of one, it was shewn
that the Lord mthdraws when He is denied, and that what
unfit persons receive cannot profit them unto salvation, since
the saving grace turns into ashes, when holiness departs. How
many are there every day, who, omitting repentance, and
making no confession of their guilt, are filled with unclean
spirits ! How many are shook by a heat of madness, to all
loss of sense and understanding! Needless is it to go through
their separate ends, since through the multiform ruins of
the world the penalties of sin are as various, as the multitude
of sinners is large. Let each person consider, not what
another may have suffered, but what himself ought to suffer.
And let him not think he has escaped, if his punishment
be suspended for a season, since that man has tlie more
to fear, whom the wrath of God his Judge reserves unto
itself.

17. Neither let those persons indulge themselves with
release from repentance, who not having indeed tainted
their hands with the impious sacrifices, have still polluted
their conscience by accepting Certificates'". That profession

> The usage of private persons takin,!^ •" Libellis. Such Christians in the

the Eucharist home with them from persecution as found means of escape

Church was continued more or less till either by bribing the magistrate, and

the eighth century, liinghain says that procuring others to personate them,

itwa>i the doctrine of Traiisubstantiation to obtain certificates of having sacri-

which put an end to it. Autiq. xv. A. (iced, though they had not, were called

>•'■'• Libellatici.

The Libellatici — The wavering. 171

of recanting is the witness of a Christian, disowning what
he is. He does in profession, what another has done
in reahty ; and while it is written, Ye cannot serve tuo l\lat. 6,
masters, he has been serving the master on earth, in *
obeying his edict; followed the vdW of man more than
of God. Let him consider whether the avowal of a man's
actual commission of the act, is attended with either
less scandal among others, or less guilt. God however his
Judge it will be impossible to evade and escape^ since the
Holy Spirit says in the Psalms, Thine eyes beheld me being Vs. 139,
imperfect: and again, Man seeth the outward appearance, '
hut God seeth the heart. The Lord also provides knowledge 16, 7,
and instruction, saying. All the Churches shall know, that I Rev. 2,
am He which searcheth the reins and hearts. He perceives '
the things that are hidden, and considers those that are secret
and concealed. None can escape the eye of God, who saith.
Am I a God at hand, and not a God far off? Can any hide Jcr. 23,
himself in secret j)laces, that I shall not see him? Do not I '
Jill heaven and earth ? He perceives the heart and mind of
every person, and He will judge not only our actions, but
also our words and thoughts; He searches the minds and
intents of all, while yet they lie shut up in the hidden places
of the heart.

18. And further, how much better is their faith, and more
wise their fear, who with no crime fastened on them of
sacrifice, or of accepting a Certificate, yet because they
have only had thought thereof, sorrowingly and honestly
own thus much before the Priests of God, yield up the
confession of their conscience, put from them the load of the
soul, and seek out a wholesome medicine even for light and
little wounds; knowing that it is written, God is not mocked. Grxi.e.l.
Mocked and deceived God cannot be, nor sported with by
artifice of cunning; he only sins the worse, who judging of
God by man, thinks that he escapes the penalty of sin,
because his sin was not openly committed. Christ in His
teaching says. Whosoever shall be ashatned of Me, of him Mark 8,
shall the Son of Man be ashamed. Docs he think himself a' ' "
Christian, who is ashamed or afraid to be one ? How can
that man bo joined with Christ, who is aflccted by either
disgrace or danger in belonging to Him ? Certainly the sin

172 Signs of Penitence.

TnKAT. is lessened, by his never having been before the idols, never
^^- having profaned the sanctity of the faith before the eyes of a
collected and insulting populace, never polluting his hands
with the deadly sacrifices, or defding his mouth with
the impious food. This so far avails him, that his sin is a
less one, not that he has a guiltless conscience. It is easier
for him to attain to remission of his offence ; but he is
not unchargeable with guilt. And let him not be backward
in the act of repentance, and in entreating mercy of the Lord,
lest what is less in the nature of his offence, should be more
satisfac- than made up, by his neglecting to make his peace for it.
tione. 1 9. 1 entreat you, most dear brethren, let each confess his sin,
in sa- while the sinner is yet among the living, while his confession
*^"'°* can be accepted, while the satisfaction and remission wrought
by the Priests are pleasing before the Lord. Let us turn
to the Lord with the whole heart ; and call down the mercy
of God, by expressing repentance for our offence by genuine
grief. Before Him let the sovd be laid prostrate, with Him let
our sadness gain peace, on Jlim all our hope be leant. How
Joel 2, we ought to entreat, Himself teaches us. Turn ye, saith He,
unto Me, tiith all your heart, and with fasting, and tvith
weeping, and tvith mourning ; and rend your heart and not
your garments. To the Lord let us return with all our heart.
Let us appease His wrath and displeasure, with fastings, with
weepings, with mournings, as Himself teaches. Ai"e we to
think that he makes lamentation with his whole heart, with
fasting, weeping, mourning, who from the first day of his sin,
cum fe- resorts daily to the promiscuous Baths, who fattening on rich
"""*• repasts, and swoln with more abvmdant dainties, respires the
unwholesome relics of yesterday, and never gives share of
his meat and drink for the necessity of the poor ? Moving
with gay and pleasant step, wherein does he weep over his
^''- I9.rmn > And while it is written. Ye shall not mar the fgure of
your heard, he plucks out his beard, and dresses his hair.
Does he care to please others, who displeases God ? Or is
she weeping and lamenting, who can find leisure to enrobe
herself in precious raiment, without considering that robe
of Christ which she has lost, and to take to her costly orna-
ments, and elaborate necklaces, never weeping at the for-
feiture of her divine and heavenly adorning } Naked thou art,

Si(/7is of impenitence, 173

though garbed in foreign draperies and silken robes. Studded
with gold, and pearls, and gems, still thou art unsightly,
if Christ's beauty is wanting. Now at least desist, in this time
for sorrow, thou who stainest thy hair, and thou who edgest
the eyes with a painted line of black, now at least wash thy
eyes clean with tears. If thou hadst lost any friend thou lovest,
parted away by death, thou wouldest groan in sadness and weep,
and with disordered countenance, altered dress, hair neglected,
gloomy looks, and dejected visage, wouldest express the indi-
cations of sorrow. It is thy own soul, wretched woman, that
thou hast lost ; the spiritual life gone, thou for a while leadest
on a life of thy own, and movest about, wearing thy death
upon thee ; yet there is no bitter mourning, no groaning con-
tinual, thou dost not withdraw away, either from shame for thy
guilt, or to prolong thy lamentation. Lo, wounds of sin
more deep, and increased delinquency ; to offend, nor
do amends, to have fallen from duty, and not lament thy
fall. Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, the illustrious and
noble children, refrained not from confession" before God, exomo-
even amid the flames and heat of the fiery furnace. °g®^*°"
Though having a good conscience, and with acceptance Domi-
oftentimes acquired before the Lord, by submission ofj^'^^j^'^"'
faith and fear, yet ceased they not to keep hold of their
humility, and make amends to the Lord, even amidst
the martyr glories of their high deeds. Divine Scripture
saith, Azarias stood up, and prayed, and opening his mouth Song of
made confession before God, together ivith his companions, in qy^^I^^^
the midst of the fire. Daniel also, after the multiplied grace v. 2.
of his faith and innocence, after the good pleasure of the Lord
oftentimes shewn toward his virtues and praises, still en-
deavours to gain His acceptance by fasting, enwraps himself
in sackcloth and ashes, sorrowfully making his confession,
and saying, O Lord God, great and strong and dreadful, Dan. 9,
keeping TJiy covenant and mercy to them that love Thee, and^'
to them that keep Thy commandments ; ive have sinned, and
have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have
transgressed, and departed from Thy precepts and from Thy
judgments ; neither have ice hearkened to the words of Thy
servants the prophets, which they spake in Thy name, to our
n Vid. note on Tr. St. Cyril, Cat. ii. IS.

174 Schimiatics offer easier terms than the Church.

Triat. kififfs and all the nations and all the land. O Lord^ righte-
^'^- ousncss belongeth unto Thee, hut unto us confusion. These
tliinp;s (lid men, meek, simple, and innocent, in gaining
acceptance of the majesty of God ; yet now those who have
denied the Lord, draw back from seeking peace, and
entreating Him.

20. I beseech you, brethren, give way to wholesome
remedies, and obey better counsels ; join your tears with ours,
and to our sighs add your own. We entreat you to make us
able to entreat God for you ; we first turn those prayers
to yourselves, wherewith we would implore God's pity in
your behalf. Perform a full repentance, prove the sorrow
of a mind that grieves and laments. And yield not to that
unwise error or vacant senselessness of some, who, when
involved in so deep a crime, are stricken with blindness
of mind, that they can neither understand their sins, nor
lament them. This is the greater plague of a wrathful

Is. 29, God; as it is written, God gave them a spirit o/ dead n ess ;

2 fhcss. <intl again, TJiey received not the love of the truth, that tJiey

2.10- might he saved; and far this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that theg should believe a lie : that they all
might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in unrighteousness. Pleasing themselves in unrighteousness,
mad in the bewilderment of a deadened mind, they contenni
the precepts of the Lord, neglect the remedy of their wound,
and refuse to repent ; unwise before they sinned, and obsti-
nate after, neither firm then, nor bending now. When they
ought to have stood they fell ; when they ought to fall, and
prostrate themselves before God, they think they remain erect.
They have made a peace of their own, when none hath given
it. Seduced by false promises, and joined with the apostate
and perfidious, they embrace error in place of truth.
They hold valid a communion granted by men themselves
excomnumicate ; believing man in God's desjjite, while they
would not believe God in the despite of man. Avoid such
men as much as you can, withdraw with a wholesome caution
from those who allow of their pernicious contact. Their

iT\x\\.i,nord doth eat as doth a cancer, their talk gains ground like a
pestilence, their harmful and poisoned persuasion deals
greater death than persecution itself. After persecution

Backsliders must neither despair nor presume. 175

repentance may find place, and niake satisfaction ; but they who
remove repentance for a sin, shut up the way to satisfaction.
Thus comes it, that while by the hardihood of some men a
false safety is either promised, or believed in, the hope of real
safety is taken away.

21. But you, dearest brethren, who have a ready fear to
God-ward, and whose mind, even amid its fall, is con-
scious of its misery, do you in penitence and sorrow gain
knowledge of your sins, recognize the deep charge upon
your conscience, open the eyes of the heart to an intelligence
of your offence, not despaii'ing of the Lord's mercy, yet
neither making claim at once for His pardon. God, as with
the affection of a father He is ever indulgent and kind, so
with the majesty of a judge is He dreadful. As we have
sinned greatly, let us weep greatly. For a deep wound
diligent and long tending must not be wanting ; the repent-
ance must not fall short of the offence. Think you that the
Lord can quickly be appeased, when you have with perfidious
words denied Him, preferred your earthly wealth to Him, and
defiled His temple by your profane pollution ? Think you
He can easily pity you, whom you have been disowning?
Men must pray and entreat with increased continuance, pass
the day in mourning, spend nights in vigils and weeping,
employ their whole time in tears and lamentations, lie
stretched on the ground, prostrate themselves amongst ashes,
sackcloth, and dust, after Christ's raiment lost wish for no
garment beside, after the Devil's feast, of choice must fast,
give themselves to righteous works whereby sins ai'e cleansed,
apply themselves to frequent almsgiving, whereby souls are
freed from death.

22. What the adversary was taking from you, let Christ
receive : these possessions ought no longer either to be kept
or cared for, through which a man has been deceived aiid
overcome. Wealth ought to be avoided as an enemy, fled
from as a robber, dreaded by those who possess it, like a
sword and like poison. Herein only let your remainder of it
yield service, for redeeming your ofi'ence and sin. Let cha-
ritable works be exercised at once and largely; every thought operatio.
be called forth toward the healing of your wound ; and our
wealth and possessions set out as a loan, with that Lord who

13

176 Penitence retrieves the past.

Irpat. will judge us. Thus under the Apostles had faith its strength ;
^'^- thus the first company of believers kept Christ's command-
ments. They were ready, they were liberal, they gave their
all for distribution by the Apostles, yet had they not such
sins as these to redeem. If any man offer prayer with his
whole heart, if lie groan in the true misery and tears of
repentance, if by a continuance of good works he bend the
Lord to a pardon of his sin, He who in these words expressed

Is. 30. His tender mercy, may shew mercy to such a man; When
you turn and lament, then shall you he saved, and know

E7ek. nhere you have been. And again, / have no pleasure in the

18 32 ^'^'^'^ ^f ^^^ wicked, saith the Lord, but that lie turn from
his way and live. And the Prophet Joel declares the

Joel 2, graciousness of the Lord, by the Lord's own word, Turn
ye, saith he, to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger and of great mercy, and repenteth
Him toward the evil which Hi hath inflicted. He can
shew indulgence. He can repent of His purpose. To the
man who is penitent, who does good works, who entreats,
He can graciously give pardon, He can impute whatever
for such an one Martyrs may pray, and Priests perform.
Or, if any one move Him yet further by his own satis-
faction, if he appease His wrath, the displeasure of an
angered God, by worthy supplication, He grants w^eapons
again, wherewith the conquered may be armed, reciniits and
invigorates that strength, whereby his refreshed faith may
be quickened. The warrior will return to his warfare, will
renew the light, will challenge the enemy, by his sufferings
only made stronger for the conflict. He who has thus made
satisfaction to God, who through repentance for what he has
done, through shame for his sin, has gained to himself an
increase both of virtue and faith from the very suffering
which his fall occasions, heard and helped by the Lord will
bring gladness to the Church, whom he had lately grieved,
and purchase, not only God's pardon now, but a crown also.

TREATISE VII.

ON THE lord's PRAYER.

[This Treatise seems to have been written A. D. 252. [t is many times
quoted bj' S. Austin in his Treatise against the Pelagians, in proof that
all moral good in man is from God's supernatural grace.]

The Gospel precepts, most dear brethren, are none other
than directions from God ; foundations whereon hope is
built up, stays whereby faith is stablished, nurture for the
heart's comforting, rudders to direct us on our way, and
safeguards for the obtaining of salvation ; which, ruling the
docile minds of believers upon earth, do guide them to the
heavenly kingdom. Many things indeed God willed should
be said and made known by His servants the Prophets ; but
how far greater are those, which the Son speaks, which the
Word of G od, who was in the Prophets, testifies with His Ser
own voice, no longer charging that the way should be pre-
pared for Him to come, but Himself coming, and opening
and shewing us a way ; that we, ^\ ho before were wandering
in the shadows of death, unknowing and blind, might, illu-
mined by the light of Grace, keep to the way of life under the
Lord for our guide and ruler; who amongst His other saving
instructions and divine lessons, wherewith He covmsels for
His people unto salvation, did Himself also give a form of
praying, and Himself advise and instruct us, what we ought
to pray for. He who gave to us to live, taught us also
to pray, through no other bounty tliau that by which He hath
condescended to give and gi-ant all things beside ; to the end
that speaking unto the Father in the prayer and petition

N

1 78 Prayer arnils )rfirn ojf'rred in Christ's words as loellas Name.

T...AT. whicli the Son hath taught, we may receive a readier hearing.
-ILL Having ahcady foresaid that the hour was coming, when the
•i?" '' true Korshijiprrs should irorship the Father in spirit and in
truth, He now fulfilled wliat lie had promised, that we who,
through the sanctification He gives, have been receivers of
spirit and truth, may, by the teaching which He spoke, pray
tndy and spiritually. More spiritual what prayer can be,
than that wliich was given us by Christ, by whom also the Holy
S})irit was sent to us ? or what prayer more true, in the pre-
sence of the Father, than that which the Son, who is Truth,
delivered from His own mouth ? Hence it is not ignorance
only, but a sin, to pray otherwise than He hath taught, since
Mark?, Himself has ruled and spoken, Ye reject the commandment
of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Let us pray
then, dearest brethren, as God the Preceptor taught us. It
is praying like friends and familiars, to offer up to God of
His own, to mount unto God's hearing with the petitioning
of Christ. Let the Father recognize the Son's words, when
we oiler up our prayer; let Him who dwells in our breast,
dwell also in our voice ; and seeing we have Him, when we
1 .lolin sin, for an Advocate uith the Father, let us put forward the
^' '* words of our Advocate, when as sinners we make petition for
.'..iinie, our offences. As He has &dXdi, tvhatsoever we shall ask of
the Father in His Name, He nill give us, how much more
effectually do wc obtain what we ask in Christ's Name, if we
ask for it in His own words ?

2. Our words however and entreatings, when we pray,
nnist l)e under nde. They must have quietness and modesty
in them. Wc must consider that we stand in God's presence.
The carriage of body and the measure of voice, must find
acceptance with the Eye divine. As the man who has no
shame will lift aloft his voice in clamour, so not less will it
belong to one of modest character, to use a measure in
praying. Moreover the Lord has bade us in His instructions
to pray secretly, in remote and withdrawn places, and even
in our chambers, as best suited to faith; that we may be
assured that God, who is present every where, hears and sees
all, and in the fulness of His Majesty penetrates even con-
Jrr.23, ccided and hidden places; as it is written, / am a God at
hand, inid luil a Gad far off. If a man shall hide himself in

Prayer must he calm and grave ^ yet intense. 179

secret places, shall I ?iot then see him ? Do not I Jill heaven
and earth? And again, The eyes of the J.ord are in erery Prov.
place, beholding the evil and the good. And when we come ' '
together into one place with the brethren, and celebrate divine
sacrifices with the Priest of God, we ought to give regard to
a modest and disciplined feeling, not lifting our prayers
abroad in disorderly tones of s]5eech, nor tossing in a tumult
of words a petition that should be commended with modesty
to God, for God listens to the heart, not the voice. He needs
no loud words to remind Him, who sees the thoughts of men,
as the Lord shews us when He says, Why think ye evil in your Mat. 9,
hearts? And in another place, And all the Churches shall^'
know that I am He that searchetli the hearts and reins. 23.
Hannah, who in the first book of Kings contains a type of the
Church, was faithful and obedient herein; making her prayer
to the Lord, not with clamorous entreating, but silently and
modestly within the hidden depth of her breast. She spoke
with hidden prayer, but with faith manifest ; not with her voice,
but with her heart she spoke, because she knew that God so
hears; and she gained her petition effectually, because she
asked it faithfully. Divine Scripture declares this, thus speak-
ing ; She spake in her heart, and her lips moved, and iter \ Sam.
voice was not heard; and God did hear her. We read like- b 13.
wise in the Psalms: Commune in your hearts and upon yourps. 4, 4.
beds, and he yierced. By Jeremiah likewise the Holy Spirit
suggests the same things, and teaches us, saying. In the heart, Baruch
O God, we ought to ivorship Thee. Let a worshipper, dearest '
brethren, be not ignorant how the Publican prayed with the
Pharisee in the Temple; not with the presumption to lift up
his eyes to heaven, nor having confidence to upraise his
hands; but striking upon his breast, and giving testimony of
the sins enclosed within, he implored help from the divine
mercy; and while the Pharisee was satisfied with himself,
this man, thus asking, obtained rather to be sanctified, who meruit.
placed the hope of salvation not in a reliance on his own
innocence, for no man is innocent, but humbly prayed with a
confession of his sins, and praying was heard of Him, who
pardons the humble. These things the Lord in His Gospel
thus puts forth and declares; Two men went up into ///eLukeie,
Temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a puhlican. '^*

N 2

180 The Lord's Prayer teaches us the duty of united prayer,

Tbtat. TJie Pharisee stood,andi)raycdthusuith himself; God, 1 thank
^ ''• Thee that J am not an other men are, unjnst, extortioners^
adulterers, even as this publican. I fast twice in the tceek, I
(/ire tithes of all that I possess. But the publican stood afar off,
and Honld not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God he merciful to me a sinner. I say
unto i/ou, this man uent down to his house justified rather
than the Pharisee; for every one that exalteth himself shall
be abased, and whosoever humbletli himself shall be exalted.

3. These things, dearest brethren, learaing from the sacred
lesson, when we understand how to betake ourselves unto
prayer, next let us understand from the Lord's teaching, what

Mai. 6,9. prayer we ought to make. After this manner. He saith, pray ye.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy
N.\ME. Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done as in
heaven so in earth: give us this day our daily bread,

AND forgive us OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS;
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM

EVIL. Amen.

4. First of all the Teacher of peace and Master of unity,
would not have men pray singly and severally, since, when
any prays, he is not to pray for himself only. For we say
not, ' My Father, which art in heaven;' nor ' Give nie this
day my bread;' nor docs each individual pray that his own
debt only should be forgiven, or ask for himself alone, not to
be led into tem])tation, or to be delivered from evil. Our
prayer is general and for all; and when we pray, wc pray
not for one person but for us all, because we all are one.
God, the Master of peace and concord, so willed that one
should pray for all, according as Himself in one did bear
us all. This rule of prayer the Three Children shut up
in the fiery furnace kept, being in unison iu prayer, and being
concordant in an agreement of spirit. The authority of
Divine Scripture declares thi.s, and in teaching how such
persons prayed, it gives an example which we ought to
imitate in our prayers, iu order that we may become like

Song of them. Then the three, it says, as out of one mouth, sang an
Children ''.'/»'"« '""' blessed the Lord. They spake as out of one
»'-28. moiilli, though Christ had not yet taught them to pray.

and that ice have no Father upon earth. 181

Hence in prayer their words were availing and eft'ectual,
because the Lord was gained by peaceable and simple and
spiritual praying. It was thus too that we find the Apostles
and disciples prayed, after the Ascension of the Lord; Thei/ Acts i,
all, we are told, continued with one accord in prayer with the
women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and His hrethren.
They continued with one accord in prayer, manifesting at
the same time the instancy of their praying, and the agree-
ment. Because God who makeih men to be of one mind in Ps.68,6.
an house, admits into the house divine and eternal those only
among whom is unanimous prayer.

5. What sacraments, dearest brethren, are those of the
Lord's Prayer! How numerous! how weighty! gathered up
in few words, but with such wealth of spiritual virtue, that
not any thing, for prayer and petition of ours, is left unin-
cluded in this comprehension of heavenly doctrine. After
this manner. He saith, pray ye: Our Father, iildch art in
heaven. The new man, born again, and restored to his God
by His grace, first of all says, " Father," because he has now
become a son. He came. He tells us, to His oivn^ and His John i,
oan received Him not. But as many as received Him, to '
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them

that believe in His Name. He then who has believed in His
Name, and is become a son of God, ought from hence to
make beginning both of thanksgiving, and of avowing himself
God's son, when he speaks of God as his Father in heaven;
and of testifying his renunciation of an earthly and fleshly
father, and his recognizing and beginning to have one Father
only, which is in heaven : according as it is written. They Deut.
who say unto their father and to their mother, I have not '
known thee, and who have not acknowledged their own
children, these have observed Thy word, and kept Thy
covenant. The Lord likewise in the Gospel commands us,
not to name us a Father who is on earth, because to us isUdX.2^,
one Father, which is in heaven. And to the disciple who^^j^j g^
made mention of his dead father. He gave answer, Let the22.
dead bury their dead; for he had spoken of his father as
being dead, while the Father of believers is living.

6. Neither, dearest brethren, have we only to consider and
observe, that we speak of One in heaven as a Father, but we

182 The word Son implies rcmissiun of sins.

ii.LAT. go riiilher,andsay,^>»//r /W/Z/c/-,— Father, that is, of those who
^^'- believe, of those who being sanctified by Him and made
again by a nativity of spiritual grace, have begun to be the
sons of God. This expression docs also apply reproof and
condcnmation to the Jews, who not only unbelievingly de-
si>ised Christ, foretold to them by the Prophets, and first sent
to themselves, but also cmelly slew Him. They can no
more call God their Father, for the Lord confounds and

John 8, convicts them, saying, Ye are of your father the Devil, and
the lusts of your father ye will do. He teas a murderer from
the bey inning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him. And by Isaiah the Prophet, God speaks forth

Is. I, 3. in His wrath; / have nourished a/id brouyht up children, but
they have despised Me. The ox knoiceth his oivner, and the
ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not knoiv. My people
doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with
iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters: ye
have forsaken the Lord, ye have provoked the Holy One of
Israel to anger. In condemnation of them, we Christians,
when we pray, say. Our Father, because He has begun to be
ours, and no longer belongs to the Jews, who have forsaken
Him. A sinful people cannot be a son; but they to whom
remission of sins is given, to them is given the name of sons,
and to them eternity is promised in the words of the Lord

John 8, Himself; Whosoever commilteth sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son
abideth for ever. What indulgence is it of the Lord, what
exuberance of condescension and goodness towards us, to
permit us when praying in God's presence to address our-
selves to God as a Father, and name ourselves sons of God,
even as Christ is Son of God! — a name, which none of us in
prayer would have dared to reach unto, had not He Himself
allowed us thus to pray. We should therefore, dearest brethren,
recollect and lecl, that when we call God a Father, we ought to
act like sons of God, and if we have a comfort in regarding Him
as our Father, let us cause that He may be comforted in us. Let
us so walk, as the Temples of God, that it may be known that
(Jod dwelleth in us. Let our conduct not fall away from the
Spirit, bullet us, who have begun to be spiritual and heavenly,
have only spiritual and heavenly thoughts and actions, for the

Need of daily cleansing of our sins hy daily sanctification. 183

Lord God Himself hatli said, Theti that Jtonour Me, I u-ill l Sam.

2 30
honour ; and lie that despiseth Me, shall be despised. The '

blessed Apostle has likewise in his Epistle set forth : Ye are i Cor.

not your own, with a great price ye are bought. Glorify and '^[^

possess God in your body. Deum.

7. After this we say, Hallowed be Thy Name; not as
wishing for God to be made holy by our prayers, but asking
of Him, for His Name to be kept holy in us. By whom
indeed could God be sanctified, who Himself sanctifies ?

But seeing He has Himself said, Be ye holy, for I also Lev. 20,
am holy, it is this that we ask and request, that we who have *
been sanctified in Baptism, may persevere such as we have
begun. For this wo daily make petition : since we need
a daily sanctification, in order that we, who sin day by day,
may cleanse afresh our offences by a continual sanctification.
Wliat that sanctification is, which God's good pleasure confers
on us, the Apostle in these words expresses : Neither forni- 1 Cor. 6,
cators,nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortio7iers, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such ivere some of you ; but ye are ivashed,
but ye are justified, but ye are sanctified, in the Name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, andby the Spirit of our God. He says that we
are sanctified in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by
the Spirit of our God. We pray that this sanctification may
remain in us : and as our Lord and Judge warns the man to
whom He had given healing and fresh life, to sin no more lest
a worse thing should come upon him, we make petition with
continual prayers, by day and by night we make our request,
that the sanctification and renewed life, which is obtained
from God's grace, may be preserved by His protection.

8. It follows in our Prayer, Thy kingdom come. We here
entreat, that the kingdom of God may be manifested unto us,
in the same way that we ask that His Name may be hallowed
in us. For when is God's kingdom not? or when begins
with Him, that which both ever has been, and will be ever ?
We pray for the coming of that our kingdom, which has been
promised to us by God, and was gained by the Blood and
passion of Christ; that we who have continued His subjects
in the life below, may afterward reign in Christ's kingdom.

184 /f'e are nut stroiuj in ourselces, but safe in God's mercy.

Tkeat. according to His own promise and word: Come, ye blessed of
.y^^My Faffier, inherit the kitKjdom prepared for you, from the
■6\.' 'hvyiniiiny of the world. The kingdom of God, dearest
brethren, may stand for Christ Himself, whom we day by day
wish to come, and for whose advent we pray, that it be
quickly manifested to us. As He is our Resun-ection, because
in Him we rise again ; so may He be called the kingdom of
God, because we are to reign in Him. Rightly we ask for
God's kingdom, that is, for the heavenly, because there is a
kingdom of this earth beside. He, however, who has renounced
the world, is superior to its honours and its kingdom ; and
hence he who dedicates himself to God and to Christ, longs
not for the kingdom of earth, but for the kingdom of heaven.
Need have we of continual supplication and prayer, that we
perish not from the heavenly kingdom, as the Jews perished
to whom it had aforetime been promised, as the Lord has
?.iat. 8, taught and assured us; Many, saith He, shall come from the
''' east and from the icest, and shall sit down icith Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children
of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness ; there shall
be u-ccpiny and gnashing of teeth. He shew^s that the Jews
were children of the kingdom before, so long as they held on
to be God's children; but when they lost their concern in
the Name of Father, they lost that in the kingdom also.
Thus Christians being now admitted to address God in
prayer as our Father, make petition also that His kingdom
may come to us.

9. AVe further go on to say, TJiy will be done, as in heaven so
in earth : not in order that God may do His own will, but that
we may be enabled to do what He wills should be done by us.
For who resists God, so that He cannot do His own will ?
Yet since we are resisted by the Devil, so that our disposition
and conduct docs less submit itself to God in all points, we
pray and desire, that the will of God maybe done in us; and
that it may be done in us, we stand in need of that will, that
is, of God's aid and protection ; for no man is strong by his
own strength, but is safe in the indulgence and pity of God.
Furthermore the Lord, manifesting the infirmity of that
homipi<. human nature which Ho bare, says, Father, if it be possible,
39*' "''^' ^'"'5 Clip pass from Me; and yielding to His Disciples

The will of God, the one princijAe of moral excellejice in us. 185

the example of doing not their own will but that of God, He
added, Yet not My ivill hut Thine he done. And in another
place He says, / came down from heaven, not to do My own John 6,
will, but the will of Him that sent Me. If then the Son was
obedient, in doing His Father's will, how much more ought
the servant to be obedient, in doing the will of his Lord ;
even as John also in his Epistle thus exhorts and instructs
us; Love not the loorld, neither the things that are in thelJohn^,
world ; if any man love the ivorld, the love of the Father is
not in him. For all that is in the world, is lust of the flesh,
and lust of the eyes, and j^ride of life, ivhich is not of
the Father, hut is of the lust of the ivorld. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the
tvill of God, abideth for ever, like as God also abideth for
ever. Would we abide eternally, we must do the will of God,
who is eternal.

10. The will of God, is what Christ has done and taught:
it is humility in conduct, it is stedfastness in faith, scrupulous-
ness in our words, rectitude in our deeds, mercy in our
works, governance in our habits ; it is innocence of injurious-
ness, and patience under it, preserving peace with the
Brethren, loving God with all our heart, loving Him as our
Father, and fearing Him as our God ; accounting Christ
before all things, because He accounted nothing before us,
clinging inseparably to His love, being stationed with fortitude
and faith at His Cross, and when the battle comes for His
Name and honour, maintaining in words that constancy
which makes confession, in torture that confidence which
joins battle, and in death that patience which receives the
crown. This it is, to endeavour to be coheir with Christ ;

this it is to perform the commandment of God, and fulfil theadim-
^ plere.

will of the Father.

11. It is our prayer, that the will of God may be done,
both in heaven, and in earth; each of which bears toward
the accomplishment of our health and salvation. Having a
body from the earth, and a spirit from heaven, we are both
earth and heaven ; in buth, that is, both in body and spirit,
we pray that God's will may be done. Flesh and si)irit have
a strife between them, a daily encounter from their mutual
quarrel, so that we cannot do the things that we would,

186 Different senses in ickich GotTs icill may he done on earth.

Theat. because the spirit seeks things heavenly and divine, the flesh
^^^- desires things earthly and temporal. Hence it is our earnest
prayer, that, by God's help and aid, a peace may be esta-
blished between these two, that by the doing of God's will,
botli in the spirit and flesh, that soul may be preserved which
has been bom again through Him. This the Apostle Paul
Gal. 5, in distinct and manifest words sets forth ; Thejlesh, saith he,
^'' liiKteih (Kjaiust the Spirit, and the Spirit against the Jlesh :
and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot
do the things that ye iconhl. Now the works of the Jlesh are
manifest, ichich are these, adulteries, fornications, unclean-
ness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, murders, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy-
ings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like ; of the which I
toll you before, as I have also told you in times past, that
they tchich do such things shall not inherit the kingdom
of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
mag)ianimity, goodness, faith, kindness, continence, chastity.
For this cause we make it our daily, yea, our unceasing
petition, that God's will in us may be done, both in heaven
and earth ; for this is the will of G od, that the earthly should
give way to the heavenly, that spiritual and divine things
should become supreme.

12. It may moreover be thus understood, dearest brethren,

that as the Lord commands and admonishes us, to love even

our enemies, and to pray too for those who persecute us, we

should make petition for those who still are earth, who have

not yet begun to be heavenly, that in their instance also that

will of God may be done, which Christ fulfilled, in the saving

homi- and renewing of man's nature. For as the Disciples are

°^j™' , called by Him no longer earth, but the salt of the earth, and

13. ■ "*' the Apostle says that the first man is from the dust of the

r*^*?? '^^'^^''^ ^^^ ^^^^ second from heaven ; agreeably hereto do we,

Rllt.5. ^^'^" ought to be like God our Father, who makes His sun to

45. rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the just

and on the unjust, so frame our prayer and petition by the

admonition of Christ, as to make entreaty for the salvation of

all ; that as in heaven, that is in us, through our faith God's

will has been done, so that we are of heaven; so in earth, that

IS m imbelievers, God's will may be done, so that those who

The Eucharist our daily Bread. 187

are yet of earth under the first birth, may become of heaven

by being horn of water and of the Spirit. John 3,

13. As the prayer proceeds we offer request and say, Give^'
us this day our daily bread. This may be miderstood, both
in the spiritual and in the simple meaning, seeing that either
purport contains a divine aid, for the advancing of our salva-
tion. For Christ is the Bread of life, and this Bread belongs
not to all men, but to us ; and as we say Our Father, because
the Father of the understanding and believing, so we speak

of our Bread, because Christ is the Bread of us, who appertain contingi-
to His Body. This Bread we pray that it be given us day'""^*
by day, lest we who are in Christ, and who daily' receive the
Eucharist for food of salvation, should by the admission of
any grievous crime, and our being therefore shut out from
Communion and forbidden the heavenly Bread, be separated
from the Body of Christ, according as Himself preaches and
forewarns ; I am the Bread of life which came down from John 6,
heaven. If any man eat of My Bread, he shall live for
ever. But the Bread that I will give is My Flesh, for the life
of the world. Seeing therefore He says, that if any man eat
of His Bread, he shall live for ever; it follows, that while it is
manifest that those do thus live, who appertain to His Bodyattin-
and receive the Eucharist by right of communication, so also S"°'-
is it matter both for our fears and prayers, that none of us by-
being forbidden Communion be separated from the Body of
Christ, and so remain far from salvation; as Himself threatens
and declares; Unless ye eat the Jiesh of the Son of Man and John 6,
drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you. Hence then •
we pray that our Bread, that is Christ, may be given to us
day by day ; that we who abide in Christ and live in Him,
may not dravv^ back from His sanctification and His Body.

14. It may likewise bear this meaning, that -we who have
renounced the world, and rejected its riches and pomps,
through the faith of spiritual grace, should ask for ourselves
no more than food and sustenance, as the Lord instructs and

tells us, M'^hosoever forsaketh not all that he hath, ca/tnol ieLukeU,
My disciple. But he who has begun to be a disciple of Christ,

* In the Churches of Rome, Milan, Chrysostom, Eusehius, and S. Basil.

Africa, and Spain, the cnstom seems to The disuse of the Sacrament began in

have obtained of daily Communion. It the fourth century in the East,
is also attested or recommended by S.

188 Daily food all that need he asked for the body.

TRrAT. forsaking all tilings after the commandment of his Master, has
_^L. hut his food to ask for to-day, without indulging excessive long-
ings in his prayer, as the Lord again prescrihes and teaches;
Mat. 6, Take 110 thought for the morroic^for the morrow shall take
^^' thought for the things of itself ; suj/icient unto the dag is the evil
thereof Justly therefore docs the disciple of Christ make
petition for to-day's provision, since he is forbidden to take
thought for to-morrow ; it were a self-contradicting and in-
compatible thing, for us, who pray that the kingdom of God
may (piickly come, to be looking unto long life in the world
below. Thus also the blessed Apostle instructs us, fonning
ri'im.6, and establishing the stedfastness of our hope and faitli ; JVe
brought nothing into this uorld, and neither can we carry
any tiling out. Having therefore food'' and raiment, let us
be heretcith content. But theg that tcill be rich fall into
temptation and a snare, and into many and hurtful lusts,
trhich drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love
of money is the root of all evil, which uhile some coveted after,
they have made shipwreck from the faith, and pierced them-
selves through with many sorrows. He teaches us that riches
are not only despicable, but are also dangerous ; that in
them is the root of seductive evils, misleading the blindness
of the human heart, by a concealed deception. Wherefore
also God judges that rich fool, whose thoughts were for his
earthly stores, and who boasted himself in the multitude of
Lukel2, his abundant gatherings ; Thou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of thee ; then tcJiose shall those things be which
thou hast provided ? The fool made merry in his stores, even
that night when he was to die ; and while life was ceasing
from his hand, life's nmltiplied provision still employed his
vid. Mat. thought. The Lord on the other hand teaches us, that he
• ■ becomes the perfect and accomplished Christian, who by
selling all he has, and giving to the poor, stores up for him-
self a treasure in heaven. That man He says it is, that can
follow Him, and imitate the glory of the passion of the Lord;
who unimpeded and close-girt, involved in no shackle of
worldly j)ossessions, is enabled in unrestraint and freedom
himself to follow after these his possessions, which he has

» Exhibitionem ; a legal term used (de Idol. 6 and 8, &c.)
also, iii. 3. $. 61. and by Tertullian,

Daily bread promised to the righteous. 189

already sent before to God. In order that each of us may-
train himself to this, he may learn to offer a prayer cor-
responding to his doing so, and may be taught from the
standard which his prayer puts before him, the manner of man
that he ought to be. The just man can never be in want for
his daily bread, since it is written, The Lord will not sifjfer PvovAO,
the soul of the righteous to famish. And again, / have been '
young and noiv am old, yet have I not seen the righteous 25.
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. The Lord also makes
promise and says, Take no thought, saying, JVhat shall u-eMat.6.
eat, or what shall tee drink^ or whereivilhal shall we be
clothed"? {for after all these tilings do the Gentiles seek;)
for your Father knoitefh that ye have need of all these things.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all these things shall be added nnto yoii. He promises to
those who seek God's kingdom and righteousness, that all
other things shall be added. For since all things are of God,
to him that has God there will nothing fail, if himself be not
failing unto God. Thus Daniel had a meal miraculously Bel and
provided, when he was shut up by command of the king in ' ^^ ^^ '
the den of lions; and amongst wild beasts hungering, yet 34.
sparing him, the man of God was nourished. Thus Elijah i Kings
received sustenance in his flight, and was fed through perse- '
cution, by ravens that ministered to him in solitude, and birds
that bare him meat. And O the horrid cruelty of human
wickedness, the wild beasts spare, and the birds give food,
while it is men that lurk and rage.

15. We next proceed to entreat for our sins, saying,
Forgive tis our debts as tae forgive our debtors. After supply
of food, next pardon for sin is asked for; that he who is
fed of God may live in God, and not only the present and
passing life be provided for, but the eternal also ; whereunto
we may come, if we receive the pardon of our sins, to which
the Lord gives the name of debts, as in the Gospel is ex-
pressed; I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst Mat. 18,
me. How well is it for our need, how provident and saving
a thing, to be reminded that we are sinners, compelled to
make petition for our oflences, so that in claiming God's
indulgence, the mind is recalled to the recollection of its guilt.
That no man may plume himself with the pretence of inno-

190 Those only are forgiven who forgive.

Trkat. cency, and perish nioie nrctcliedlv through self-exaltation, he
'- is insti-uctod and lau,u;lil llial he commits sin every day, by

Wwv^ coininaiided to ])ray every day for his sins. Thus in
\ John brief, .lnhn also in liis Epistle admonishes us, saying, //" u-e
' ' stii/ 1 lid I Hc fid re no sin we deceive oiirfselves, and the truth is not
in lis; hut if ue confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and
just to forgive us our .svVw. In his Epistle he has united both
things, both that we ought to offer prayer for our sins, and
that ])ardon is accorded us when we do so. Hence he says
tliat the Lord is faithful to forgive sins, because He keeps
tnic the word of His promise ; for He who taught us to pray
for our debts and sins, has promised us that His fatherly
mercy and pardon shall ensue.

16. He has added the rule besides, binding us under the
fixed condition and responsibility, that we are to ask for our
sins to be forgiven in such sort as we forgive them that are in
debt to us; knowing that our entreaties for sm will have no
acceptance, unless we deal toward our debtors in a like
Mat. 7, maimer. Hence in another place He says, With n hat
measure ye vieef, it shall be measured to you again : and the
viJ.Riat.servmit who, after being forgiven all his debt by his Lord,
' ' ■ refused to forgive his fellow-servant, was cast back into
prison; on his refusing to yield to his fellow-servant, he lost
what his Lord had previously yielded to him. These things
Christ still more impressively sets forth in His commaud-
M.itk ments, in the fuller force of His authority; When ye stand
' ■ prai/ing, forgive if ye have ought against any, that your
Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your tres-
passes. Jiut if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father
which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. No excuse will
abide you in the day of judgment, when you will be judged
by your own sentence, and as you have dealt toward others
will be dealt with yourself. For God commands us to be
peacemakers, and dwell with one heart and one mind in His
house, and what He made us by our second nativity ; such He
would have us continue when new born that having become
sons of God, we may abide in God's peace, and partake, as
vid.Mat.of one Spirit, so of but one heart and one mind. Hence is it
''•-'*• that God accepts not the sacrifice of the unreconciled, and
commands him to return first and agree with his brother, that

Martyrdom avails not where there is disunion. 191

the prayers of the peacemaker may set him at peace with
God. This is the greater sacrifice before God, — our peace and
brotherly concord, a congregation gathered to one, in unity
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Invid.Gen.
those sacrifices which Abel and Cain first offered, God"^*
looked not to their gifts but their hearts, so that he proved
acceptable in his gifts, who rendered himself acceptal)le in
his heart. Abel peaceable and righteous, sacrificing to God
in innocency, taught other men when they present their gift
at the Altar, to come equally in the fear of God, with simpli- altare.
city of heart, with holiness of life, and peaceableness of spirit.
Fitly did he, who in such wise offered his sacrifice to God,
himself afterward become God's sacrifice, so that one in
whom had been manifested the righteousness and peace of
the Lord, was the first instance of martyrdom, initiating the
Lord's passion by the glory of his bloodshedding. In fine, it
is such men that are crowned of the Lord, and such in the
day of judgment will with the Lord be judges. But the
quarrelsome and disunited, who holds no peace toward
brethren, such an one (as the blessed Apostle and Holy I Cor.
Scripture testify) will never, though he were slain for the '^' ^'
Name of Christ, be able to free himself from the offence of
brotherly disunion, seeing that which is written, he who i John
hateih his brother is a murderer, and no murderer cometh ' '
vnto the kingdom of heaven, or Jiath life frith God. He can
never be with Christ, who has chosen to follow Judas rather
than Christ. How deep the sin, which not even the Baptism
of blood can wash out! How great the offence, which Mai*-
tyrdom cannot expiate !

17. It is further agreeably to our need, that the Lord
instructs us to say in prayer, And lead ns not into tempta-
tion. In this place it is shewn, that the Adversary can
nothing avail against us, unless God first permit him; so
that all our fear and devotion and heed ought to be addressed
to God, since mischief can have no ])ower in our temptations,
except it be given it from Him. The divine Scripture proves
this by saying, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, ca?ne 2 Kings
against Jerusalem, and besieged it, and the Lord delivered it ^^*
into his hand. For power is given to mischief against us,
according to our sins, as it is written, Mlw gave Jacob for a is. 42,

24.

192 Temptation is sent either to punish or reward.

TnF AT. sjtoi/, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, against

^^^' whom they sinned^ and uoitld not ualk in His icays, neither

were obedient unto His law? Therefore He hath ponred

upon them the fnrij of His anijer. And again when Solomon

sinned, and fell away from the pvecejits and ways of the

1 KinRs Lord, it is said, The Lord stirred up the Adversary agai)ist

'''''*■ Solomon. In two ways is power permitted against us, either

to bring: punishment when we fall, or glory when we are

approved; as wc find to have been done toward Job, God

Job 1, making manifest and saying, Behold, all that he hath I give

^^' into thy pouer; only upon himself put not forth thy hand.

And the Lord in the Gospel says in the time of His passion,

3o\\n\9,Thou couldest have no power against Me, except it were

given thee from above. When we thus pray that we may

not enter into temptation, we are cautioned by this prayer of

our own infirmity and weakness, lest any jjresumptuously

exalt himself, proudly and arrogantly placing aught to himself,

and counting the praise of whether confession or passion to

be his own, whereas the Lord Himself teaches humility, by

Mark 14, saying, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into tefnptati&n ;

the spirit indeed is tcilling, but the Jiesli is u-eak: that while

a humble and submissive confession comes first, and all is

refeiTed to God, whatever we sujDpliantly apply for, in the fear

and reverence of God, may by His gracious favour be supplied.

18. After these things, at the conclusion of the Prayer,

conies a sentence comprising shortly and collectively the

whole of our petitions and desires. We end by saying,

Deliver us from evil, comprehending all adverse things which

the enemy in this world devises against us; wherefrom we

have a faithful and firm protection, if God deliver us, and

grant His aid to our entreaties and complaints. But having

said, Deliver us from evil, there remains nothing beyond for

us to ask for, after petition made for God's protection from

evil ; for that gained, we stand secure and safe, against all

things that the Devil and the world work against us. What

fear hath he from this life, who has God through life for his

guardian ? We need not wonder, dearest brethren, that this

is God's prayer, seeing how His instruction comprises all

our petitioning, in one saving sentence. This had already

been prophesied by Isaiah the Proi)het, when filled with the

Christ sum!} up His instruction in hrief snyinqs. 1 9^

Holy Spirit, he spoke concerning the majesty and mercy of

God; sumniiiuj up and cutting short His itord, in ri(/hteous-yethum.

ness, hecaii.se a short tcord wifl God make in the whole earth. 22 ^^'

For when the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, camesenno-

unto all, and gathering together the learned alike and thesermo.

unlearned, did to every sex and age set forth the precepts of

salvation. He made a full compendium of His instructions,

that the memory of the scholars might not labour in the

heavenly discipline, but accept with readiness whatsoever

was necessary unto a simple faith. Thus when He taught

what is life eternal, he gathered the mystery of life within an

especial and divine brevity; TJiis, said He, is life eternal, John 17,

that tltey might knoic Thee, the only true God, and Jesus^'

Christ u-honi Thou hast sent. In like manner when He

gathered forth from the Law and Prophets what were the

first and greatest commandments. He said, Hear, O TsraeL^^^t^l^,

the Lord thy God is one God. And thou shall love the Lord '

thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with

all thy strength: this is the first and great commandmoit.^^^^-'^'^'

And the second is like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbour

as thyself. On these two commandments Jiang all the law

and the prophets. And again; Whatever good things ye Mat. 7,

would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them; '

for this is the law and the prophets.

19. Neither in words alone, but also by His acts the Lord

hath taught us to pray. Himself praying and making entreaty

oftentimes, and manifesting what we ought to do, by the

testimony of His own example, as it is written, Himself Luke 5,

departed into a solitary place, and there irrayed. And

again. He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued ImVq 6,

all night in prayer to God. If then He prayed who was

without sin, how much more ought sinners to pray \ And if

He offered continual prayer, without ceasing from His vigil

the whole night through, how much more ought we to add

prayer to prayer, and to watch thereunto by night? The

Lord offered petition, not for Himself, (for what should He, the

Innocent, ask for on His own account?) but for our sins, as

Himself makes known when He says to Peter, Behold, Satan Luke 22,

31
hath desired that he might si/t you as wheat ; hul I have

prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And afterwards He

o

194 Christ has taufjht lis to prny by example as irell as precept.

TnrAT. entreats the Father for all, saying, Neither pray I for these
^'^' alone, hut for them also thtif shall believe on Me, through

20." 'their irord; that they all may he one, as Thou, Father, art
in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may he one in us.
Great is the Lord's bounty and truth for our salvation's sake,
who, not content to redeem us with His blood, has added
further His praying in our behalf as well. See now what
was the desire which His prayer expressed; that as the
Father and tlie Son are one, so we may al)ide in very one-
ness. So tliat hence also may be understood how deeply he
strays who rends unity and peace, when the Lord made His
prayer {ov this same thing, wishing, namely, that His people
might be saved and kept in peace, as knowing that discord
cannot enter into God's kingdom.

QO. When ^^■c stand praying', dearest brethren, we ought to
be alive and intent toward our prayers, with the whole heart.
Let all carnal and secular thinking be put away from us ; let
the mind dwell on no thought, except the prayer it is offering.
It is for this cause that the Priest before worship uses words
of introduction, and puts the brethren's minds in preparation,^
by saying, Lift up your hearts, that while the people answer,
)ie lift them up unto the Lord'\ they may be reminded that
there is nothing for them to think of, except the Lord. Let
the breast be shut against the Adversary, and opened to God
alone, not suffering the Enemy of God to approach it in the
time of prayer. For he oftentimes creeps nigh and enters in,
and by subtle artifice calls away our prayers from God, so
that we have one thing in our heart, and another in our
voice, whereas it is not the sound of the voice, but the mind
and thoughts, that oug;ht in sincerity of purpose to be
addressing the Lord. What insensibility is it, to be snatched
wandering off by light and profane imaginings, when you are
presenting your entreaty to the Lord, as if there were aught

•^ " Standing was the general observa- . . . Then ye answer, ' We lift them up

tion of the whole Church on the Lord's unto the Lord.' " Catech. xxiil. 4. This

Day, and the Fifty Day >; hctwet-n Easter form of words is also referred to by S.

and Pentecost, in memory of our Sa- Chrj-sostom, (Horn, de Euchar. vol. v.

viour's Resurrection." Bing.Antiq.xiii. p.569.Ed. Due.) S. Augustine, (de Don.

^- §• 3. Persev. 33.) Ca-sarius, (Homil. 12 and

<> Sursuin Corda . . . Habemus ad 1«.) Pope Gregory, (Lib, Sacramentor.

Doniinvim. So St, Cyril. " After this the init.)
I'ric-ii eric-; ahmd," Lift up your heart^i,"

Prayers avail lahen they arcfniitful in gocd works. 195

else which you ought rather to consider, than that your converse
is with God ! Hovy can you claim of God to attend to you,
when you do not attend to yourself? Shall God remember
you in your supplications, when you are forgetful of yourself ?
This is altogether to make no provision against the Enemy ;
this is, when praying to God, to offend God's majesty by the
neglectfulness of your prayer : this is to wake with the eyes,
and sleep with the heart, whereas the Christian, even when
his eyes sleep, ought to have his heart waking, as it is written
in the character of the Church speaking in the Song of Songs,
/ sleep, hut My heart u-akcth. Wherefore the Apostle Cant. 5,
anxiously and cautiously warns us, saying. Continue in ~;
prayer , and u-atch in the same; teaching, that is, and shewing,
that they may procure what they ask of God, whom God sees
watching in prayer.

21. Those who pray ought to come to God not with
unfruitful or naked prayers ; vainly we ask, when it is a barren
petition that is given to God. For since ecery tree, not Mat. 7,
bringing forth good fruit, is hewn doivn and cast into thejire,^^'
surely words also which bring no fruit, must fail of favour
with God, seeing they are joined with no productiveness
in righteous deeds. Hence divine Scripture instructs us,
saying. Prayer is good with fasting and alms. For He whox^ij ]2
in the day of judgment will render to us a reward for*'-
our good works and alms, is now also a gracious listener to
any that approaches Him in prayer with the company of
good works. Thus was it that the Centurion Cornelius, when
he prayed, found a title to be heard. For he was one that did ac\s lo,
many almsdeeds toward the 'people, and ever prayed to Cod.'^''^'
To him when he was praying about the ninth hour an Angel
came nigh, rendering testimony to his deeds, and saying,
Cornelius, thy prayers and thy alms are gone up in remem-
hrance before God. Quickly do prayers go up to God, when
the claims of our good works introduce them before IIim.„,y,ita
Thus also the Angel Raphael bare witness to the continual "'^^'r-

. . opens.

praying and continual almsdeeds of Tobias, saymg, It Woperanti.

honourable to reveal and confess the works of Cod. For when ^^^- ^~>

. . 12.

fhoir didst pray and Sara, I did bring the remnnbrance of

your prayers before the holiness of Cod. And uhen thou

didst bury the dead, I was with thee like.uise., and because

o 2

196 Good H-orlts create a title to be heard of God.

InFAT. thuu didal nut dtluy to rise up and leave thy dhmer, to go and

— cover the dead, I uas sent to prove thee ; atid now God hath

sent me, to heal thee and Jona thy dauyhter-in-law. For I
am Raphael, one of the seven holy Angels, lehich ijo in and
out before the glory of God. By Isaiah likewise the Lord
athiioiiishcs and teaches us like things, thus testifying:

Is. 58, 6. Loosen every knot of unrighteousness; release tlte oppressions of
contracts uhich have no power. Letthetrouhled go in peace,and
break every unjust engagement. Deal thy bread to the hungry,
and bring the poor that are cast out to thy house. U hen thou
seest the naked, cover him,, and despise not them of thine own
flesh. Then shall thy light break forth in season, and thy
raiment shall spring forth speedily, and righteousness shall
go before thee, and the glory of God shall cover thee. Then
shall tlion call, and God shall hear thee, and while thou shalt
yet speak. He shall say, Here 1 am. He promises that He is
nigh, and hears and protects those, who, loosening the knots
of unrighteousness from the heart, and giving alms among the
household of God, according to His commandment, do by

meren- hearkening to what God claims of them, themselves acquire
a title to be heard of Him. The blessed Paul, having
been assisted by the Brethren in a needful time of pressure,

riiil. 4, declared that good works performed are sacrifices to God. /
am full, saith he, having received of Epaphroditus the things
which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacri-
fice acceptable, tcell-pleasing to God. For when one hath
pity on the poor, he lendcth to God ; and he that gives even
to the least, gives to God, spiritually sacrifices to God an
odour of a sweet smell.

22. In the performance of worship we find that the Three
Children with Daniel, strong in faith, and conquering in
captivity, observed the third, sixth, and ninth hour'', hereby
sacramentally denoting the Trinity, which in the latter days
should be revealed. For from the first hour to the third, a
trinity of immber is manifested ; fi-om the fourth further to the
sixth, is another trinity ; and in the seventh closing with the
ninth, a perfect trinity is numbered in spaces of three hours.
The worshippers of God, spiritually appointing of old tliese

« This observance is mentioned also ed, Sylb.) TertuUian, (de Jejun. 10.)
»>y S. Clement A. (Strom, vii. p. 722. and Origen, (de Orat. 12.)

Five stated hours oj" prayer in the day. 197

spaces of time, observed thein as their fixed and lawful
seasons for prayer. Events aftercoming gave proof that there
was a sacrament in the ancient practice of righteous men
offering ^^rayer at these seasons. At the third hour descended
the Holy Spirit on the Disciples, fulfilling the gracious pro-
mise of the Lord. At the sixth hour moreover Peter going
up into the house-top, was taught and warned both by a sign
from God, and by word spoken, to admit all men to the grace
of salvation, he having before doubted concerning the admis-
sion of the Gentiles to Baptism. The Lord also cleansed our
sins with His blood upon the Cross, from the sixth hour till
the ninth, and then, for our redemption and quickening,
He made victory perfect by His passion. But to us, dearest
brethren, besides the hours of ancient time observed, both
seasons and sacraments of prayer are increased in number.
In the morning we must pray, that the resurrection of the Lord
may be commemorated with an early worship. This of old
the Holy Spirit set forth in the Psalms, saying, My King andrs.5, 2.
my God, unto Thee tcill I cry : my voice shalt Thou hear in
the morning; in the morning ivill I stand before Thee, and
will look up. And again by the Prophet the Lord saith,
Early in the morning shall they seek Me, saying, Come aiid ilos. 6,
let us return unto the Lord our God. At sun-setting likewise '
and the close of day, needful is it that we should again
pray. For as Christ is the true sun and the true day, when
at the going down of this world's sun and light we make prayer
and petition that the day may again return upon us, we are
petitioning for that coming of Christ, which will give to us
the grace of the light eternal. The Holy Spirit manifests in
the Psalms, that Christ is called the Day; The stone ?rhichPs. 118,
the builders refused, is become the head of the corner ; this
is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes. TJiis is
the Day which the Lord hath made ; let us walk and rejoice
in it. Likewise Malachi the Prophet bears witness that He
is called the Sun ; To you that fear the name of the Lord, shall Mal.4,2.
the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in His wings.

23. But if in holy Scripture Christ is the true Sun and the
true Day, the Christian can know no hour, wherein he may
not, in frequency and in continuance, offer up his worship to
God ; for we, who are in Christ, that is, in the true Sun and

198 Prayer by nvjht.

TnFAT. tlie trno Day, ought all day hmp; to be yielding up prayer and
■ ^ "•- worship ; and when night in its appointment succeeds, ad-

vancing in its revolving interchange, its nocturnal shades
cannot steal from us the opportunity of prayer, because
sons of the light have their day even amid darkness. When
can he be without light, with whom light is in the heart?
When is the sun not his, or the day not his, who has Christ
for liis Sun and his Day ? Let us then, who are evermore in
Christ, that is, in the Light, abstain not even in darkness from
our worship. Thus the widow Anna without ceasing per-
so\'ored « ith continual prayer and watching in pleading for

Luke 2, God's fiivour, as it is written in the Gospel: She departed
not, it says, from the Temple, serving icitJi /asti/igs and
prayers niyht and day. Let Gentiles consider this, who
have never yet received the light, or Jews who having de-
serted the light are abiding in darkness. Let us, dearest
brethren, who are evermore in the light of the Lord, not
forgetting nor losing that, whicli grace given has made us to
be, count day and night alike ; let us consider ourselves ever

1 .loiin to be icalkivy in the liyht, let us yield to no impediment from
the darkness we have escaped from. In the nightly hours let
there be no omissions of prayer, no idle careless waste, in the
moments of worship. Spiritually made anew and reborn,
through the tender mercy of God, let us exercise ourselves in
the part we are to fulfil. We who in the kingdom are to have
day alone, without the intervention of night, let us now so
watch by night, as if we were beneath the light of day;
we who are to pray and to give thanks to God for ever, let us
now admit no discontinuance of prayer and of thanksgiving.

TREATISE VIII.

AN AODltrSS TO DEM ETUI AN US.

[About the year 262 the Roman Empire was visited by a pestilence, which
fell with especial force on Egypt and Africa, lasting on the whole for
twelve years. The Pagans were not slow to impute it to the ano-er of
their gods at the spread of Christianity. The person who is addressed
in the following Tract was one of these ; he appears to have had some
civil authority, and he had made use of it in order to the persecution of
the Church. S. Cyprian seems to have written it at the above-mentioned
date.]

The uproar of sacrilege and impiety which you are wont to
raise against the one and the true God, 1 have heretofore, Dome-
trianus, passed over in contempt, thinking it more decent and
better, to put the scorn of silence upon a mistaken man's
ignorance, than provoke a madman's frenzy by what I
should say. Neither was I without authority of the divine
instruction herein, since it is written, Speak not in the earsVTov.Td,
of a fool, for he tcill despise the wisdom of thy words. And
again. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest then (iIsoVtow.w,
he like unto him. We are commanded also to keejo what is "
holy within our own knowledge, and not expose it to be trodden
upon by swine and dogs, the Lord thus speaking and saying,
(rive not that which is holy unto the doys, neither cast i/eMat. 7,
your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their
feet, and turn ayain^ and rend you. Coming to me as you
were wont to do, rather with a purpose of contradicting than
from a wish to learn, and more resolved with your loud clamour
on an immodest urging of your own views, than patiently listen-
ing to mine, I thovight it useless to place myself at issue with
you ; for it were an easier and a readier thing, to baffle the
lifted waves of a stonny sea with noise, than to reduce your

200 The icorirs didrcss not oiciiuj to the (jods anger at the Gospel

Ukat. fury by treatises. Certainly it were an useless, and a
-li-'i- profitless labour, to offer light to the blind man, words to
the deaf, or wisdom to a brute; for not better can a brute
understand, than the blind man can admit the light, or the
deaf man hear. Sensible of these things, I oftentimes have
held my ])eace, and have mastered an impatient man with
patience, because I could not give teaching to one who
is unteachable, reduce by religion one who has no piety,
or restrain a frenzied man by kindness. WHien however
vou assert that very many persons comjtlain, that to us is to
be imputed", that wars arise more frequently, that pest and
famine rage, and that long seasons of drought suspend the
fall of rain, it becomes no longer a duty to be silent; lest
silence should argue, not modest feeling, but sense of
weakness, and our scorn to refute false charges seem to be
an acknowledgment that they were just ones. I therefore
enter on my answer both to you, Demctrianus, and to the
others with you, persons by yourself perchance stirred up ;
in whom your hard words have sown a hatred against us, and
who have been made your partisans in great luunbcr, budding
from your own root and origin ; from these, however, I look
forward to an admission of the reasonableness of what 1 say.
The man who has been induced to mischief by means of
falsehood, will much more be led to what is good, when truth
exercises its strength upon him.

2. You have said that it is caused by us, that to us arc to
be ascribed all those things, wherewith the Morld is now
quaking and vexed, by reason your gods are not worshipped
by us. Herein you must in the hrst place learn, (since you
vid. are ignorant of the divine teaching, and a stranger to truth,)
I"''*' that the world is now reaching its old age, that it stands no
longer in its pristine strength, no longer keeps its indwelling
vigour and force. This though ourselves should speak it not,
though we should draw no instructions of it from the holy
Scriptures and the divine teaching, still the world itself
declares it, and attests its ow^u ruin in the tottering estate of

» This was a popular notion amonp; (contr. Symmach. ii. 6S3.) It is replied

Ihf p:i^;.UH, ami is mentioned by Ter- to among others by Arnobiiis in his work

tnnian,( ApnI. lO.nd Nat. i .0.) in Maxi- against the Gentiles, by S. Austin in his

min's edict, ( Kiiseb. Hist. ix. 7.) by City of God, by S. Ambrose in his reply

OriL'in,(^in Matth. Comment. Interpret, to Symmachus.
<J. 3H. in Crl5. iii. 15.) by Prudentius,

77i.e tvorld is in its old age. 20 1

things. The showers of winter fail us, for nourishing the
seeds ; the sun's heat in summer for ripening the corn ; nor
in springtide do the fields display their usual growth, and
the trees of autumn are baiTcn of their accustomed issue.
Mountains disembowelled and ransacked yield a shortened
store of marble layers; the exhausted mines send up but a
scanty wealth of silver and of gold; their impoverished veins
day by day are narrowed and minishcd, while the husband-
man languishes in the fields, the sailor at sea, the soldier in
the camp; honesty sinks in the mart, justice from the tribunal^
love from friendship3, skill from the arts, and discipline from
conduct. Suppose you that the coherence of a thing that is
decaying can continue in that strength, wherewith it llourished
in its youthful and thriving season ? Needful is it that that
must wax weak, which is now drawing near its end, and
verges downward to the close. It is thus that the descending
sun darts his rays with an obscured and impeded lustre, and
tl)at the moon, as her course declines, contracts her exhausted
horns ; thus that the tree once green and fertile puts on the
graceless barrenness of the sere boughs in age, and the
fountain which once poured out the large effluence of its
overflowing veins, worn out by time, scarcely trickles with
an insufficient moisture. It is a sentence passed upon the
world, it is God's lav^', that as things rose so they should fall,
as they waxed so should wane, the strong become weak, and
the great become little; and weak and little when they are,
then should they gain their end. You charge it to the
Christians, that as the world grows old all things decay;
what if old men should charge the Christians, that their
vigour diminishes with years, that the hearing of the ears, the
traffic of the feet, the keenness of the eye, strength of muscle,
fulness of habit, and weight of limb, have lost from what
they were, and that while of old the life of man was stretched
forth beyond eight hundred and nine hundred years, scarcely
now can the attainment of one hundred be reached ? Boy-
hood betrays hoariness, the hair falls away before it grow,
and hfe instead of closing, begins with old age. Thus
life at its vciy infancy makes haste to its end, and all that
now has birth, deteriorates in this old age of the world
itself Let no one wonder that the things of the world

20*2 niidsfers come u/>on the u-orhl hecaifsc it is ungodhj.

ii.RAT.are one by «>in' failinj^^ wlicii thr wiiolc world itself is already
-1 ill lis Jailing' lime and end.

*1. 'J'luit wars are jirolonged in greater frequency, that
barrenness and faniinc accumulate distress, health is broken
up by raging sicknesses, and the human race laid waste by
desolating pestilence, know that herein prediction has been
given ; that in tlie last days mischiefs were to be multiplied
and changes of adversity to advance, and that as the day of
judgment approached, the censure of an offended God, was to
be more and more enkindled to the plaguing of the race of
man. These things befall us, not, as your false complaint
and unskilful ignorance of truth pretends and affirms, because
your gods are not worshipped by us, but because God has
no worship from you. For seeing He is Lord and Ruler of
the world, and all things proceed at His arbitrement and
nod, and nothing can happen, save what He hath either
wrought or permitted to be, surely when those things happen
which manifest the wrath of an offended God, they happen not
because of us, by whom God is worshipped, but are called
down by your ofiences and deserts, by whom God is neither
sought nor feared, and who have never left your vain super-
stitions for a knowledge of the true religion, that God who is
the one God of all, may from all receive worship and prayer.
Hear Him in brief Himself speaking, hear His own divine

Deut. 6, y()j(.j. |j^^]j teaching and warning us: Tliou shall worship the
Lord thy God, saith He, and Him oihj shall thou serve.

i:x.20.3.And again. Thou shall have none other Gods hut Me. And

Jcr. 25, again. Go not after other Gods, to serve them, and to worship
them; and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your
hands, to scatter you abroad. The Prophet likewise, full of
the Holy Spirit, bears witness, and denounces the wrath of

J^^gK- '.(Jod, saying. Thus saith the Lord Almighiy; Because of Mine
house that is waste, and ye run every man nnto his otcn
house, tJiervfore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and
the earth is stayed from her fruit, and L will bring a sword
upon the earth, and wpon the corn, and upon the wine, and
upon the oil, and upon men, and upon cattle, and tqwn all
the lahour of their hands. Again another Prophet repeats

Amos 4, and says, / will cause it to rain upon one city, and cause it
not to rain upon another city ; one piece shall be rained upon,

GocV s judgments visible in the f( ice of nature. 203

and the piece ivhere I send not rain shall he withered ; so
two or three cities shall gather unto one city to drink water ;
but they shall not be satisfied; and ye return not unto Me,
saith the Lord. Behold the Lord is wrathful and angered,
and threatens because you turn not unto Him ; and you are
surprised or complain, in this obstinacy and contempt of
yours, because the rain comes down sparingly, because the
earth moulders into unsightly dust, because the sterile
glebe hardly yields its jejune and pallid herbage, be-
cause the stricken hail subdues the vine, the overwhelming-
whirlwind prostrates the olive, drought stays the fountain,
a breathing pestilence corrupts the air, and morbid diseases
consume mankind ; whereas these things all come from the
provoking of your sins, and God is the more angered, when
such and so great as they are, they avail nothing. That
these things are done, either for the control of the revolting,
or the punishment of those who have done wrong, the same
God in Holy Scripture thus declai-es; In vain have I smitten ■f^^- '■^.
your childreti ; they received no correction. Herein agree
other words of the Prophet devoted and dedicated to God ;
Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; Thou5tr.5,Z.
hast consigned tJiem, but they have refused to receive cor-
rection. Lo, plagues are drawn down from God, and fear of
God there is none. liO, stripes and blows from heaven fail
not, yet is there no trembling, there is no fear. If no such
censure entered among the affairs of men, would not boldness
of crime among men become much greater, in their security
from penalty }

4. You complain of worse service yielded you, by fountains
which have lost their exuberance, air no longer healthy, rain
become scanty, and a soil unproductive ; that your interests
and enjoyments receive not their accustomed submission from
the elements. Yet do you give submission to God, by whom all
things are set under you ? Are you His servant, by whose
nod the whole creation is made to serve you.'' You exact
obedience from your slave, and, man though you are, compel
another man to submission and servitude ; bom of the same
nature with him, and destined to the same end, your bodies
of like substance, your souls of like fabric, entering this
world now, and hereafter to leave it on common privileges

204 GoiVs judgments disrefjarded.

TnrAT. and the same law, still unless he slaves to your will,
^ '"-unless he does allegiance at the instanees of your inelination,
you ]iut forth a despotic and exaggerated mastery, you smite,
you scourge ; ^^•ilh hunger, with thirst, with nakedness, often-
times even \\ith sword and prison you afflict and torment
him ; and yet, wretched man, while you exercise all this
lordship over others, God, your Lord, remains unacknow-
ledged by you. AVorthily therefore doth God exert the lash
of His stripes and scourges; and since they avail so little,
and convert not men to God hy all this dreadfulness of havoc,
there abides beyond the prison eternal, and the ceaseless
flame, and the everlasting penalty, where the groaning of
su]ijiliants will not gain more attention, than does the terror
of a wrathful God now, when by His Prophet He ex-

1105.4,1. claims and says, Hear ilie word of llie Lord, ye chil-
dren of Israel; for the Lord, hath a controversy uith the
inhabitants of the land, because there is no mercy, nor truth,
nor knowledge of God in the land ; hut cursing, and lying,
and hilling, and stealing, and committing adultery, is broken
out over the land, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall
the land mourn, and every one that duelleth therein, with
the beasts of the field, with things that creep on the earth,
and with the fowls of heaven ; and the fishes of the sea shall
languish, so that no man shall judge, no man shall reprove.
God declares that He is wrathful and angered, because there
is no knowledge of God in the earth, and He is not owned nor
feared. God rebukes and upbraids the sins of lying, of lust,
of fraud, of cruelty, of im]iiety, of anger, yet no man is
converted to innocency. Behold, those things are coming to
pass, which the words of God before predicted, yet there is
none, who by the assuredness of evils present, is counselled
to take heed to what is yet to come. Amongst miseries
wherein the soul is so fast bound and included, that it scarce
can breathe, men still find space to be wicked, and amongst
all their ])erils, arc judging others, and never themselves.
You are angered at God's anger, as if a bad life deserved
that any good should come to it, as if all that happens were
not less and lighter than your sins.

5. You who judge others, judge some time yourself
also ; look back into your own conscience, and, since your

Man's evils lie within fmn, not in external circumstances. 205

wickedness has lost all fear, and shame, and you sin as if sin
only brought you favour, do you, who are exposed and known
to all other men, be seen of self as well. Either you are
inflated with pride, or wrought upon by covetousness, or
embittered by anger ; gambling makes you prodigal, or wine
besotted, or jealousy envious, or lust impure, or cruelty hard-
hearted ; and you wonder that God's anger increases to the
penalty of the human race, while the occasions of His penalty
are multiplying day by day. You complain that the foe springs
up, as if, even if foe there were none, still the dress of peace
itself would allow you to repose. You complain that the foe
springs up, as if, though external arms and dangers from Barba-
rians were repressed, the weapons of civil animosity would not
be more ferociously and more heavily wielded, through ill words
and deeds among great men at home. You complain of
dearth and famine, as if drought made worse famine than
rapine, as if, by buying up the annual products, and multi-
plying their cost, distress was not kindled to a severer force.
You complain that the showers of heaven are shut up ; yet
not more than are the granaries shut up on earth. You
complain that the produce fails, as if former produce were
yielded to the needy. You upbraid pestilence and sickness,
whereas pestilence and sickness themselves have only ex-
posed and multiplied men's guilt ; since pitifulness is refused
to the sinking, and the dead are brooded over by avarice and
rapine. Cowards in discharging the duties of piety, yet
audacious in seeming an impious lucre, shrinking from
scenes of mortality, yet panting for the spoils of the dead,
it should seem, that they desert the poor sufferers in their
decay, that no chance may be yielded them of recovery and
restoration. He who invades the wealth of the dying, can
have no wish for his return to health. This dreadful and
multiplied havoc, has not been able to unteach men their
wickedness, and amongst the manifold mortality of a nation,
none reflects that he is himself mortal. Every wh(;re is
dispersion, seizure, and taking possession ; the spoiler hides
nothing, hesitates never; as if he might, as if he ought, as
if not to rob were doing damage and injiuy upon himself,
each hun-ies to the spoil. Robbers have in any case some
sense of their ill-deeds; they haunt inaccessible passes and

206 The irorhPs miser t/ is, not from the Church, hut from its oicn sins.

TnFAT, (kscrt wasU'S, and sin in such sort, that their daring is veiled

'^"^- by shades and nij^lit. Covetousness here prowls publicly ;

and safe under its very audacity, exercises heneath the day,

vid.su- and in the market-place, the weapons of its headlong lusts.

i"'-'- 9' Hence cheats and poisoners, hence murderers in the midst of
the citv, not less ready for wickedness, than safe from its
consequence. The guilty perpetrate their crime, but there
is no innocent man found to enforce its penalty. From
accuser or judge no fear is experienced ; and wickedness
keeps possession of its impunity, so long as retiring
men are silent, accomplices are held in fear, and they
who are to be judges are bought with Vjribes. For this
cause by the divine inspiration and power of a Projdiet
is very truth set forth ; in a certain and manifest method
is it shewn, that God is able to prevent adverse things,
but by the deserts of sinful men is He prevented from

ls.59,]. bringing aid; Is the Lord's hand, he says, shortened, that it
cannot save ? or His ear heavy, that it cannot hear ? But
your iniquities have separated heiiceen you and your God,
and because of your sins He hath hid His face from you, that
He may not have mercy. Let then sins and offences be
recounted over ; let the wounds of the conscience be made
matter of reflection : complaint will no more be made against
God and against us, when each finds he is suffering that
which is his due.

6. Consider now what really is the thing concerning which
I mainly sjjcak with you ; your hostility, namely, to us who are
innocent men, which is an insult against God, being a
ravaging and oppressing of God's servants. It is a small
thing, that your lives are defiled by all manner of flagrant
vices, by the guilt of dismal crimes, by an assemblage of
bloodshed and rapine ; that true religion is subverted by
false su])erstitions, and God is never either sought or feared;
besides this you harrass God's servants with unjust per-
secutions, men dedicated to His honour and Name. It is not
enough, that you worshij) not God yourself; besides this, you
l)ursue those who do worship Him, with a sacrilegious hatred.
\ou neither worship God, nor any wise allow Him to be
W()rslnp])0(|; and while others who venerate not only these
useless idols, and images wrought by the hand of man, but

ItkillsCkristians not for beinr/ such,//?// for lumcsfy in confessing it. 207

even portents and monsters, find favour in your sight, it
is the worshipper of God that alone displeases you. The
funeral relics of victims and of sheep, in all parts moulder
within your temples ; but altars to God are either no where,
or they are concealed. Crocodiles and baboons, stones and
serpents, enjoy your worship; God only in the earth is either
left unworshipped, or is worshipped not with imjuniity. The
innocent, the just, tlie friends of God, you deprive of their
home, you despoil of their patrimony, you oppress with
chains, you inclose in prison, you punish with sword, with
wild beasts, with fire. You are not content to make a short
work of our pains, and to use a straight and quick brevity of
infliction ; you rend our bodies with long-drawn torments ;
you lacerate the vitals with manifold appliances ; too savage
and hardhearted, to be content with common torments, your
imaginative cruelty invents new species of suffering.

7. Whence is this insatiable ardour for bloodshed, this
endless lust for cruelty ? Accept from two things your choice ;
to be a Christian either is, or is not, a crime. If a crime, why
not put to death every one who says he is a Christian ? If not
a crime, why punish the guiltless i In this case, I ought
rather to be tortured, should I pretend I was not a Christian.
If, fearing punishment from you, I falsely and dishonestly
disavowed my past profession, and my withholding of worship
from your gods, T should then deserve to be tortured, and to
be reduced to confession of my offence by jjain inflicted ; as
culprits in other cases, who deny an act they are charged with,
are put to torture, in order that bodily suflering may extract a
truth, which the voice refuses to acknowledge. But now
when I confess of my own accord, when I lift up my voice,
and, in words oftentimes and perpetually reiterated, give you
to know I am a Christian, why use torment against one who
owns it, one who pulls down your gods, not in hidden and
obscure places, but openly and publicly, and in the market-
place itself, within hearing of your magistrates and rulers : so
that, little as was the ground for blaming me before, it
has inci'eased both your hatred and your punishment of
me, that I pronounce myself a Christian in a frequented
jdace and among the crowd, and put you and your gods
to confusion, by an expressed and public manifestation.

203 Exorcisms n proof of the divinity of the Gospel

1 HKAT. ^itwiiY iiKike tliis infirm body your object, why go into con-

^''^^- tcntionwitli the weakness of this earthy flesh ? Wrestle rather

against the oncrf^nos of tlie soul, assail the mental power,

pull down my faith, conquer mo if you can in controversy,

conquer me by reason.

8. Or if your gods have any thing of divinity and power,
let them rise up in self-defence, and protect themselves by
their own majesty. What is it that their worshippers can
liope from them, if they are unable to revenge themselves on
those who worship them not? If a vindicator is greater than
he whom he vindicates, you are greater than your gods ; and
if greater than the beings you worship, no longer ought you
to worship them, but rather by them to be worshipped and
feared, as being their lord. Your championship vindicates
them when harmed, just as your safe custody is the
defence which keeps them from destruction. Shame is it, to
worship those whom you yourself keep from injury, and to
hope for protection, from the quarter to which you give
it. Oh would you listen to them, and see them, when they

vid.supr.are adjured and tormented by us with spiritual lashes, hurled
"■ "*• with words of torture out of bodies they have possessed,
when shrieking and groaning at a human voice, and beneath
a power divine laid under lash and stripe, they confess the
judgment to come ! Approach and learn the truth of what we
say : as you profess such reverence for your gods, believe as well
as reverence them ; or if you will but believe yourself, He who
has now closed up your breast, and who has blinded your mind
with the night of ignorance, will speak to you concerning
yourself, in your own hearing. You will find that we are
entreated of them whom you entreat, feared by them whom
you fear, and whom you adore. You will see laid bound
beneath our hand, and trembling in their captivity, those
whom you admire and venerate as your masters. Surely thus
at least will you be brought to confusion in these your enors,
when you behold and hear your gods at once upon our
questioning betraying what they are, and unable, even in
your presence, to conceal their tiicks and deceptions.

9. What sloth of mind must that be, nay what blind and
foolish madness nnist be theirs, who will not come to light
from darkness, who, though bound by the chains of death

Christians^ tliough many^ resist not, that they may conquer. 209

eternal, will not embrace the hope of immortality, nor fear the
threatening words of God ; He that sacrijiceth itnto any Kx. 22,
god, save unto the Lord only, he shall tdterly he destroy edP"^'
And again, They worship them whom their Jinyers have made ; is. 2, 8.
and the mean 7nan boioeth doicn, and the great man humhleth
himself, and I uill forgive them not. Why humble yourself,
and bend to false gods ? Why bow your captive body
before helpless images, and moulded earth ? God created you
erect; and while other animals look downward, in attitude
bending toward the ground, your station is aloft, your coun-
tenance lifted upward to heaven and to God. Thither gaze,
thither lift your eyes, look among the heights for God. That
you may be disjoined from that which is beneath, lift up
your breast to an intercourse with the high and heavenly
places. Why grovel in the prostration of death, like the serpent
whom you worship ? Why rush into the downfall of the
Devil, his fall the cause of yours, and he your companion ?
Keep that height you were born in ! Continue the being
vi'hom God made you ! Give to the soul a character, like its
character of face and form ! That you may acquaint yourself
with God, first become acquainted with yourself ! Leave the
idols which human error invented ; turn to God ; ask, and He
will help you ; believe in Christ, whom the Father sent,
to give us life and renewal. Harm the servants of God and of
Christ no more with your persecutions, for divine vengeance
protects them when they are harmed; it is because of this,
that none of us makes resistance when he is seized, and,
numerous and plentiful as our j^eople are, uses no retaliation
against your unjust violence.

10. We are rendered patient, by our security of a vindica-
tion to come. The innocent give place to the guilty ;
the guileless acquiesce in their punishments and tortures,
certain and assured, that any thing we suffer will not remain
unavenged, that if ill usage and persecution nuiltiply upon us,
the vengeance which our persecution entails will be but the
juster and the heavier, and that the wickedness of evil men
can never uplift itself against the Name we profess, but
a divine retaliation will speedily come along with it. Not to
name events remembered from of old, or recal the commemo-
ration of vengeance oftentimes induced in behalf of the wor-

p

2 1 0 Are patient, for the more they suffer, the more they will be avenged.

Trkat. shippers of God, a recent indication may be sufficient, I mean,
L our protection which came so speedily, and with its speed, so

On miglitily, amid the wreck of affairs, the destruction of treasure,

deau"*'* ^^^^ waste of sokhery, and the loss of forts. Let no one think
that this has happened by chance, or is a thing of accident ;

Deut. since long ago lioly Scripture set forth and said. Vengeance
' is Mine, I will repay, saiih the Lord ; and again the Holy

Prov.20, Spirit admonishes us, and says. Say not thou, I will recom-
pense evil, hut wait on the I^ord, and He shall save thee.
Hence is it plain and manifest, that not through us, but in
behalf of us, fall all those things which God in His wrath
sends down.

11. Neither let any man think that such events are not an
interference in behalf of Christians, because Christians appear
to be themselves touched by their infliction. Worldly ills are
a punishment felt by him, whose happiness and glory is all
in the world. He weeps and groans at what goes ill with
him in this life, to whom nothing can go well when life
is past, who takes all the fruit of living now, shuts his conso-
lation within this present place, and has his measure of grati-
fication and enjoyment, in this frail and brief existence : gone
hence, no more remains but penalty and sorrow. They on
the other hand have no pain from present ills occurring, who
look with confidence to good things in futurity : in truth we
are never overwhelmed by adverse things, never broken-
spirited, nor sorrowful ; no voice of mourning escapes from us,
under whatever calamity of circumstance, or weakness of
body. Living rather in the SjHrit than in the flesh, we put
away the insufficiency of the body, by strength of the soul.
By those very things which torture and weary us, we know
and are confident, that our trial and our strength is AM'ought,
Think you that we suffer adversities equally with you, when
you see, that you sustain the same adversities not equally
with us ? With you thei'c is an impatience always
clamorous and complaining, with us a brave and religious
patience, which is always quiet, and always gives its thanks
to God, which lays no claim to happiness or prosjierity here,
but meekly and gently, and strong among the winds of this
tunmltuous world, abides the time of God's promise. As
lt»Hn as the body lasts, it needs must have the common

Tfiey have less trouble than the heathen because they bear it better. 211

nature, and share in the general condition ; none of man's race
can be sundered from the rest, till after its departure from this
present life ; in the mean season, good or bad, we are
contained within one house; all that happens within that
house, we bear in common; until the limit of the world's
period be gained, and we are distributed among the mansions
whether of death or of life eternal. It follows not that we are
on the same footing and equality with you, because while
standing in this world and in this flesh, we incur the troubles
of the world and of the flesh in common with yourselves.
For since all punishment lies in the sense of pain, it is
manifest that he is not a sharer of your punishment, whom
you see to be not suffering equally with you. There thrives
among us the vigour of hope and the stedfastness of faith ;
there is, amidst the ruins of a falling world, a mind ei'ect and
virtue ever stayed, a patience always rejoicing, a soul ever con*
fident in its God, even as the Holy Spirit speaks and exhorts by
the Prophet, sustaining the stedfastness of our hope and faith
and by heavenly words ; Although the Jig-tree shall not blossom, Hab. 3,
neither shall fruit he in the vines; the labour of the olive
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; thefiock shall he
cut ojf from the fold, and there shall he no herd in the stalls :
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of
my salration. He tells us that the man of God, the wor-
shipper of God, leaning upon the truth of his hope, and
grounded in the stedfastness of his faith, can never be shaken
by the assaults of the world and life below. Though the vine
fail, and the olive deceive, and the herbage languish with
drought upon the parched and arid field, what is this to
Christians, what this to the servants of God, whom Paradise
invites, for whom all the grace and plenteousncss of the
heavenly kingdom is stored up } They exult ever in the
Lord, they are glad and joyful in their God, and bravely bear
the ills and adversities of life, because their prospect is among
the gifts and the happiness of futurity. Plaving put off" our
earthly birth, new-created and new-born by the Spirit, and
living no more to the world but to God, it is only when we
go to Him, that we are to have the possession of God's gifts
and promises. And yet for the repulse of enemies, for the
procuring of rain, and for the removal or mitigation of adverse

p2

212 None can he saved but those who are signed rvith Christ's Sign.

Tkrat. things, we ever entreat and pour our prayers; and strive

.LLUl'in belialf of your peace and safety to propitiate and appease
God, by offering Him night and day our continual and instant
adoration.

12. Let no one therefore comfort himself with the pretence,
because there is to us and to the profane, to God's worshippers
and God's enemies, through equality of the flesh and of the
body, a common liability to the troubles of life for a season,
that therefore he is not to consider all these things which
take place to be drawn down by you; since by God's own
preaching and prophetic attestation it hath before been said,
that on the unjust should come the wrath of God, and perse-
cutions would not be wanting which humanly should hurt us,
but that avengements should ensue bearing a divine defence
to the injured. How great too are those things, which mean
time are being done in our behalf! A portion, by way of
example, is given us, that we may learn what is the anger of
an avenging God. But the day of judgment is yet beyond,

Is. 13, 6. which Holy Scripture thus foretels and denounces; Howl
ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as
a destruction from God. For, behold, the day of the Lord
Cometh, cruel both uith wrath and anger, to lay the earth
desolate, and to destroy the sinners out of it. And again,

M3l\.4,\. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, that shall burn as
an oven ; and all the aliens, and all that do icickedly, shall be
stubble ; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith
the T^ord. The Lord prophesies that the aliens shall be
burnt and consumed, aliens, that is, from the divine family and
unhallowed, not born again of the Spirit, nor made the sons
of God. For that those only can escape, w^ho are born again
and signed with the Sign of Christ, God sets forth in another
place, when, sending His Angels for the devastation of the
world, and the death of the human race, He speaks a heavier

Ez.9, 5. waniing in the last time : Go ye and smite, let not your eye
spare ; have no pity on old or young, slay maids, and children,
and women, that they may be utterly destroyed. But touch
not any man, upon uhom is the Mark. What is this Mark,
and in what part of the body placed, God manifests in another

Kz. 9, 4. place, thus speaking ; Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and
set a Mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that

Eternal paniskincnt awaits the unbelievimj. 213

cry, for all the abominations that he done in the midst thereof.
And that tliis Sign pertains to tlie passion and blood of
Christ, and he is kept safe and secure who is found with this
Sign, is likewise ensured by the testimony of God, thus
saying ; And the Mood shall be to you for a token in the Ex. 12,
houses where ye are, and when I see the blood, I will protect
you, and the plague shall not he upon you, when I smite the
land of Egypt. That which went before in image by the
slaying of tlie lamb, is fulfilled in Christ by the truth following
afterwards. As there in the smiting of Egypt, the Jewish people
could not escape, save by the sign and blood of the lamb ; so
likewise when the world begins to be wasted and smitten, he
only shall escape, who is found in the Blood and in the Signvid.

c rf\ • . supr. iii.

01 Christ. 2. 22.

13. Grow wise now therefore, while there is time, unto the
true and eternal salvation ; and since the end of the world is
close at hand, in fear of God turn unto God your minds.
Make not yourselves happy in the impotent and vain do-
minion, which you exercise in this world over the just and
meek ; it is as the dominion of darnel and reeds in a field, over
the cultured and fertile grain. Neither say ye, that evil things
happen, because your gods are not worshipped by us ; but
learn that this anger of God is a visitation from Him, to the
end that He who is not seen in His bounties, may be felt in
His plagues. Seek God, though it be late, for long since by
the Prophet doth God fore-advising us exhort and say. Seek Amos 5,
the Lord, and ye shall live. Know God, though it be late to
come to knowledge of Him ; since Christ when He came
spoke this instruction and lesson ; This is life eternal, that John 17,
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent. Believe in Him, who never deceives.
Believe in Him, who foretold that all these things should be ;
believe in Him, who to them who believe will give the reward
of life eternal ; believe in Him, who on them that believe not,
will bring down eternal punishments in the fires of ITell.
What glory will faith then have, and what penalty will faith- perfidiae.
lessness, when the day of judgment comes ! What joy for the
believers, what sorrow for the faithless ; to have refused to
believe here, and now to be unable to return, in order that
they may believe ! Hell ever burning will consume the

214 The future condition of the impenitent.

Til EAT. accursed, and a devouring punishment of lively flames; nor
^ '"-. will there be that from whence their torments can ever receive
either repose or end. Souls with their bodies will be saved
unto suffering, in tortures infinite. There that man will be
seen by us for ever, who made us his spectacle here for
a season ; what brief enjoyment those cruel eyes received
from the persecutions wrought upon us, will be balanced
against a spectacle eternal ; according to the truth of Holy

Is. 66, Scri])liuc, thus speaking ; Their worm shall not die, neither
shall llieir fire he quenched ; and they shall he for a vision to

"^ytsd. 5, all flesh. And again ; Then shall the righteous men stand
in (jreat boldness before the face of such as hare ajficted them,
and have taken auaij their labours. When they see it, they
shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at
the strangeness of his salvation, beyond all that they looked
for; and they yepen ting and groaning for anguish of spirit
shall say within themselves, These are they whotn we had
sometimes in derision and a proverb of reproach ; we fools
accounted their life madness, and their end to he without
honour; how are they numbered among the children of
God, and their lot is among the saints ! Therefore have
we erred from the ivay of truth, and the light of righteousness
hath not shined upon us, and the sim rose not on us.
He wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruc-
tion ; we have gone through deserts where there lay no way ;
but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it. What
hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our
vaunting brought us ? All those things are passed away
like a shadow. Then will there be pain of pimishment with-
out the profitableness of penitence, lamentation will be vain,
and entreaty ineffectual. Too late will they believe in an
eternal punishment, who refused to believe in the life
eternal. Wherefore, while it may be done, give heed to
safety and life.

14. We offer you the saving aid of our mind and counsel;
and since we may not hate, but we please God the more,
by rendering no return for injury, we exhort you while
means there are, while time yet yields its remnant, to make

satisfa- yoiuT peace with God, and emerge into the bright light of

<="«• true religion, from the deep and murky night of s-iper-

Repentance ever avails in this life, neve?' afiencards. 215

stition. We have no grudge against your welfare, nor do
we make any concealment of the bounties divine ; we render
good-will for your hatred, and point out paths of salvation,
in return for the torments and the sufferings, which have
been inflicted on us. Believe, and live ; you have been our
persecutors in time : in eternity, be companions of our joy.

15. Once gone forth from hence, there is no more place
for repentance; no satisfaction can be accomplished; it
is here that life is either lost or saved ; it is here that eternal
salvation is provided for, by the worship of God and the
fruit of faith. Let a man be withheld, neither by his sins
nor by his years, from coming to make good his salvation :
while he remains in this world, no repentance is too late ; the
approach to God's indulgence is open, and an easy access is
given to those who enquire for and admit the truth. You, if
you should entreat for your offences, even in the very exit and
close of your life below, if you should implore that God who
is One and True, in the confession and faith of acknowledging
Him, the pardon is given to you when you confess ; the saving
indulgence from God's pity is granted to you when youpietate.
believe; nay in the very hour of death a transit is secured sub ipsA
to immortality. This grace Christ grants, this work of His '"°'''^-
mercy He puts in our possession, by subduing death in the
trophy of the Cross, by redeeming the believer with the price
of His blood, by reconciling man to God the Father, and
giving life to one who is mortal by heavenly regeneration.
Him, if it be possible, let us all follow ; let us be enlisted
under His Sacrament and Sign ; He opens to us the path of
life. He brings us back to Paradise, He will guide us into the
kingdom of heaven. With Him we shall ever live, made by
Him the sons of God ; with Him we shall for ever rejoice, the
creatures of His bloodshedding. We Christians will be par-
takers in glory with Christ, in the blessedness of God the
Father, rejoicing with perpetual gladness, in the presence of
God for ever, and for ever yielding Him thanks. For he
cannot be other than for ever happy and thankful, who, after
living under liability to death, is rendered secure of immortcdity.

TREATISE IX.

ON THE MORTALITY.

[This Treatise was written at the same time with the foregoing, in order
to encourage and console Christians under the visitation which forms the
subject of it.]

Although in most of you, dearest brethren, there is a
stcdfast mind, firm faith, and soul devout, which wavers not
before the manifold instances of this present mortality, and
like a bold and rooted rock, under the swelling stonns of this
world, and the fierce floods of time, repels, not suffers from,
their blow, and is but j^roved, not overcome by tempta-
tions; yet since I observe amongst your number some,
who either through weakness of spirit, or poverty of faith, or
the satisfactions of the life below, or tenderness of sex, or
(what is a greater thing) through wandering from ti-uth, do
less strongly stand, and put not forth the divine uncon-
querable energy of their breast, there must be no dis-
sembling or hiding of the matter, but so far as my poor
powers extend, we must in the fulness of vigour and
in words collected from the lessons of the Lord, ex-
tinguish the cowardice of a softened temper, so that he
who has begun to be the servant of God and Christ, may
before God and Christ be found walking worthy. For
he, dearest brethren, who fights for God, who, stationed
in the heavenly camp, breathes things divine, ought to own
himself to be what he is, in order that we may not be trem-
bbng or faultcring amid the storms and tempests of this
world; since the liord foretold that these things would come;
and with the instructive exliortation and doctrine of His

The end of the world at hand. 217

warning voice, training and establishing the people of His
Church, to all endurance of future things, hath prophesied
and taught that wars and famines, and earthquakes and
pestilences, would arise in every place. And lest any unpre-
pared and sudden terror should disturb us at the access of
adversity. He forewarned us that in the last times evil things
should wax worse and worse. Lo, the things which were
spoken are come to pass; and as those things are come to
pass which were foretold, so those will follow which yet arc
promised; the Lord Himself giving assurance, and saying,
When ye see all these things come to 2^ass, know ye that the I uke2l,
kingdom of God is nigh at hand".

2. Dearest brethren, the kingdom of God has begun to be
nigh at hand; reward of life, and joy of eternal salvation, and
perpetual happiness, and possession of Paradise lately lost,
already, while the world passes away, are coming nigh ;
already heavenly things are succeeding to earthly, and great
to small, and eternal to transient. What place is here, for
anxiety and solicitude.? Who amid these things is tremulous
and mournful, except in whom hope and faith are wanting ?
It is for him to be afraid of death, who hath not willingness
to come to Christ; and for him to be unwilling to come to
Christ, who does not believe that he has begun to reign with
Christ. For it is written that Xhejust lives hy faith. If thou Hab. 2,
art just, and livest by faith, if thou truly behevest in God,
why, as one who will be with Christ, and secure of the
promise of the Lord, dost thou not embrace that call to
Christ which is given thee, and for that thou art delivered
from the devil, make thyself joyful in the deliverance.?
Syraeon of a surety, that just man, who was truly just, who
kept the commandments of God in fulness of faith ; when it
had been divinely told him, that he should not die before he
had seen Christ, and the infant Christ had come with His
Mother into the Temple, acknowledged in spirit that Christ
was now bom, concerning whom the prophecy had been

» Vid. supr. viii. 2. In like manner of! &c. "What general famine, what

S. Ambrose; " None are witnesses to pestilence, &c. Famine is the world's

[Christ's] heavenly words more than sickness, so is pestilence, so is perse-

we, whom the end of the world has cutinn." In Luc. x. 10. vid. also Greg,

found. For how man)- battles and in Luc.Hom. 36. vid.infra,xiii. ;jre/ace.
ru!nours of battles have we not heard

Q18 The peace of the Gospel.

Treat. made to liim, and having seen whom, he knew that he was

■ ^^' soon to die. Rejoicing therefore in the nearness now of
death, and secure of being presently called away, he took the
Child into his hands, and blesshig God, cried out and said,

Luke 2, Lord, now let test Tliou Tliy servant depart in peace, according
to TJiy irord; for mine eyes have seen Tliy salvation ; — proving
surely and bearing testimony, that then for the servants of
God is peace, then free, then tranquil rest, when rescued
from these turmoils of earth, we gain the port of rest and
of eternal security ; when we put away this death, and come
to immortality.

3. ITiat is peace for us; that is a faithful tranquillity; that
is rooted and firm and perpetual security. Meanwhile in
this world what is it, but the waging of a daily warfare
against the Devil ? Against his darts and weapons, in what
successive conflicts do we engage ! Our contest is with
avarice, with unchastity, with anger, with ambition; with
carnal vices, with worldly allurements, we have an abiding
and weary wrestling. The mind of man, on all sides besieged
and compassed with the assaults of the Devil, scarcely in
each point fronts the enemy, scarcely holds against him. So
soon as Avarice has been laid prostrate. Lust uprises ; when
Lust is crushed. Ambition follows ; if Ambition has been set
at nought. Anger embitters. Pride inflates. Drunkenness
entices. Envy destroys harmony, and Jealousy severs Friend-
ship. You are forced to utter curses, which the divine
law forbids; you are compelled to take oaths, which it
sutlers not. So many persecutions does the mind daily
undergo, with so many perils is the breast beset, and it
delights to tarry long here amid the Devil's weapons, when
rather it should be our longing and our desire, by death coming
to our aid more speedily, to hasten to Christ, according to His

John 16, own instruction and word; Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that ye shall ucep and lament, bnt the norld shall rejoice:
ye shall he sorrouful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. Who does not desire to be freed from sorrow ? Who
does not hasten to attain to joy } And when our sorrow is
turned into joy, the Lord Himself does further declare and

John 16, say, r ffill see you ayain,and your heart shall rejoice, and
yourjny no man shall take from you. Since therefore to sec

Faith enables us to rejoice in di/inrj. 219

Christ is to rejoice, and our joy cannot be, unless when we
see Christ, what blindness of mind, or what madness is it,
to love the straits and pains and tears of the world, and
not rather make haste unto that joy, which can never be
taken from us?

4. This, dearest brethren, so is, because there is lack of
faith; because none believes that those things are true, which
God, who is faithful, promises, whose word in them that
believe is eternal and immoveable. If any worthy and
honourable man were to engage himself to you by any pro-
mise, you would surely place reliance in his engagement,
and would have no thought of being betrayed and deceived
by one, whom you knew to be unswerving in his words and
dealings ; and now, when it is God that speaketh with you,
do you, in unbelief of heart, distrustfully waver? God
engages to you immortality and eternity, when you depart
out of this world; and do you doubt? This is altogether
not to know God ; this is to offend with the sin of unbelief,
against Christ who is the Lord and Master of believers ; it is
after being placed in the Church, to be without faith within
the House of faith. What profit it is to depart out of this
world, Christ Himself reveals, who is the Teacher of salvation
and beneficence to us; who when His Disciples became sad,
because He said that He should presently depart, spoke unto
them and said, If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because /joimH
go unto the Father ; teaching, that is, and manifesting, that'-*^-
when those we love and cherish depart out of this world, we
ought rather to rejoice than grieve. In remembrance of
which thing, the blessed Apostle Paul sets it down in his
Epistle, and says. To me to live is Christ, and to die yain ; n\^\\^ i
accounting it the greatest gain, to be no longer holden of the 21.
chains of this life ; no more exposed to all sins and vices of

the flesh ; redeemed from poignant tribulations, and delivered
from the poisoned jaws of the Devil, to pass at the call of
Christ into the joy of everlasting salvation.

5. Some however there are, who are moved in thought,
because the influences of this disease have made their attack
on ourselves, as much as on the heathen ; as if the end of a
Christian's faith was this, to enjoy in happiness the world
and life, unliable to contact of evil ; not as one, who, enduring

2Q0 The Christian suffers more than other meJi,

TuKAT.hcrc all aclvcrse things, is rcsened unto the future joy. It
'^- moves some, that this mortality should be common to us as
to others. Yet what is there in this world, which is not
common to us with others, so long as this common flesh is
ours, according to the law of the first nativity? Even so
long as here we are in the world, we are in equality of the
flesh joined with the race of man, but in spirit separate. A\Tiere-
iCor.lS, fore, until this corruptible put on ificorruption, and this
^^' utnrtfil obtain immortality, and the Spirit guide us unto God
the Pathcr, whatsoever are the troubles of the flesh, are our
common portion with the race of man. ^\Tien therefore the
earth ])ines in an unfruitful barrenness, famine makes no
difference of one from another; when any city is occupied by
a hostile assault, the capture lays its desolation equally upon
all. And when the becalmed atmosphere suspends the rain,
there is equal drought to all; and when the abrupt rocks
dash a vessel in pieces, the voyagers suffer together an
unexccpted shipwreck. Disease of the eyes, attacks of fever,
ailment of any of the limbs, is as conmion to us as to others,
so long as the common flesh remains in this world upon us.
Nay, if the Christian recognizes and masters on what con-
dition, on what law he has become a believer, he will find,
that he has more to endure in this world than other men,
because he is to be struggling more with the assaults of the
Devil. The divine Scripture teaches and forewarns us,
Ecclus. saying. My sou, when thou coynest to the service of God,
^''•''- stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare thy soul for
temptation. And again; In pain endure, and in thy lota
estate have patience : for yold and silver is tried in the Jire,
and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.

6. Thus Job, after the loss of estate, after the death of his
children, grievously also afflicted with wounds and worms,
was not overcome, but proved ; for even in his very wrest-
lings and sufferings, he manifested the patience of a religious
.i„bi, mind, and said, Xaked came I out of my mother's nomb,
^'- and naked shall J depart under the earth ; the Lord gave,
the Lord hath taken aicay ; as it seemed good to the L^ord, so
it hath been done ; blessed be the Name of the Lord. And
when his wife also urged him, impatient under the strength
of his pains, to speak against God some word in the tone of

and praises and blesses God under Itis sujferings. 221

complaint and envy, he answered and said, Thou hast spoken Job 2,
as one of the foolish ttJomen. If we have received good at the '
hand of the Lord, wherefore shall we not endure evils? In
all these things which happened unto him, Job sinned not
with his lips in the sight of the Lord. Therefore the Lord
God gives unto him a testimony, saying, Hast thou cow- Job 1,8.
sidered My servant Job? For there is none like him in
the earth, a man tcithoui complaint, a true worshipper of
God.

7. And Tobias, after his noble works, after the many and
glorious praises of his mercifulness, under the suffering of
blindness, fearing and blessing God in his adversity, did
through bodily calamity obtain the more increase of praise ;
and him also his wife endeavoured to con-upt, saying,
Where are thy righteous deeds? Behold what things thouToh.2,
sufferest. But he, stedfast and rooted in the fear of God,

and armed by a religious faith unto all endurance of suffering,
yielded not in pain to the tempting of his unstedfast
wife, but wrought the more favour with God, by a more Deum
abounding patience. Him afterward the Angel Raphael ^^"j']^^"
approves, and says, For uhen thou didst pray, and Sara thy joh. 12»
daughter in laiv, I did offer the remembrance of your prayer, *'^'
in the presence of the glory of God; and when thou didst
bury the dead likewise; and because that thou didst not
delay to rise up and leave thy dinner, and wentest and didst
bury the dead, I was sent to make proof of thee. And God
again hath sent me, to heal thee and Sara thy daiighter-in-
law ; for I am Raphael, one of the seven holy Angels, who
are present, and go in and out, before the glory of God.

8. This exercise of patience righteous men have ever
manifested, this lesson the Apostles themselves observed,
according to the commandment of the Lord ; not to murmur
in adversity, but whatsoever things occur in this world, to
receive them in strength and patience. For the people of
the Jews herein ever offended, by their manifold murmurings
against God. Thus, in Numbers, the Lord God bears wit-
ness, saying. Let their murmuring cease from Me, and they ^umh.
shall not die. Dearest brethren, we must not murmur in ' *
adversity, but in patience and strength endure whatsoever

befals, since it is written. The sacrifice to God is a brokenPs. 5],

17.

22*2 I^iss (furnhh, disease, bereavement, try our faith.

Tkv AT. ttpirit; a contrite and humbled heart God doth not dc/tpise :

'^' and since in Deuteronomy also the Holy Spirit counsels by

Dcut. 8, Mosi's, and says, The Laid thy Cod will vex thee, and will

^' lay hunger upon thee, and it shall be known in thine heart,

if thou hast well kept His commandments, or not. And

Dcut. again ; The Tord your God proveth you, that He may know

'*^' ^' whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and

with all your soul. Herein Abraham pleased God, because,

to the end tliat he might please Him, he neither feared to

lose his son, nor refused the burden of slaying him. You,

who cannot bear to lose a son, by the law and portion

of mortality, what would you do, if you were commanded to

slay your son ?

9. Fear of God, and faith, ought to make you of ready
mind unto all things. Though loss of wealth be your lot,
though your limbs be harrassed by the fixed and painful
ravage of diseases, though the removal of wife, of children,
and of friends, bring its gloomy and painful sepai'ation, be these
things not offences to you, but combats ; let them not impair
or break the faith of the Christian, but rather manifest his
valour in llie struggle ; since all injury of present evils is to
be despised in the confidence of the good things that are to
be. Unless the fight have first come, there cannot be the
victory ; when victory has in the strife of battle been attained,
then is given to the conquerors their crown. The jnlot is
discerned in the tempest, the soldier is approved in the field.
It is a trial without endurance, when danger is not ; the com-
batting of adversity gives approval of what is real. A tree
which rests in dej)th of root, is unmoved by winds when they
descend upon it ; the ship which firmly rests upon its cable,
is struck but not broken by the waves ; and when the corn
is wrought in a threshing-floor, the strong and heavy grains
despise the wind, while empty chaff is wafted off upon its
blast. Thus moreover the Apostle Paul, after shipwrecks
after stripes, after tortures many and grievous of the flesh and
body, says that he is not worn but bettered by evil things,
inasnuich as in his being the rather afflicted he was more
2 Cor. certainly proved. There was given to me, saith he, a thorn
''' '• 'f »'.'/ J(''xh, the angel of Satan, to buffet me, that I should
not be e.nil ted ; for which thing I besought the T.ord thrice.

No Christian need fear to die. 223

t?iat it migJit depart from me. And He said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee ; for strength is made perfect in
weakness. When therefore weakness and insufficiency and
any desolation lays hold upon us, then our strength is being
made perfect ; then faith, if it have stood fast in the trial, is
crowned ; as it is written, The furnace proveth the letter's Ecclus.
vessels; and just men the trial of tribulation . This, in fine, ^^'^"
lies between us, and others who know not God, that they in
adverse things complain and murmur ; while adversity calls
us not away from the truth of virtue and faith, but makes us
strong amidst suffering. This present visitation, of the
strength of the body drained by an inward flux, of fire in
the marrow breaking out in wounds upon the jaws; the
entrails shaken by continual vomiting, the eyes made
bloodshot by fever, the feet of some or other parts of
the body removed through access of putrid disease, while
from the debility occasioned in this maiming and waste of the
body, either motion is impeded, or hearing obstructed, or
sight lost, is a profitable instancing of faith. What greatness
is it of spirit, to battle, in strength of soul unshaken, against
these assaults of desolation and death ! How glorious, to
stand, unbending, among ruins of the human race, instead of
lying prostrate with those who are void of a hope in God !
It becomes us best, to be joyful, and to embrace with gladness
that which the occasion grants us, namely, that in the stedfast
clicitirig of our faith, and the going on unto Christ, through
labour borne, in Christ's narrow way, we are accepting that
reward of His life and faith, which Himself will adjudge.

10. Doubtless, let him fear to die, and only him, who,
unborn of water and of the Spirit, is the property of hell-fire ;
let him fear to die, who is without title in the Cross and
passion of Christ ; let him fear to die, who is to pass from
death here into the second death ; let him fear to die, on whom
at his going away from life, an eternal flame will lay pains
that never cease ; let him fear to die, on whom the longer
delay confers this boon, that his tortures and groans will
begin later. There are many among ourselves, who die in
this pestilence ; that is, there are many among us, who are
set at liberty from the life below. This pestilence, as to
Jews and heathens and Christ's enemies it is a plague, so

num

224 The pcstihiice hrow/ht men to serious thoughts.

TtiFAT.to the servants of God is it departure to their salvation.
_Ii^' That without distinction between man and man, the just and
the unjust die alike, think not, because of this, that the good
and thf wicked pass to the same end; the ri^'hteous are
refrige- called lo their refreshing, the unrighteous hurried into
punislimcnt; the faithful obtain a speedier deliverance, the
unbelieving a speedier retribution. We are inconsiderate and
ungrateful, dearest brethren, concerning the divine bounties,
and account not of that wliich tliey bestow upon us. Behold,
virgins depart peaceably and securely in their full honours,
unfearing the threats and corruptions and polluted places of
coming Anti-Christ ; boys, escaped the peril of their unsafe
years, happily arrive at the reward of continence and inno-
ceucy ; the delicate matron is no longer in dread of torture,
obtaining ransom, by an early death, from fear of persecution,
and from the hands and torments of the slaughterer. By the
terrors of mortality and of the times, lukewarm men are heart-
ened, the listless nerved, the sluggish awakened ; deserters are
compelled to return ; heathens brought to believe; the congre-
gation of established believers is called to rest; fresh and
numerous champions are banded in heartier strength for the
conflict, and having come into warfare in the season of death,
will fight without fear of death, when the battle comes.

11. This further effect, dearest brethren, how suitable,
how necessary is it; that this pestilence and plague, wdiich
appears full of terrors and gloom, is atrial of the righteousness
of each, and puts the minds of mortal men into a balance ;
trying whether those that are in health lend them that are
sick ; whether relatives are dutifully affected towards their
kindred ; whether masters feel pitifully towards servants who
are languisliing ; whether physicians keep from leaving the
sick who entreat tlieir aid; whether the passionate reduce
their violence of temper ; whether the avaricious can quench
even by fear of death the insatiable heats of their feverish
covetousness ; whether the ])roud bend the neck; whether
the re]m)bate remit tlieir daring; whether, their dear ones
being carried off, the rich even then do any wise dispense and
give when they are to die without heirs. Were it that none
other boon were brought by tliis mortality, herein greatly has
it been of profit to Christians and the servants of God, that

Mdrtyrdom in will a substitute for Martyrdoui in deed. 2*25

learning to be not afraid of death, we begin to look on
martyrdom with desire. Trainings are these for us, not losses ;
they give to the mind the praise of courage, and by contempt
of death prepare it for the crown.

12. But some one may here in opposition say, ' It is for
this cause that I have sorrow in the present mortality, in that
having made myself ready for confession, and having devoted
myself to bear my passion with my whole heart and in fulness
of virtue, I am robbed of niy Martyrdom, being anticipated
by death.' But in the first place, Martyrdom is not in your
control, but in the condescension of Go A ; nor can you say
that you have lost, what you know not that you mei'it to
obtain. And, besides this, God the Searcher of reins and
heart, beholder and inspector of hidden things, sees thee, and
praises and approves ; and He who perceives that the virtue
was ready in you, will measure to your virtue its reward. Had
Cain, when he brought the ottering to God, already slain his
brother? And yet God foreseeing already condemned the
fratricide which he conceived in his heart. As in him the
evil intention and purpose of wickedness was anticipated by
a foreseeing God, so also in the servants of God, in whom
confession is intended, and Martyrdom conceived in mind,
a will devoted to what is good is crowned by God the
Judge. It is one thing for will to be wanting when
Martyrdom is offered; another, in absence of the Martyrdom,
for will to be present. As the Lord finds when He calls
you, so also He judges of you ; since Himself bears wit-
ness and says, And all the CJinrches shall knoic, that I am Rev. 2,
Searcher of the reins and heart. For neither doth God
requii'e our bloodshedding, but our faith ; since neither
Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, were slain, yet merited
they to be honoured first among the Patriarchs, for the merits
of faith and righteousness; into whose feast is gathered who-
soever is found faithful and righteous and laudable.

13. We should remember that we ought to do, not our
own will, but the will of God ; according as the Lord has
commanded us daily to pi'ay. How misplaced is it, and
how perverse, while we make it our prayer that the will of
God may be done, yet when God calls and withdraws us
from this world, not at once to obey the requirement of His

Q

*226 A vision (/ran ted to a dying Priest.

TuKAT. will! We oppose and withstand, and after the manner of
■ ^''^' conluniacious ser^'ants we are carried into the presence of our
Lord with reluctance and sadness, departing hence under
the constraint of necessity, not the obedience of choice;
and desire we to be honoured of Him with heavenly rewards,
whom we approach ajrainst our will ? Why then do we pray
and beseech that the kingdom of heaven may come, if bondage
on earth delights us ? Why in oft-repeated prayers do we
cntpiirc and ask that the day of the kingdom may hasten,
when we desire and have it rather in our wish, to serve the
Devil here, than to be reigning with Christ ?

14, Moreover, that the marks of a divine Providence might
more clearly be manifest, that the Lord to whom future things
are known, counsels for the true salvation of them who are
His, when one of our colleagues and fellow-Piiests, worn
now with infirmity, and under the anxiety of approaching
death, made prayer that longer time might be granted him ;
there stood beside him, in his entreaty, and while as he was
well nigh dying, a youth of venerable honour and majesty, of
a lofty stature, and shining presence, and on whom the face of
man could scarcely look with fleshly eyes, as he stood by him,
were it not that now he was able to see him, in this near time
of his departure from the world. He, not without a displeasure
both of feeling and tone, rebuked him thus, " Are ye afraid to
suffer? Arc ye unwilling to depart? What shall I do to you?"
It was the word of rebuke and warning, fi-om One who, when
men are solicitous about persecution, and careless of their
summons, concedes not to their present desire, but consults for
hereafter. Oiu: brother and colleague heard in his death, that
which he was to say to others. In death he heard, what hearing
he should but repeat ; not for himself he heard it, but for us.
For wherefore the lesson given, to one who was now in de-
parting? Yea, he was taught it for us who remain; that
witnessing a Priest of God rebuked, when he petitioned for his
longer leave, we might learn what to all men is their true
gain.

15. To ourselves also, (who are the least and last,) how
many times has it been revealed, how frequently and mani-
festly, by God's pleasure, have I been directed, assiduously
to protest, and publicly declare, that we ought not to son-ow

We must not mourn <it the loss of frumds. 2*27

for those our brethren, who by the Lord's summons have
been set at liberty from the life below ; assured that they are
not gone away, but gone forward ; that in departing from us je s£e.
they are but leading the way, as is men's wont in a journey '^"'°-
or upon a voyage ; that we owe them our affection, rather than
our lamentations; and ought not to put on the garb of black
here, while they have already taken on them white raiment
there ; since occasion must not be given to the Gentiles,
for the deserved and just reproach, that while we say of men,
they are alive with God, we mourn for them as extinct and
perished; and that a faith which we manifest by language
and utterance, is dis]:)roved in the testimony of our feeling and
thoughts.

16. So doing, we play false to our hope and faith; unreal,
counterfeit, fictitious, do those things appear which we
affirm. It nothing profits to set out virtue in our words, in
oin* acts to undo the truth. In a word, the Apostle Paul con-
demns and rebukes and blames any, who soitow at the
departing of them who arc dear to them. / uould not, says i xhess.
he, liare you ignorant, hretliren, concerning them which are^' '^'
asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope.
For if ue believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them iihich are asleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him.
They, he says, sorrow in the dej^arting of their friends, which
have no hope. But we who live by hope, and believe in God,
and are assured that Christ suffered for us, and that He rose
again, abiding in Christ, and having resun-ection by Him and
in Him, wherefore do we either ourselves unwillingly depart
forth from life, or lament and grieve for those of us who do
depart, as though they perished ? Christ Himself, our Lord
and God, cautions us, and says, lam the resurrection «'ic?johnll,
the life : he that believeth in Me, though lie die, shall live; and'^^-
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall not die eternally. If
we believe in Christ, let us put faith in His words and promises ;
and since we shall not die eternally, let us pass in joyful as-
surance unto Christ, with whom for ever we shall both live
and reign. In dying at this present, by death gain the transit to
immortality ; eternal life cannot follow, unless it has been given
us to depart hence ; nor is this departure, but transition ;
when the journey of time is concluded, a transit unto

q2

228 To he taken hence is (t special privilege.

Iktat. things eternal. Wlio will not make speed unto the better

'^' things? Who docs not long to be changed, and made anew

imto the likeness of Christ, and to gain an earlier entrance to

the dignity of heavenly grace ? It is the spoken \\ord of Paul

ri'il. 3. the Apostle; Our coivcrsatiou, saith he, is in heaven; from

"'■ uhence also tie look for the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall

change the body of our humility, conforming it to the body of

His glory. That such we shall be, Christ the Lord also

promises, when in these words He prays the Father for us,

that we may be with Him, and live with Him in the etenial

.loiiniT, scats, and be joyful in the realms of heaven; Father, I ivill

■^ '■ that they also uhom Thou hast given Me, be with Me ichere

I am ; and may see the glory which Thou gavesl Me, before

the icorld began.

17. He who is going to the seat of Christ, to the_brightness
of the heavenly kingdoms, ought not to weep and lament, but
rather, according to the promise of the Lord, according to his
belief of the truth, to be joyful in this his departure and
translation. Thus accordingly we find Enoch was translated,
who pleased God; as divine Scripture bears witness, and
(Jen. 5, speaks in Genesis : And Enoch pleased God, and he was not
ii,5. found after, because God translated him. His having been
iiieiuit. found well-pleasing in the sight of God, wrought for him a
translation out of this infectious world. Thus also the
Holy Spirit tcacheth by Solomon, that they [who please
God are earlier taken hence, more speedily set free;
lest abiding longer in this world they be polluted by
Wis. 4, its contact with them. He was taken away, saith lie, lest
"• that wickedness should alter his understanding, for his soul
pleased God; wherefore hasted He to take him away from
the midst of wickedness. Thus also in the Psalms, the soul
devoted in spiritual faith unto its God, makes haste unto the
I's. 1)4, Tiord, saying, How amiable arc Thy tabernacles, O God of
hosts! My soul longeth and hastetJi unto the courts of God.
It is for him to wish to remain long below, who finds below
his enjoyment; whom a flattering and deceiving world, attracts
by the enticements of earthly pleasure.

18. Furthermore, whereas the world hates the Christian
wherefore love that which hates thee ? and not rather follow
Christ, who both redeemed and loves thee t John in his

It is good to he tahen from a decaying and. ridnuvs world. 229

Epistle cries out and says, -warning us lest we be not made
lovers of the world, while we indulge in carnal desires ;
Lore not, says he, the world, neither the things that iJo''n2,
are in the world; if any man love the icorld, the love of
the Father is not hi him ; for all that is in the world is hist
of the flesh, and hist of the eyes, and pride of life, which is
not of the Father, hut of the lust of the ttorld; and the tcorld
will pass away and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the
ivill of God ahideth for ever, even as God ahideth for ever.
Rather, dearest brethren, in fidness of spirit, firm faith, and
hearty courage, let us be prepared unto all the will of God ;
shutting out our dread of death, and thinking of the deathless-
ness which comes beyond it. Herein let us manifest that we
live as we believe; — on the one hand, by not lamenting the
departure of them we love ; and on the other, when the day of
our own summons comes, by going without delay and with a
ready mind, unto the Lord who calls us.

19. Ever as the servants of God ought thus to do, now
ought they to do so much more, in a world which has begun vid.

to crumble, and is beset with storms of harassing calamity ; ^'^'^ yiii
for seeing ill things are begun, and since we know that worse 2.
are impending, we ought to account it our greatest gain, to
take our departure hence the sooner. If the walls of your
mansion were tottering with age, the roof shaking above you,
and the edifice, wasted and wearied out, threatening an
instant ruin of its time-enfeebled structure, would you not
in all haste go forth from it ? If, when you were on a voyage,
a swelling and troublous tempest tossed up the ^^■aves in its
strength, and betokened impending shipwreck, would you not
hurry forward to the port ? See a world tottering and going
down; witnessing to its own dissolution, not merely in the old
age of things, but in their conclusion ; and thank you not
God, are you not rejoiced, that escaping by an earlier removal,
you are rescued from overhanging ruins and shipwrecks and
plagues ?

20. We ought to consider, dearest brethren, we ought
indeed to retain in our meditations, that we have renounced
the world, and are continuing here, for this mean season,
as strangers and pilgrims. Let us embrace the day, which
makes over each of us to his own resting-place ; which, after

230 To yo hence is (joing home.

iiu, AT. rescuing us hence, and ridding us of the chains of earth,
^ ^' places us back in I'aradise, and in the heavenly king-
dom. What man that is journeying abroad, doth not

|.,itriain, hasten backward to his native land } Who that is speeding
a voyage toward them he loves, longs not with more ardour
for a prosperous wind, that so he may embrace his friends
the sooner.? Paradise we are to reckon for our native
land'; Patriarchs are now our ])arents: wherefore not
haste and run, to behold our Country, to salute our
Parents .-* It is a large and loving company who expect
us there, })arents, brothers, children, a manifold and nu-
merous assemblage longing after us, who having security of
their own immortality, still feel anxiety for our salvation.
What a common gladness, both to them and us, when
we pass into their presence and their embrace ! and O sweet
heavenly realms, where death can never terrify, and life can never
end ! Ah, perfect and perpetual bliss ! There is the glorious
company of the Apostles ; there is the assembly of Prophets
exulting ; there is the innumerable multitude of Martyrs,
crowned after their victory of strife and passion ; there are
Virgins triumphant, who have overcome, by vigour of con-
tinency, the concupiscence of the flesh and body; there are
merciful men, obtaining mercy, who fulfilled the works of
righteousness by dealing food and bounty to the poor, and in
obedience to the instructions of the Lord translated the inhe-
ritance of earth into the treasuries of heaven. To these, dearest
brethren, let us with eager longings hasten: let it be the
portion which we desire, speedily to be among them, speedily
to be gone to Christ. God behold this thought of ours!
This purpose of our mind and faith may the Lord Christ
witness ! — who will make the recompenses of 11 is glory
the larger according as man's longings after Him have been
the stronger.

= Patriani ; this is the ordinary term Quieunque ut horas noctium

for the unseen world. E. g. in the Nunc concinendo rumpimus

Hymn, Ditemur oniiies affatim

Denis beattp pa/rice.

TREATISE X.

ON WORKS AND ALMS.

[The following was written about A.D. 254, while the Church was in peace.
The Homily on alms-deeds supports its own doctrine by it. Bp. Fell
observes, that it " seems to have been providentially w'ritten, to prepare
tbe Christians of Carthatje, to succour certain Numidians who about this
time were taken prisoneis by the Barbarians."]

Many and great are those divine bounties, dearest brethren,
wherein the plentiful and abundant mercy of God the Father
and of Christ, both hath been, and ever continues to be, exercised
for our salvation ; in that the Father sent His Son, in order
to preserve and quicken us, and thereby to restore us,
and in that the Son was sent, and willed to be called
the Son of man, that He might make us sons of God ; hum-
bled Himself, that He might upraise a race which before
was fallen ; was wounded, that He might heal our wounds ;
served, that He might ransom to liberty them that were in
servitude ; endured to die, that He might give to mortal
men the boon of immortality. These are manifold and
great exercises of divine mercifulness ; but beyond this, what
care for us is it, and how great lovingkindness, that by a
saving method it is provided, that further means should ut pie-
be appointed for securing man's salvation, after he has"^"^^,",."'
received redemption. For when the Lord at His coming
had healed those wounds which Adam brought, and had
cured the poisons of the old seqient, He placed a law
on him who was made whole, and commanded him to 67'«vid.John
no more., lest some worse thing should come unto Jiim. ' '
We were closed in a narrow bound, we were shut up in
straits, by the ordinance of innocency : nor would the weak-

^^<2 Alms andworJisu'ashoutsimdoneafterthewasfdngof Baptism.

TKK.AT.iiess and insnfJitiiiuv ol" liiiinan iVaiUy luive had whereto
X- to betake itself, had not (h\ ine i)ity, again succouring it,

jieias. Opened some way ol" securing salvation, by directing it to works
of righteousness and mercy ; so that whatsoever defilements
we contract afterwards, we may wash away by alms.

2. The Holy Spirit speaks in the divine Scriptures and

rrov.16 ^'-^y^i % *il»"^ (ind Jaitk .sins (ire cleansed auaij ; not, that is,

♦'• those sins which had been contracted before, for those are

cleansed by Christ's blood and sanctification. Likewise

Kcclus. again He saith. As naler qiKiichelliJire, so abns queuclietli siit.

3.30. ijgj.^^. jy„ \Y \^ shewn and laid down, that as in the Laver
of salutary water the iire of hell is quenched, so by alms-
givings and righteous works the flame of offences is set at
rest. And because in Baptism remission of sins is given once

operatio. for all, diligent and unintermitting deeds of charity, following
the similitude of Baptisiii, dispense the mercifulness of God a
second time. This also the Lord teaches in the Gospel ; for
when His Disciples were observed upon, for that they eat, nor

i.ukeii, fii'st washed their hands, He answered and said, He ihat

'"• made thai nhich is witliin, made that which is without also:
hut i/irc dims, and, behold, all Ihincjs are clean unto tjou:
teaching that is and shewing, that the hands are not, but the
breast is to be washed; that micleanness must be removed from
witliin, rather than from without; but that he that cleansed
that which is within, cleansed also that which is without,
and that he whose mind is cleansed, has begun to be clean
also in flesh and body. And next admonishing and ])ointing
out to us, by what means we may become clean and \^m\-
fied, He gives the further charge of exercising almsdeeds. He
in His mercy teaches and admonishes us to exercise mercy;
and because He seeks to save those, whom He bought with
a great price. He teaches that they who after the grace of
Baptism have grown unclean, may be pxu-ged a second time.
Let us acknowledge therefore, dearest brethren, this saving
gift of divine indulgence, and since without some wound of
conscience we cannot be, let us, for the cleansing and purgiu"-
of our sins, by sjuritual remedies obtain healing for our
wounds'.

• This pa,«sage is aferred to in the quoting Luke xi.41.Tob.iv.lO.Eceius.iii.
Homily (in Almsfkc.ls.f Part II.) After 30. the writer proceeds. " And thereupon

No one nmst trust in his own sinlessness.

233

8. Let no man so flatter himself with purity and spolless-
ness of heart, as, from reliance on his innocency to think that
his wounds have no need of medicine ; since it is written,
Who shall hoasi that he hath a pure heart? Or uho shain'rov.-2o,
boast that he is clean from sins ? And again in his Epistle
John sets forth and says, Tfne say that we have no sin, ereijoimi,
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in iis ; hut if ice "'
confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins. But if no man can be without sin, and whosoever
says he is faultless is either proud or foolish ; how needful,
how bountiful is the divine compassion? which, as knowing
that they who are made whole still are not free from wounds
in a measure afterward, gave saving remedies, by which
wounds may again receive cure and healing.

4. Never in fine, dearest brethren, has the divine instruction
been wanting, never has it failed, whether in the Old or New
Scriptures, always in every place to provoke God's people to
works of mercy ; and by the tones and exhortations of the
Holy Spirit, every one that is instructed in the hope of the
heavenly kingdom, is commanded to give alms. The God of
Isaiah requires and ordains; Cry in strength, He saith, and\=,.:)^,\.

that Holy Father Cyprian taketh good
occasion to exhort earnestly to the
merciful work of giving alms and help-
ing the poor, and there he admonisheth
to consider how wholesome and profit-
able it is to relieve the needy, and help
the afflicted, by which we may purge
our sins, and heal our wounded souls.
But some will say unto me, If alms-
giving and our charitable works towards
the poor be able to wash away sins, to
reconcile us to God, to deliver us from
the peril of damnation, and make us the
sons and heirs of God's kingdom, then
are Christ's merits defaced, and His
blood shed in vain ; then are we justi-
fied by works, and by our deeds may we
merit heaven ; tlnjn do we in vain be-
lieve that Christ died to put away
our sins, and that He rose for our justi-
fication, as St. Paul teacheth. Jiut ye
shall understand, dearly beloved, that
neither those places of the Scripture
before alleged, neither the doctrine of
the Blessed Martyr Cyprian, neither
any other godly and learned man, when
they, in extolling the dignity, profit,
fruit, and effect of virtuous and liberal
alms, do s;iv that it washeth away sins.

and bringeth us to the favour of God,
do mean that our work and charitable
deed is the original cause of our ac-
ception before God, or that for the
dignity or worthiness thereof our sins
may be washed away, and we purged
and cleansed of all the spots of our
iniquity ; for that were indeed to deface
Christ, and to defraud Him of His
glory. But they mean this, and this is
the understanding of those and such
like sayings, that God of His mercy
and special favour towards them, whom
He hath appointed to everlasting sal-
vation, hath so offered His grace
especially, and they have so received it
fruitfully, that although, by reason of
their sinful living outwardly, they
seemed before to have been the children
of wrath and perdition, yet now the
Spirit of God mightily working in them,
unto obedience to God's will and com-
mandments, they declare, by their out-
ward deeds and life, in the shewing of
mercy and charity, (which cannot come
but of the Spirit of God and His
special grace,) that they are the un-
doubted children of God appointed to
everlasting life."

I

2-il .1/ms prevail more than mere prayers and fastinga.

TnKAi.s/Kirc Jiof ; lift up ihij roicc tike a trit)ii]>ct , ami declare to
' ' Ml/ people their t ransgressioiiSydnd to the house of Jacob their
sins. And when He had ordered that they should be re-
proached ior their transgressions, and had exposed their sins
in the lull force of His wrath, and had said, that not
though they used supjdications and prayers and fastings,
could they make satisfaction for their oiiences ; nor though
they rolled in sackcloth and ashes, could soften the anger of
God; yet in the end of His words, pointing out that God can
Is. 50. be appeased by only alms, He adds, saying, Break thy bread to
^~^- the hungry^ and bring the poor that are homeless into thy
house; if thou seest the naked, clothe him, and despise not
the household of thine own seed. Then shall thy light break
forth in season, and thy garments shall arise speedily., and
righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of God shall
surround thee. Tlten shall thou cry, and God shall hear
thee; whilst thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Here I am.
The remedies of propitiating God, are given in the words of
God Himself; what sinful men ought to do, the divine lessons
opera- have taught; that God is satisfied by exercises of righteous-
""'""^'ness, that sins are purged by the merits of mercy. And
F.cclus. in Solomon we read ; ISltut up alms in the heart of the poor,
' "■ and these sliall intercede for thee from all evil. And again :

Prov.2l, Whoso stoppeth his ears not to hear the ueak, lie also shall
13

call on God, and there uill be none to hear him. For

he can never engage the mercy of the Lord, who has not

himself been merciful; or obtain any thing from the divine

kindness in prayer, when he has been without clemency

towards the prayer of the poor. This likewise in the Psalms

Ts. 40. the Holy Spirit makes manifest and assures, saving. Blessed
r4iii kj- /»t-T

' is he that considereth the poor and needy; the Lord will
deliver him in the day of evil. Daniel, mindful of these
])recepts, when King Nebuchodonosor was in trouble, being
affrighted with an evil dream, for the averting of hann, gave
Dan. I, him remedies for obtaining the help of God; Wherefore, O
king, let my counsel be acceptable nnto thee, and redeem thy
sins by almsdeeds, and thine iniquities by shewing mercies to
the poor, and God will be patient to thy sins. Because the
king obeyed him not, he underwent those adverse and
dreadful things which he had seen; which he might have

The instance of Tahitha. 235

avoided and escaped, if he had redeemed his sins with ahns.
The Angel Raphael likewise testifies like things, and charges
that alms be willingly and plentifully given, thus saying ;
Prayer is good icith fasting and alms; for alms doth deliver Toh. 12,
from death, and it puryeth away sins. He shews that
our prayers and fastings less avail if they be unaided by
almsgiving: that supplications alone do little towards gaining
what they ask, unless they be sustained by the addition of
acts and good works. The Angel reveals and manifests
and makes certain, that our prayers become efficacious by alms-
giving, by almsgiving our life is redeemed from perils, by
almsgiving our souls are set free from death.

5. Neither, dearest brethren, do we so bring forward these
things, as to neglect to prove what Raphael the Angel said
by the Testimony of the Truth. In the Acts of the
Apostles this truth is ensured in its fulfilment; and by the
evidence of an event realized and accomplished, it is made
manifest that souls are set free by almsgiving not only from
the second bvit ifrom the first death. When Tabitha who
greatly gave herself to good works and almsdeeds had
sickened and died, Peter was called to the dead body ; and
when he, with an Apostle's kindness, had come without delay,
there stood round him the widows weeping and petitioning,
shewing cloaks and coats and all the garments, which they
had before received from her, and interceding for her indcpre-
death, not bv their own words, but by her deeds. Peter ''^"'^^
knew that that could be obtained, which was thus asked for ; funciA.
that Christ's aid would not be failing to the suppliant widows,
because in clothing them He Himself was clothed. Having
therefoi'e knelt down and prayed, meet advocate for the
widows and the poor, having lifted to the Lord the prayers
entrusted to him, turning to the body which now lay washed
in the upper chamber, he said. In the Name of Jesus Christ, ,\cts9,
Tabitha, arise; nor did He fail at once to bear His aidto^^-
Peter, who had said in the Gospel, that whatsoever is asked
in His Name is given. Death therefore is respited, and the
spirit rendered back ; and while all wonder and are astonished,
the body lives again, and takes new breath beneath this light of
the world; so powerful were the merits of mercy, so prevailing
were righteous works. She who to suffering widows liad

236 Selliny goods andyivimj to the poor the precept of perfection.

lu I, AT. dispensed the means of living, eanied a recall to life through
— — — the widows' intercession.

(j. The Lord therefore in the Gospel, Teacher of our life,
and Master of our eternal salvation, giving life to the multi-
tude of believers, and when they have obtained life, con-
sulting for them everlastingly, amid His di\ine commands
and heavenly precepts enjoins and apj^oints nothing with
greater frequency, than that we should apply ourselves to
almsgiving; not brooding over earthly possessions, but
i.uke 12, laying up rather treasures in heaven; Sell, He saith, that ye
'^"^' liace, and give alms. And again; Lay not up for yourselves

I\Iat. 6. 7 7 7 1 7' J 7

If)— 21. treasures upon earth, where moth and rust do corrupt, and
uliere thieves break through and steal; but lay uj) for your-
selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;
for nhere thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also. And
when He would shew to one who had observed the law, how
Mat. 19, to become perfect and finished. He said, Iftliou wilt be perfect,
go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. Like-
wise in another place. Me says, that one who is merchant of
the grace of heaven, and trafficker for eternal salvation, ought,
dispossessing himself of all he has, to purchase out of the
sum of his patrimony a pearl of price; that is, eternal life
Mai. n, of which the price is Christ's blood; The kingdom of heaven.
He says, is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls,
who when he had found a petirl of price, went and sold (dl
that he Jiad, and bought it. Those, in fine. He calls also the
S(nis of Abraham, whom He sees diligent in aiding and
Luke II), nourishing the poor. For when Zaccha^us had said. Behold,
the h(df of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have
defrauded any man of any thing, J restore him four-fold;
Jesus answered and said, that this day is salvation fulfilled
to this house, ffrasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For
if Abraham believed in God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness, surely he who according to God's command-
ment gives alms, believes in God; and he who has the truth
of fiiith, preserves the fear of God; and whosoever preserves
a fear of God, considers God in shewing pitifulncss to the
opcratur. ])oor. For he does his good works for this cause, because he

Almsgiving does not tend to poverty. 237

believes ; because he knows that these things are true which
have been afore declared in the words of God; and that holy
Scripture cannot lie; that ban'en trees, that is, men which
bear no fruit, are cut down, and cast into the fire, but the
merciful are called into the Kingdom. In another place
too He calls men full of good works and fruits, faithful, but
denies faith to the unfruitful and barren, saying, If ye have Lnle]6,
not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who irill^^'^^'
commit to you that ivhich is true ? And if ye have not been
faithful in that ivhich is another man''s, who shall give you
that which is your own?

7. But you feel foreboding and anxiety, lest if you enter in
fulness on works of charity, you should perchance be re-
duced to penury, your patrimony coming to an end by the
largeness of your charities; — on this score be fearless, be
secure; that never can come to an end, which yields supplies
to the cause of Christ, which is the means of celebrating the
work of heaven. Neither do I assure you this in my own
name, but I engage it by the faith of the holy Scriptures, and
the authority of the divine promise. The Holy Spirit by
Solomon speaks and says. He that giveth unto the poor shall Pvov.28,
never lack; but he that turneth away his eye shall be in '
great poverty ; shewing that the merciful and the charitable
cannot want, rather that the sparing and barren hereafter
come to poverty. Likewise the blessed Aposlle Paul, full of
the grace of the Lord's inspiration, says, He that ministerethBomi-
seedto the soiver shall both minister bread for your food, and"^?^' „
shall multiply your seed sown, and shall increase the growth lO.
of the fruits of your righteousness, that in all things ye may
he enricJied. And again; The administration of tJiis service 2 Cor. 9,
shall not only supply the want of the saints, but shall he
abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Because
while thanksgivings are addressed to God in the prayers of
the poor, because of our almsdeeds and good works, the
wealth of the doer is multiplied by the award of God. And
the Lord in the Gospel, already considering the hearts of
such men, and denouncing with prophetic voice faith- peifiJls.
less and unbelieving men, testifies and says, Take no Mat. 6,
thought, saying. What shall we eat, or what shall we drink,^^—^^"^-

•238 Kii'fuli (ind Ddiiiel fed hy miracle.

Tur.ATo;- where uithal shall we be clothed'^ for after these things the

^' Gentiles seek; but your heavenly Father knoweth that ye

hare need of all these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
(iod and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. To them He says that all things are added
and yielded, who seek the kinj^dom and righteousness of God.
For the J.iord says, that when the day of judgment comes, they
are admitted to })arlake in the kingdom, who have exercised

operaii good works in Mis Church.

inikcle- g^ Y^^j f^,.J^^. 2gj,4 ^^y j^ome chance, your estate should fail

you, if you begin to deal out plentiful charities irom it; and
do you forget, unhajjpy man, that while you fear your worldly
wealth should fail you, your life and your salvation are them-
selves failing .-* And while you are anxious that none of your
projierty be wasted, you consider not that you are yourself
wasting, who are lover of mammon rather than of your own
soul ; and that while you fear for the sake of yourself lest you
lose your patrimony, you are losing yourself for your patri-
mony's sake. Wherefore well does the Apostle exclaim and
I li-n.o, say, ]l'e brought nothing into this tcorld, and neither can we
'—'^- carry any thing out; having therefore food and clothing., let us
be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into
temptation and into a snare, and into desires many and
hurtful, which drown a man in perdition and destruction.
For covetousness is the root of all evils, which some desiring
have made shipwreck from the faith, and pierced themselves
tltnntgh with many sorrows. Do you fear lest perchance
your patrimony fail, if you begin to deal large charities out of
it.? \(ii when was it ever, that the means of living could
l',yv. lail a righteous man.? When it is written, The Lord uill not
^^•'^- slay with famine the soul of the righteous. Elias in solitude
vid. finds food from the ministry of ravens; and Daniel in the den
lir.'.J?'! closed in by conunand of the king, for a spoil of lions, was
supplied with a meal divinely procured for him ; and do you
Domi- fear, when you do good works, and earn the Lord's favour,

m" ", niu ^^'"^^ >'""'* ^^'°'^ ^'^^ ^^"^ ^'*^^ •'' ^v^iereas Himself in the Gospel,

in reproach of them that are of doubtful mind and little faith,

Mat.C, testifies and says. Behold the fowls of heaven, for they sotp

^^' )tof, neither do they reap, nor gather info barns, and your

Miseries nfheitu/ rich. 239

heavenly Father feedetli them; are ye not better than they "^
God feeds the fowls, and spaiTOWs have their provision
granted, and creatures which have no sense of any thing
Divine, are in want neither of drink nor meat. Do you think
that to a Christian, that to God's servant, that to a man given
to good works, that to one that is dear to his Lord,
want will ever come ? except you suppose, that whoso gives
food to Christ, by Christ will not be fed, or that they will
want earthly things, to whom the heavenly and the divine are
assigned.

y. Whence is this unbelieving thought ? Whence this im-
pious and sacrilegious reflection } Wliat doth a faithless
breast within the house of faith ? Wherefore is he named and
called a Christian, who altogether is without faith in Christ?
The name of Pharisee befits you more. For when the Lord
in the Gospel discoursed concerning almsgiving, and faithfully
and savingly cautioned us, by prudent charities, to make to our-
selves friends out of our earthly lucre, who should afterwards
receive us into eternal habitations, the Scripture says further
after this. But the Pharisees also, who were very covetous, r.nkeie,
heard all these things, and they derided Him. We see some
like them now in the Church, whose closed ears and blinded
hearts let in no light from spiritual and saving counsels ;
concerning whom there is no need to wonder that they
despise the discourses of the sei-vant, when we see that such
men are despisers of the Lord Himself

10. Wherefore flatter yourself with these empty and foolish
imaginings, as if you were hindered from charitable deeds by
alarm and anxiety for the future ? Wherefore spread before
you these shadows and tricks of an unreal excuse } Yea,
confess what is the truth; and since you cannot deceive
Him who knows it, draw into light the secret and hidden
things of your mind. The shades of barrenness have beset
your spirit ; the light of truth has departed from it, and deep
and profound darkness of avarice has blinded your carnal
breast ; you are captive and slave of your money ; you are
fast in the chains and bonds of covetousness ; whom Christ
had once loosened, again you are become bound. You
save up wealth, which saved though it be, renders back to

240 Alms clothe vs as irith white, raiment.

Tiu-.AT.you no safety; you heaj) uj) a fortune whose weight only
_^i:_ burdens you with a heavier load; forgetting what God
answered to the rich man, who boasted with foolish ex-
ultation in the abundance of his overflowing gatherings;
i.iikci2. T/iOH fool, He saith, this night thy soul is required of thee ;
^^' then whose' shall those things he, nhich thou hast provided?
Why do you brood alone over your wealth ? Why to your
penalty heap up the load of your estate ? so that as you are
richer to the world, you become poorer to God. Divide
your profits with the Lord your God ; share your gains with
Christ: make Christ partaker of your earthly possessions,
that He also may make you coheir with Him in the realms
of heaven.

11. Whosoever you are, that think yourself rich in this
world, you err and are deceived. Hear the voice of your
Lord in the Apocalypse, rebuking such sort of men in just
Rev. 3, reproaches; Thou sayest. He saith, I am rich, and increased
17. 18. ^^.jf]f (joods, and hare need of nothing ; and knoicest not, that
thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich; and trhite raiment that thou
mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
appear not in thee ; and anoint thine eyes uith eye-salve, that
thou mayest see. You therefore who art wealthy and rich,
buy you of Christ gold tried in the fire, that your filth
being brought away as if by fire, you may be clean
gold, ]nnged by alms and by righteous works. Buy you
white raiment, that you who according to Adam wert naked,
wert sightless and unseemly, may be clothed in the white
garment of Christ. You also, who are a rich and wealthy
matron in the Church of Christ, anoint your eyes, not with
the colouring of the Devil, but with the eye-sahe of Christ j
that you may become able to attain unto seeing God, by
seciu-ing God's favour by good works and conduct. But
such as you now are, you cannot exercise charity in the
Church ; for eyes overclouded with shadows of blackness
and shrouded in night, cannot see the needy and poor.
Domini- 12. "i'ou are rich and wealthy ; and think you, that
J""''|;7.'' yoii celebrate the l<^east of the Lord, who arc altogether

14.

Blessedness of the widow who gave two mites. 241

negligent of the offering; who come into the Lord's house, corban.
without a sacrifice, and take part out of that sacrifice, J^"^J^''
which the poor has offered''? See, in the Gospel, the widow,
who was mindful of the heavenly precepts, giving almsoperan-
amidst the very afflictions and straits of want, casting into
the treasury those two mites which were all she had. When
the Lord observed and saw her, weighing her good deed, not
by the amount, but by the intention, and heeding, not how
much she had given, but out of how much, He answered and
said, Of a truth 1 say iinto you, that this nidou- has cast mLuke2l,
more than they all into the offerings of God; for all these
have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God ;
hut site of her penury hath cast in all the living thai she had.
Much blessed and glorious woman ! Who even before the
day of judgment was accounted worthy to be approved by meruit,
the Judge's voice. Let the rich be ashamed of their barren-
ness and unbelief; she, a widow, a poor widow, is found
plenteous in her charity. And whereas whatsoever is given, in opere.
is bestowed on widows and orphans, one gives, who ought
to have received ; that we may know thereby how great penalty
awaits the rich man who is unfi'uitful, since from this instance
even the poor ought to exercise charity. And that we
may understand, that these works are given to God, and
that whosoever exercises them gains favour of the Lord,
Christ calls this, the ojferings of God, and indicates that the
widow cast her two farthings into the offerings of God, that

*» It was the primitive custom in liar rites for a long series of ages, and

Holy Communion to offer in kind, and which did not receive the alterations

out of the offerings the Bread and made in the Roman Liturgy by Gregory

Wine were taken for tha Sacrifice, the Great A.D. 590, the custom of

*' Their oblations were of various sorts, offering Bread and Wine is still in

Some offered money, vestments, and some degree preserved. At the proper

other precious gifts ; and all, it ap- time, the officiating priest, accom-

pears, offered Bread and Wine, from panied by his assistants, and preceded

which the elements of the Sacraments by two attendants with silver vessels to

were taken ... In time, when the receive the oblations, descends from the

Clergy received donations of a more altar to the entrance of the presbytery,

permanent nature, the oblations of the where two old men of the School of St.

people fell off. In many places they Ambrose, attended by all their brethren,

became extinct, and in the East there offer three cakes of bread and a silver

remained little more than the shadows vessel full of wine. The priest and his

and memorials of the primitive customs, attendants then descend to the entrance

Oblations are now in general never of the choir, where they receive the

made by the laity in the Roman Li- samesortof oblations from the women."

turgy ; yet in some remote parts the Palmer's Antiquities, iv. 8. The poor

country people, according to Bona, still as well as the Clergy were supported

continue the practice. In the Church from these offerings, as the passage in

of Milan, which has retained its pecu- the text implies.

R

242 Children no excuse for /ler/lerling ulmsgiviny.

I II I AT. it may be more and more manifest, that he that hath pity

--^-^ upon the poor lendeth unto God.

xT."' ' 13. Neither let this consideration, dearest brethren, check
and recal the Christian from good and righteous works, thatone
should think himself excused on behalf of the interest of his
children ; for, in religions expenditure, we ought to think of
Christ, who says that He is the receiver of them; preferring
to our children, not our fellow-servants, but Christ, as He

Mat.lO, ni„ic;ylf teaches and cautions us: He saith, i/e that loveth
father or mother more than Me, is not north i/ of Me ; and he
that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me,
Likewise in Deuteronomy, for the strength of faith and the

J)cut. love of God, things as distinct are written ; J'f'7io say, He saith,
' ' iinto their father or mother, I have not known thee, neither
did they acknouledyc their children, these hare observed Thy
nords, and kept Tlnj covenant. For if we love God with our
whole heart, we ought to prefer to God neither parents nor
children. Which also John in his Epistle sets forth, that
there is not love of God in them, whom we see unwilling to

I. lohn 3, exercise charity to the poor; Whoso, he saith, hath this
n-orhVs goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels from him, how dnelleth the love of God in him?
For alms to the poor is a lending to God ; and what is given
to the least, is given to Christ, earthly things must not by
any man be prefeiTed to heavenly, nor human things more
esteemed than divine.

14. Thus that widow in the third Book of Kings, when

1 Kings after all had been consumed in drought and famine, she made
her ash-baked bread of the little meal and oil that remained,
and having taken this, was going to die with her children,
Elias entered, and besought that first there should be given
unto himself to eat; and then, out of what remained, that she
and her children should eat : nor did she hesitate to obey, nor
did the mother in hunger and in want prefer her children
to Elias. Yea in God's sight is done a deed which might
please God; readily and freely what was asked is offered;
not a portion from out of abundance, but out of a little all is
given ; while her children were hungering, another is fed
before them ; amid penury and famine, food is less esteemed
than mercy; that so, while in salutary works life ac-

17

17

77ie more children, the more deeds of mercy are called for. 243

cording to the flesh is despised, the soul according to the
spirit may be saved. Elias, therefore, bearing the type of
Christ, and shewing that He, according to His loving mercy,
renders to each their recompense, answered and said, Thus'^ Kings
saith the Lord ; The vessel of meal shall not fail, and the '
cruise of oil shall not iraste, until the day that the Lord
giveth rain upon the earth. According to the faith of the
divine promise, those things which she gave were multiplied
and heaped up to the widow ; and, her righteous works and
the merits of mercifulness taking to themselves accumulation
and increase, vessels of meal and oil were measured to her
to the full. Nor did the mother rob her children of that
which she gave to Elias, but rather conferred upon her
children that which she did bountifully and piously. And
she not yet did know Christ, not as yet had heard His
precepts; not redeemed by His Cross and passion, repaid
she meat and drink for blood; to shew thereby how much
he offends in the Church, who preferring himself and his
children to Christ, saves up his wealth, instead of sharing
a plenteous patrimony with the necessities of the needy.

15. Nay, but there are many children at home, and the
largeness of your family withholds you, from applying your-
self liberally to righteous works ; yet you ought to be
exercised in this duty the more abundantly, on the very
ground that you are the father of those many pledges. There
are the more, in whose behalf you have to entreat the Lord ;
there are offences of many to be redeemed; consciences
of many to be purged ; souls of many to be set free. As in
the life of this world, the cost is greater of nurturing and
maintaining children, as their number is more ; so in the
spiritual and heavenly life, as you have the larger number of
children, so ought your outlay of works to be. Thus Job
also offered many sacrifices in behalf of his children ; and
according to the number of the pledges in his dwelling, was
the number of sacrifices which were given to God. And since
every day there cannot but be that which is done sinfully in
the sight of God, neither were there less than daily sacrifices,
whereby their sins might be wiped away. Divine Scripture
proves this, saying, Job, a true and upright man, had seven Job 1,5.
sons and three daughters, and cleansed them, offering for them

R 2

244 Property (jiven in charity is safe from the state or the laic.

Tuf.at. victims to Cod, accordifty to the number of them ; and for

^ their sins one calf. If therefore you truly love your children,

if you manifest to them a plenteous and parental sweetness of

operari. afiection, you ought to be increasedly bountiful, that by such
righteous bounty you may commend your children to God.
And reclam not that he should be father of your children,
who is transient and unabiding; but secure llini for their
Father, who is the eternal and abiding Father of spiritual
sons. To Ilim assign that wealth of yours, which you save
for your heirs; let Him be guardian, Him executor to your
children, let Him be in divine majesty their Protector,
against all the injuries of this world. Property put in trust
with God, the State seizes not, the exchequer taxes not, nor
does the law practise on. A heritage is safely settled, which
is reserved under the guardianship of God. This is indeed to
provide in time to come, for the children of your love ; this
is to consult with a parental pity for future heirs, according

Pi. 36. to tiie fa^ith of the divine Scripture, which says, / have been

26. ' young, and noio am old, yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed tvanting bread. All the day long he is
merciful and lendeth ; and his seed is blessed. And again ;

Prov. He nho iralketh nithout reproach in his integrity, shall leave
' ' blessed children after him.

16. You, a father, therefore, play false and betray, unless
you counsel faithfully for thy children, and make provision for

pietate. their welfare with religious and real affection. You who devote
yourself to the earthly rather than the heavenly inheritance,
to commend your children to the Devil rather than to Christ,
are twice sinning, and fall into twofold and double guilt; in
that you do not procure for your children the aid of God
their Father, and in that you teach your children to love
their inheritance more than Christ. Be rather to your
children such a father as Tobias was ; give to your pledges
useful and saving instmctions, such as he gave his son;
command your children as he commanded his son, saying,

Tob. 14, And now, my son, I command thee, serve God in truth, and do

' ' before Him that which pleaseih Him, and commands thy sons

that they exercise righteousness and alms, and he mindful of

Tob. 4, Cod, and bless His Name always. And again; All the days

•^~^^- of thy life, most dear sou, be mindful of God, and be not

Lavish expenditure of heathen exhibitions shames Christians. 245

uiilling to transgress His commandments. Bo righteousness
all the days of thy life, and he not willing to ualk in the way
of iniquity, because if thou deal truly, there will be respect of
thy works. Give alms of tJty substance, and turn not away
thy face from any poor ; so shall it be, that neither 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 little. Because alms
doth deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into dark-
ness. For alms is a good gift, unto all that give it, in the
sight of the most high God.

17. What soi't of largess is that, dearest brethren, which ismunus.
displayed in the presence of God ? If in a Gentile largess,
it seems great and glorious to have Proconsuls or Em-
perors present, and increased decoration and expense is
ordered by them that present it, that they may please the
great, how much more illustrious and greater is the glory of
that largess, at which God and Christ are Spectators ? How
much richer decorations and larger expense must be set forth,
when the powers of heaven assemble to the spectacle, when
Angels all assemble, when the presenter is not candidate for a
four-horsed chariot, or a Consulship, but receives eternal life ;
when not the empty and transitory favour of a populace is
pursued, but there is received the perpetual reward of the
heavenly kingdom ! And that the slothful and the barren,
who for lust of money exercise no good works unto fruit of
salvation, may feel the greater shame, and their sordid con-
science may the more be smitten by the blush of their
dishonour and vileness, let every man set before his eyes the
Devil with his servants, that is, with the people of perdition
and death, breaking forth into the midst; and with the people
of Christ, where He is and judges, thus provoking the con-
test of comparison. " I for them whom Thou seest with me,
neither received blows, nor underwent stripes, nor endured
the Cross, nor poured my blood, nor have I redeemed my
family with the price of passion and bloodshedding ; nor yet
do I promise them a heavenly kingdom, nor call them afresh
to Paradise, by a second immortality; but shows for memunera,
how precious, how vast, with what abounding and long
labour procured, vdih. means the most sumptuous do they

246 Satan^s servants do more fur Satan, than Christ's for Christ.

Treat, supply, pawning or selling their substance, to provide the
^' exhibition ; while unless a worthy display be proffered, they
vid.supr. are rejected with revilings and hissings, and well-nigh stoned
'■ ■ by the madness of the people. Shew of Thine own, O Christ,
exhibitors such as these, influenced by Thine instnictions,
ready to receive things heavenly in exchange for earthly, I
sav, the rich ones, those who abound in affluence of means; —
shew \\'hether in the Church under Thy presidency and Thine
munus. eye they present a like munificence, pledging or dispersing their
possessions, yea making them their better possession, by ex-
changing them into heavenly treasures. By these my perishing
and earthly exhibitions, none is fed, none is clothed, none
is supported by the comfort whether of meat or drink ; all is
wasted, between the madness of the exhibitor and the delusion
of the spectator, in the lavish and foolish vanity of disappoint-
ing pleasures. There, in Thy poor, Thyself art clothed and
fed, Thyself promisest eternal life to the bountiful ; yet hardly
are Thy followers in equality with mine that perish, though
honoured by Thee with divine wages and heavenly re-
compences." What do we answer to these things, dearest
brethren .'' While the minds of the rich are involved in un-
believing barrenness and a night of shadows, how do we defend
them, by what excuse acquit them, — we, who so fall below
the servants of the Devil, as not to render payment, even in
little things, to Christ, for the cost of His passion and
blood ?

18. He has given us commands; He taught His servants
what they ought to do; in promising reward to them that
give, and threatening punishment on the unfruitful, He has
made known His sentence, and has afore pronounced the
judgment He will give. What excuse can there be for the
inactive? what pretext for the unfruitful.' Because if the
servant do not that which he is commanded, the Lord will do
Mat. 2.'^, what He threateneth; who also saith, jnten the Soif of Man
31— i6. gfiffii f,f),f^^ ,,j His glory, and all the Angeh /nth Him, then
shall He sit in the throne of His glory; and before Him
shall he gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd 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

Mercy done to Christians is done to Christ. 247

shall he on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the Kingdom prepared for y oil from the foundation of
the tcorld; for I loas an hungred, and ye gave Me meat ; I
was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I ivas a stranger, and ye
took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; sick, and ye visited
Me ; I teas in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the
righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an
hungred, and fed TJiee? Thirsty, and gave Thee dritik?
When saw ice Thee a stranger, and took Thee in ? Naked,
and we clothed T]tee? Or ivhen saw we Thee sick and in
prison, and ice came unto Thee? Then shall the King
answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you. In so far
as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye
did it unto Me. Then shall He say also unto them that
shall he 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 was an hungred, and ye gave
Me no meat; I teas thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink ; 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 hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or
sick, or 171 prison, and ministered not unto Thee? And He
shall ansiver 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 to Me.
And these shall go aivay into everlasting burning ; but the
righteous into life eternal.

19. What greater things could Christ pronounce to us?
How could He more call forth our works of righteousness and
mercy, than in saying, that whatever is given to the needy
and poor, is given to Himself; and in saying that He is
offended, if the needy and poor be not supplied ? to the end
that he who in the Church is not moved by regard to his
brother, may yet be moved by looking on Christ; and he who
considers not a fellow-servant in toil and want, may yet
consider the Lord who stands in that very man whom he
despises. And, therefore, dearest brethren, ye whose fear is
bent to Godward. and, the world now spurned and trampled
underfoot, whose mind is raised to things lofty and divine j
with full faith, with mind devout, with works unceasing,

248 In yivimj auay tee imitate the ready bounty of Qod.

Treat, let US offer obedience and approve ourselves unto the Lord: let

^- ■ us give to Christ earthly garments, that we may receive the

clothing of heaven ; let us give drink and meat of earth, as

going to a heavenly banquet, with Abraham and Isaac and

Jacob; that we reap not little, let us sow plentifully: let us

consult for our safety, and for eternal salvation, while there is

Gal. 6. lime; as Paul the Apostle advises and says, As we have

'^' ^' there/ore time, let us do good unto all men, especially unto

them nho are of the household of faith. But let us not

he tteary of uell-doing , for in due season ice shall reap.

20, Let us consider, dearest brethren, what the body of
believers did under the Apostles, when at the first beginnings
the mind was strong in greater virtues, and the faith of
believers yet new was burning with warmth of faith; then
they sold houses and fai'nis, and freely and largely offered
their amount to the Apostles, to be distributed among the
poor; selling and dispersing the earthly patrimony, and
translating their estates thither, where they were to enjoy the
fruits of an eternal possession; there getting houses, where
they were going to live for ever. Such was their abundance
in good works then, as was their unity in love; as we read in

-Acts 4, the Acts of the Apostles; And the multitude of them that
'^ ' believed, dealt tcith one heart and one soul; neither was
there any difference between them, nor did they account
ought their own, of the goods which belonged to them, hut
they had all things common. This is to become truly Sons of
God by spiritual birth; this is by a heavenly law to imitate
the considerateness of God the Father. For whatsoever is of
God, is in our using common, nor is any man shut out from
His bounties and gifts, to the end the whole human race may
equally enjoy God's goodness and bounty. Thus day gives its
light e([ually, the sun its radiance, showers their moisture, and
wind its breath ; there is one sleep to the slumbering, and stars
and moon have a common lustre. In which example of
equality, the earthly possessor who shares his gains and his
fruits with the brotherhood, free and just in his voluntary
bounties, is imitator of God the Father.

21. ^^'hat then, dearest brethren, will be the glory of the
opcran- charitable, what great and high gladness, when tlie Lord

begins to number up His people, and distributing to our

Excellence of works of charity. 249

merits and good works the rewards He promises, will repay
heavenly things for earthly, eternal for temporal, and great
for small ; and will offer us to the Father, before whom He
restored iis by His own sanctification ; grant to us eternity
and immortality, unto which He renewed us by the lifegiving
of His blood; readmit us back to Paradise, and open the
realms of heaven in faith and truth of His promise ! Let
these things rest stedfastly in our thoughts ; let these things be
understood in fulness of faith ; let them be loved with all the
heart, and be purchased by that greatness of spirit which is
employed in ceaseless works. Saving works of bounty, dearest
brethren, are a glorious and divine thing ; the high comfort of
believers, the wholesome safeguard of our security, defence of
hope, guard of faith, medicine of sin ; a thing placed in the
doer's power, a thing both great and easy ; a peaceful crown
without the peril of persecution; God's true and greatest
service, to the weak needful, to the strong glorious, aided by
which the Christian holds on in spiritual grace, earns favour
of Christ the Judge, and accounts God his Debtor. Unto
this palm of saving works let us willingly and promptly strive ;
in the race of righteousness let us run all, with God and Christ
beholding us ; and seeing we have now begun to be greater
than this life and the world, let us impede our way by none of
this life's or this world's lusts. If the day whether of recom-
pense or persecution finds us girt and speedy, and running
this race of bounty, the Lord will never be wanting to our
merits for reward ; — in peace He will give to the conquerors
a white crown, according to our works; in persecution a purple
crown once and again, because of our passion.

TREATISE XI.

ON THE BENEFIT OF PATIENCE.

[Tliis Treatise was written about A.D. 256, during the Baptismal con-
troversy, in order to lead both sides in the argument to forbearance and
kind feeling.]

Treat. Having to speak of patience, dearest })rethren, and to set

— forth its fruits and blessings, how can I better begin, than by

saying that I feel your patience to be necessary, even for this
present hearing of me ? since now to hear me and learn
of me, cannot be done without patience. For it is then
that wholesome words and reasoning are received with true
profit, when the things spoken are listened to with patience.
Nor do 1 find, dearest brethren, among the other paths of
«cta, heavenly discipline, in which the school of our hope and faith
iii. 1. ^'^ guided to the attainment of divine rewards, any thing more
P^ef- excellent either for the aid of good living, or for the increase
of glory, than that we who have attached ourselves to the
precepts of the Lord, in the obedience of fear and devotion,
should specially, in all carefulness, watch unto patience. Of
this indeed philoso])liers profess a pursuit, but in them
patience is as false, as their wisdom is false. For how can
he be either wise or patient, who knows not that wisdom and
patience which is of God? Since He Himself gives warn-
ing concerning those who seem to themselves to be wise in this
Isaiah world and says, / icill destroy the wisdom of the wise, and
' ' iciU bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Likewise blessed Paul, full of tlie Holy Spirit, and sent for
the calling and building of the Gentiles, bears witness and
Col. 2, 8. teaches, saying, Henare lest anij man spoil you through
^' philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after

Philosophera not patient, Ckrisilans only. 251

the elements of the world, and not afto- Christ, because in

Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead. And in

another place, he says, Let no man deceive himself; (/"•t'or.s,
^ ' -^ ' . 18 — 20.

any man among you thinketh himself to be wise, let him

become a fool unto this tcorld, that he may be wise. For the
uisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is
written, I will rebuke the wise in their oivn craftiness ; and
again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they
are foolish. Wherefore, if true wisdom be not with them,
neither can true patience be ; for if he be the patient man,
who is humble and mild, and we find philosophers to be
neither humble nor mild, but well satisfied with themselves,
and because self-satisfied dissatisfying God, it is evident that
there true patience cannot be, where there is found the inso-
lent daring of a claim of liberty, and the immodest forward-
ness of an exposed and uncovered bosom.

2. But for us, dearest brethren, who are philosophers not in
words but in deeds ; who profess wisdom not in garb but in
truth, who are acquainted rather with the experience of
virtues than their boast, and who do not speak great things,
but live them ; let us, as servants and worshippers of God,
shew that patience in spiritual submission which we learn by
heavenly instructions. For this virtue is common to us with
God. Patience begins from Him, from Him its brightness and
dignity takes its source. The origin and greatness of patience
proceeds from God its Author. Man ought to love that thing
which is dear to God. The divine Majesty in loving that
which is good, commends it. If God is our Lord and Father,
let us follow after the patience of Him who is both Lord to us
and Father, for it belongs to servants to be obedient, and it
becomes not children to be degenerate. But in God what
patience and how abundant is it, that in the contempt of His
majesty and honour, most patiently enduring profane temples
instituted by men, and earthen images, and sacrilegious rites.
He makes the day to spring and the light of the sun to arise, Mat. 5,
equally on the good and the evil ; and when H e waters the earth
with rain, none is excluded from His bounties, but alike on the
just and the unjust He yields the undistinguished showers.
We see, accordingto an impartial equality of patience, for sinful
men and for innocent, for the religious and the impious, lor

252 Ood's wonderful patience.

TBBAT.them that thank Ilim ami for the unthankful, at the nod of
■ -^^•■- God seasons obeying them, elements servmg them, winds
breathing, fountains flowing, the crops of corn swelling, fruits
of the vineyard mellowing, trees stocked with apples, gToves
putting on their verdure, and meadows flowering. And while
God is offended by frequent, yea by unceasing sins, He
refrains His wrath, and patiently awaits for the day of retri-
bution once for all appointed. And while He has vengeance
in His power, He rather long keeps patience ; enduring, that is,
in His compassion, and putting off, to the end that if it be
possible a wickedness long continuing may one time change,
and man involved in the contagion of errors and sins, though
late, may }'et turn to the Lord, according to His own warning
Ezek.18, and instruction ; I Jiare no ])leasure in the death of him that
dietli, hilt rather that lie should return and live. And again
Joel 2, the Prophet; Return to the Lord your God, for He is
merciful and gracious and patient, and of great pity, and
repenteth Him tonard the evil uhich He hath injlicted.
This also the blessed Apostle Paul repeating, and calling
Rom. 2, back the sinner to repentance, sets forth and says, Or despisest
^ ^- thou the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-
suffering, not knouing that the patience and goodness of God
leadefh thee to repentance ? But after thy hardness and im-
penitent heart thou treasuresf up unto thyself wrath in the
day of wrath, and of revelation of the righteous judgment of
God, who icill render to every man according to his deeds.
He calls God's judgment just, because it is late, because
it is long and much postponed ; that by the long patience of
God man may gain- provision unto life. And penalty is then
revealed upon the ungodly and the sinner, when penitence
can' now no more avail the offender.

3. And that we may be enabled, dearest brethren, more
fully to understand, that patience is a thing of God, and that
whoever is kind and patient and mild, is an imitator of God
his Father, therefore was it that the Lord giving in His
Gospel instructions unto salvation, and drawing forth divine
admonitions, in order to form His disciples unto perfection,
Mat. 5, set it forth and said, Ye have heard that it is said. Thou
4:j_40. sliuU love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy ; but I say
unio you. Love your enemies, and pray for them which per-

Christ's patience. 253

secute you, that ye may he the children of your Father which
is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise on the good and on
the evil, and raineth on the just atid on the unjust. For if
ye love them which love you, what reward shall ye have ; do
not even the publicans the same ? Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father ivhich is in heaven is perfect. He saith
that thus we become perfect sons of God; thus He shewed
and taught we are brought unto fulness, after being made
again in heavenly birth, if the patience of God our Father
abide in us, if the divine Likeness which Adam had lost by
sin, become manifested and shine forth in our acts.

4. Neither, dearest brethren, did Jesus Christ our God and
Lord only teach us this in words, but fulfilled it also in His
deeds. And since He had said that to this end He came
down to do the will of His Father, among the other wonders
of His virtues, by which He expressed the proofs of a divine
Majesty, He preserved also the patience of His Father, by con-
tinuance of endurance. In fine, all His actions, even from His
first coming, are marked by patience as their companion ;
because first descending out of thatheavenly height, into earthly
places, the Son of God scorned not to put on the flesh of man ;
and while He Himself was not a sinner, to bear the sins of others.
Meantime, putting off His immortality. He suffers Himself to
be made mortal, that He, the innocent, may be slain for the
salvation of the guilty. The Lord is baptized by the servant,
and He who was to give remission of sins, Himself disdains
not to wash His body in the laver of regeneration. He for Tit. 3, 5.
forty days doth fast, by whom all others are fattened ; He
hungers and suffers famine, that they who had been in famine
of the word and of grace, may be filled with bread of heaven.
He withstands the Devil tempting them, and content with only
having conquered His foe, contends against him no longer
than by words. He did not preside over His Disciples, as
over servants in a Lord's power, but gently and mildly He
loved them with a brother's affection. He condescended
also to wash the feet of the Apostles; that, since He being
Lord, dealt thus toward His servants, He might by His ex-
ample teach, what manner of man a fellow-servant ought to
be, towards his fellows and equals. Nor need it be wondered
at, that He became such unto the obedient, who in long pa-

i. 4. ii. 4.

•254 Christ^ s patience,

TiiF.AT.tience could bear with Judas even unto extremity, taking
^^- fond with His enemy, knowing the domestic foe, yet not
jniblicly revealinf^ him, nor refusing the kiss of the betrayer.
Moreover, in His bearing with tlie Jews, how great was His
equanimity, and how great His patience ! Bending the unbe-
lieving unto faith by ])crsuading them, softening the unthank-
ful by yielding to them, answering with gentleness to them
that used contradiction, in clemency bearing with the proud,
and with Inunility giving way to the persecutors ; even unto
the hour of His Cross and passion ready to gather together
men who slew the Prophets and were ever rebellious against
God. And in His very passion and Cross, before they were
come to the cruelty of death and the shedding of blood, what
reproaches of reviling were patiently heard by Him, what suffer-
ings of contumely endured ! so that He received with patience
the spittings of revilers, who a little before had with His spittle

viJ.supriuade eyes for a blind man; and He in whose Name the Devil
with his angels is now by His servants scourged. Himself
sufl'ered scourging; He was crowned with thonis, who crowns
Martyrs with eternal flowers ; He smitten on the face with
palms, who yields true palms to them that conquer ; He
stripped of His earthly raiment, who clothes others with the
robe of immortality ; He received gall for food, who gave the

l.ropina- food of heaven, and He had vinegar to drink, who instituted
the cup of salvation. He innocent, He just, yea innocency
itself and justice itself, is numbei'ed with the transgressors;
and truth is pressed with false testimonies, the future Judge is
judged, and the Word of God led in silence to the slaughter.
And while the stars are confounded before the Cross of the
liOrd, the elements disturbed, earth quakes, night shuts out
day, and the sun, so he be not forced to witness the crime of
the Jews, draws back both his rays and eyes, He speaks not,
and moves not, nay in His very ])assion makes no profession
of His Majesty: all things even unto the end are perseveringly
and unceasingly endured, to the end that a full and perfect
patience may be finished in Christ. And after all these
things, He gives acceptance even to His murderers, if they
come turning unto Him; and with saving patience, bountiful
to preserve. He shuts His Church to none; those adversaries,
those blasphemous, those ever enemies of His Name, if they

Vlt

The patience of Patriarcha and Projjhets. 255

do penitence for their sin, if they acknowledge the crime
they had committed, He admits not only to forgiveness
of their wickedness, but even to the reward of a heavenly
kingdom. What can be named more patient, or what more
bounteous ? The man is quickened by the blood of Christ, even
who shed Christ's blood. Such and so great is the patience
of Christ ; had it not been such and so great, neither had the
Church had Paul for an Apostle. But if we also, dearest
brethren, are in Christ, if we put Him on, if He is the way of
our salvation, let us, following Christ's steps in the paths of
salvation, walk in the example of Christ; as John the
Apostle instructs us, saying. He who saith he ahideth in i John
Christ, ought himself also so to walk as He walked. Peter"'
likewise, on whom the Church was founded by the good
pleasure of the Lord, lays it down in his Epistle, and says,
Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should^ Pet. 2,
follow His steps; icho did no sin, neither was deceit found in ~
His month; who when He was reviled, reviled not again,
?then He suffered, He threatened not : but delivered Himself
to him that unjustly Judged Him.

5. In fine, we find both Patriarchs and Prophets and all
the just who in an antecedent image bare the figure of Christ,
did nothing rather guard in the praise of their virtues, than
the keeping hold of patience in firm and fixed evenness of
mind. Thus Abel, first to initiate and consecrate Martyrdom
in its origin and the passion of a just man, resists not, strives not,
against the fratricide ; but is killed, humble and meek through
patience. Thus Abraham believing God, and first laying the
root and foundation of faith, tempted in his son, hesitates not
nor delays, but obeys the commands of God with an entire
patience of devotion. And Isaac made before in figure after
the likeness of the Lord's Sacrifice when brought to behostije
immolated by his father, is found patient; and Jacob driven cie, vid.
forth by his brother, departs out of his country patiently; ^"P"- v-
and with greater patience afterwards, he as a suppliant draws
him back to concord, when yet more impious and persecuting,
by peaceable presents. Joseph, sold and banished by his
brethren, not only patiently pardons them, but also largely
and mercifully distributes free gifts of corn to them at their
coming to him. Moses is oftentimes despised by an un-

Q56 Patience necessary to bear the original curse,

iRrAT. thankful and unfaithful people, and is almost stoned by them,
J^— and yet mildly and patiently he entreats the Lord for that
people. But in David, of whom according to the flesh
Christ's Nativity spranj^, how great and wonderful and
Christian a patience, to have had it within his hand, to be
able oftentimes to slay King Saul when persecuting and
desiring to kill him; and yet to love rather to save him when
placed in his power and delivered over to him, not rendering
back a return to his enemy, nay beyond this, avenging him
when he was killed! So many Prophets in fine were slain;
so many Martyrs honoured with glorious deaths, who all
came to heavenly crowns by the praise of patience. For
neither can the crown of pains and passions be obtained,
except in that pain and passion patience go before.

6. But that it may be more manifestly and more fully
known, dearest brethren, how useful and necessary is patience,
let the sentence of God be meditated on, which Adam, un-
mindful of the commandment, and transgressor of the law
which had been given him, received in the first beginning of
the world, and of the human race; thence we leam, how
patient we ought to be in this life, who are in such state
Gen. 3, born, as to labour here with distresses and conflicts. Because^
~~ ' He saith, thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree, of ichich alone T had commanded thee
that thou shouldest not eat, cnrsed shall be the ground in all
thy works; in sorrow and in groaning shalt thou eat of it, all
the dags of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it yield to thee,
and thou shall eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy
face thou shall eat thy bread, till thou return unto the
ground, from uhich thou wast taken; for dust thou art, and
unto dust shalt thou return. By the bond of this sentence
we all are tied and fastened, until death being done away we
depart out of this life. In sorrow and groaning it is needful
that we be, all the days of our life ; it is needful we eat bread,
with sweat and toil; wherefore each one of us when he is
born, and is received in the hostelry of this world, makes his
start in tears; and although ignorant and unaware of all
things, in that very beginning of birth he has learnt no other
thing than weeping. By a providence of nature, he moans
the anxieties of mortal life ; and the unfashioned soul does in

Patience necessary to bear the trials peculiar to Christians. 257

its veiy entrance by wailing and groaning testify, to those
toils and storms of life, into which it is entering.

7. For as long as this life lasts, there is effort and toil ; |
nor unto them that undergo them, can any consolations give

more aid, than those of patience ; and these while suited and
necessary in this life for all men, so still more are they for us,
who are more shaken by the assault of the Devil, who daily
standing in array, become weary in our struggles with an in-
veterate and experienced Enemy ; and who besides the various
and unceasing battles of temptation, have also in our contest
of persecutions, patrimonies to surrender, prisons to un-
dergo, chains to carry, life to yield, the sword, wild beasts,
fires, crosses, in fine all sorts of torments and pains, to
endure in the faith and vigour of patience; the Lord Himself
instructing us and saying. These things I have spoken unto }ohn\6,
you, that in Me ye might have peace; hut in the world ye
shall have ti'ibulalion; yet he of good cheer, for I have over-
come the world. But if we, who have renounced the Devil
and the world, suffer tribulations and enmities of the Devil
and the world more often and more violently ; how much
more ought we to keep hold on patience, with whom for our
helper and companion we may bear all evil things? It is the
saving precept of our Lord and Master ; He that endureth, jyiat. lo
He saith, even unto the end, the same shall he saved. And 22-
again; If ye continue, He saith, in My Word, ye shall beio\mQ,
truly My Disciples, and ye shall knotv the truth, and the '^'
truth shall make you free.

8. We must endure and persevere, dearest brethren, that,
being admitted to the hope of truth and liberty, we may come
even unto truth and liberty itself: for that same thing, that
Ave are Christians, is a ground of faith and hope ; but there is
need of patience, that hope and faith may be made able to
attain unto their fruit. For we follow not present glory, but
future; as Paul the Apostle admonishes us and says, lVeB.om.ii,
are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for '
tvhat a man seeth, ivhy doth he liope? But if we hope for

that tee see not, then we do by patience wait for it. Where-
fore waiting and patience is necessary, that we may fulfil
that which we have begun to be, and that what we believe and
hope for, we may when God gives it receive. Finally in another

s

258 Patience necessary for maintaining love.

Trkat. place, the divine Apostle instructs and teaches the righteous
• ^^' and thorn that exercise good works, and that lay up for
themselves heavenly treasures in the increase of the divine
Cai. fi, usury, to be patient likewise, thus saying, Wherefore while
^^' ^' ue have lime, let us do good unto all men, especinUy unto
them who are of the household of fail h. But let us not faint
in uell-doing ; for in due season we shall reap. He admo-
nishes that no man through impatience faint in doing good ;
that no man, either called aside or overcome by temptations,
desist in the middle jDath of praise and glory, and the things
that have been done be lost, in that those which had been
begun cease to be brought to peifection. As it is written,
Kz. 33, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him, in
'' the day when he shall transgress. And again, Hold that
■\\.' ' which thou hast, that another take not thy crown. This
voice admonishes us to persevere in patience and strength, so
that he who now presses unto the crown with praise near
to time, may become crowned through the continuance of
patience.

9. But patience, dearest brethren, not only preserves what
is good, but also repels what is evil. Accordant to the
Holy Sjiirit, and blending with what is heavenly and divine,
it wrestles by the resistance of its powers against those
works of the flesh and body, by which the soul is overcome
and captured. Let us now consider a few things from
among many, that fiom those few the others also may be
understood. Adultery, fraud, murder, are mortal crimes.
Let patience be strong and stedfast in the heart, and then
neither is the sanctified body and Temple of God polluted
with adultery; nor that innocence which had been dedicated
to righteousness stained with the contagion of deceit; nor
vid note the hand which has carried the Eucharist, spotted with
'sword and bloodshed. Charity is the bond of brotherhood,
the foundation of peace, the link and strength of unity ; it is
greater than both hope and faith ; it has precedence both of
good works, and Martyi'doms ; it, being eternal, will evermore
abide with us in God's presence, in the realms of heaven.
Take patience from it, and parted it abides not. Take away the
substance of bearing and enduring, and it has no root or strength
to persevere withid. In fine, the Apostle when he spoke of

Patience necessary for the special Christian duties. 259

charity, joined endurance and patience with it. CJtarity, he iCor.13,
says, is of great soul, charity is kind, charity envieth not, is not ~ '
puffed not, is not angered, thinketh no evil, is content with
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. He shews that therefore it is able steadily to persevere,
because it knows how to endure all things. And in another place Kp'i- 4,

• '^ 3

he says, Forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep "'
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He shewed that
neither unity nor peace can be preserved, unless brethren
cherish one another with mutual long-suffering, and guard
the bond of concord by the mediation of patience.

10. How further, not to swear, or curse; not to recover
your goods taken from you; receiving a blow to turn the
other cheek to the smiter; to forgive a brother that sins
against you, not only seventy times seven, but altogether all
his sins; to love your enemies; to offer prayer for your
adversaries and persecutors; how shalt thou be able to fulfil
these things, except by stedfastness of patience and endur-
ance? This we see fulfilled in Stephen, who when slain
violently and with stones by the Jews, sought not revenge
for himself but pardon for his murderers, saying, Lord, lay Acts 7,
not this sin to their charge. Such was fittingly the first
Martyr of Christ, who, forerunning future Martyrs in a
glorious death, was not only preacher of the Passion of the
Lord, but also the imitator of His most patient gentleness.
What shall 1 say of anger, of discord, of hatred, which in
a Christian ought not to be? Let but patience be in the
breast, and these will not be able to find room within it;
or if they attempt to enter, they are soon excluded and
depart, that the home of peace may have continuance in
a heart, where it delights the God of peace to dwell. In
fine, the Apostle admonishes and teaches us thus, saying.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed F.ph. 4,
unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath,'^ ' '
and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away
from you. For if the Christian has gone forth from carnal
rage and strife, as from among tempests of the sea, and
is now entered, tranquil and meek, within the port of Christ,
he should admit neither anger nor discord within his breast,

s 2

I

'260 Patience necessary for undergoing bodily ailments.

I'RKAT.for it is permitted to him neither to render evil for evil, nor
' to bear hatred.

11. Furthcnnore, patience is needful, for those various
maladies of the flesh, frequent and hard pangs of the body,
by which every day the human race is worn and shaken.
For because in that first transgression of the commandment
strength of body departed together with immortality, and weak-
ness came with death, and strength cannot be recovered, until
immortality is recovered, therefore there must be needs in this
frailty and weakness of the body a wrestling ever and a strug-
gling,— a wrestling and a struggling which cannot be under-
gone, ^^•ithout strength from patience. And in this weighing
and searching of us, manifold pains are applied, and varied
kinds of trial are drawn down, in the loss of possessions,
in the ardency of fevers, in the torture of wounds, and the
bereavement of friends. Nor does any thing more distinguish
between the unrighteous and the righteous, than that the
unrighteous in adversity complains and evil-speaks through
impatience, the righteous by patience is proved, as it is
Ecclus. written. In pain endure, and in thy low estate have patience;
' ' ^ f^^' 9^^*^ ^"^ silver are tried in the Jire. Thus Job was
examined and proved, and was raised to the highest elevation
of praise, by the virtue of patience. What darts of the Devil
were sent out against him ! What tortures applied ! Loss of
his patrimony is laid upon him; the bereavement of a nume-
rous progeny is inflicted; a master of wealthy estate, a
father more wealthy in children, of a sudden he is neither
master nor father; the ravaging of wounds follows, while a can-
cerous plague of worms consumes his corrupting and putrifying
limbs. And that there might nothing whatever remain,
which Job did not experience in his trials, the Devil arms his
wife also, using that ancient method of his wickedness, as
though through woman he were able to deceive and mislead
all, as he did in the beginning of the world: yet neither is
Job broken by his heavy and multiplied assaults, that so amid
those his straits and distresses, God's benediction may
be declared, in the victory of patience. Tobias also after his
noble works of righteousness and pity, when tried by the
Joss of sight, in that measure in which he suffered blindness

Evils of impatience.

261

patiently, in an equal measure had he great merit with God, &''^"^'*^'"

1 * . p • Deum

by the praise of patience. prome-

12. And, dearest brethren, that the blessedness of patience """''■
may the rather shine forth, let us consider on the other hand
the mischief which impatience brings with it. For as pa-
tience is Christ's blessing, so impatience is the Devil's curse ;
and as he in whom Christ dwells and abides, is found patient,
so he is ever impatient, whose mind the Devil's wickedness
possesses. In a word, let us consider what happened at the
very first. The Devil impatiently endured that man was
made after the Image of God " ; for this cause was the first
both to perish and destroy. Adam, through impatience with
a heavenly command, was delivered self-ruined to death,
not keeping the divine grace given by the guardianship of
patience ; Cain also, was led to slay his brother, through
impatience of his sacrifice and oblation; and Esau descended
from the greater to the less, and lost his preeminency
through impatience for pottage. What } The Jewish people,
faithless and unthankful toward divine benefits, was it not
through the sin of impatience, that they first went away from
God ? Not able to bear the delay of Moses conversing with
God, they dared to ask for profane gods, an ox's head,

• TertuUian also assigns the devil's
fall to impatience, (de Patient. 5.) S.
Cyprian assigns it to envy, infra xii. 3.
as do S. Irenaeus, (Haer. iv. 78.)

5. Methodius, (ap. Epiphan. Hser. 64.
21.) S. Gregory Nyssen, (Or. Catech.

6, p, 487, 8.) S. Paulinus, who seems
to borrow S. Cyprian's language in the
text, (eodem periit scelere quo perdidit,
Ep. 4.) S. Augustine, (In Ep. 1. Joann.
iii. 12.) Anastatius, (in Hodego. 4. apud
Biblioth.Patr. Colon. 161 8. vol.6, p.592.)
Lactantius considers the devil's envy to
have been raised by the exaltation of
the Son of God. (Instit. ii. 9.) but he is
known to be heterodox in the doctrine of
the Holy Trinity. It is the common
opinion of nearly all the Fathers, that
the seminal cause of the devil's fall w^as
pride, as S, Chrysostom, (in Gen.
Horn. 22.) Theodoret, (contr. Gra;c.
iii.p.789.) Eusebius, (de Prsnpar. Ev.vii.
16.) S. Basil, (Hom. Quod Dens, &c. 8.;
S.Ambrose, (in Psalm 118. .S. ^..34.) S.
Jerome, (in Esai. 14. 12.) S. Gregory,
(Moral, xxxiv. 2.".) On this subject
S. Austin speaks as follows : " Some say

that his envying man made after the
image of God was his very fall from
heaven. But this envy follows, not
precedes pride. Envy is not the cause
of being proud, but pride of being en-
vious. Pride is loving our own pre-
eminence ; envy is hatred of another's
happiness ; it is plain what follows : I
mean, by a man's loving his own pre-
eminence he comes to envy his equals,
because they are his equals, or his in-
feriors lest they should be his equals, or
his superiors that he is not their equal."
de Gen. ad lit. xi. 14. Some of the
philosophical Fathers speak as if the
sin of the angels with the daughters of
men was the first fall which took place
among them ; as S. Justin, (Apol.ii. 5.)
Athenagoras, (Legat. 24.) Here may
be added to note b. on iv. 9. the names
of some Fathers who reject the inter-
pretation of Gen. vi. 2. there spoken of,
viz. S. Chrysostom, (Hom. in Gen. 22.)
Theodoret, (Hser. v. 7.) Philastrius,
(Ha;r. 107.) Quaest. ad Antioch. (ap.
Athan. vol. ii. quaest. 58.) S. Cyril Alex,
(contr. Julian ix. p. 296. J)

202 Benefits uf patience.

TitEAT. aiul an image ot'earth, that they might call them guides of their
— '■ — :_ journey ; nor ever did they withhold from the same impa-
tience, impatient ever of instruction and of divine monition,
till after slaying their Prophets and all the just, they leapt
headlong unto the Cross and hloodshedding of the Lord.

13. It is impatience likewise that makes heretics within
the Church, and, while they rebel after the likeness of the Jews
against the peace and love of Christ, drives them to active
and violent enmities. And not tediously to number all things,
whatever patience by its works builds up unto glory, impa-
tience unbuilds unto ruin. Wherefore, dearest brethren,
having diligently weighed both the benefits of patience, and
the evils of impatience, let us hold fast in all ob.sen'ance that
patience through which we abide in Christ, in order that we
maybe able to come with Christ to God; patience, plenteous
and manifold, not curtailed in a scanty course, nor straitened
by contracted bounds.

14. The virtue of patience widely ranges, and its riches
and largeness, rising indee 1 in a fountain which has one
name, flow out in gushing streams through many ways of
glory ; nor can anything in our conduct avail for the perfect-
ing of praise, except it take hence the substance of its per-
fection. It is patience which both commends, and preserves us,
to God. It is this, that restrains anger, bridles the tongue,
governs the mind, guards peace, regulates discipline, breaks
the impulse of lust, binds down the violence of pride,
quenches the flame of hatred, controls the power of the rich,
comforts the want of the poor, maintains a blessed integrity in
virgins, in widows a studious chastity, in the wedded and
manied a singleness of love, makes men humble in prosperity,
brave in adversity, mild toward injuries and contempts ;
teaches quickly to pardon them that oflend ; teaches the of-
fender to make entreaty long time and often ; conquers tempta-
tions, bears persecutions, leads passions and ]Martyrdoms to
their consummation. It is this that firmly fortifies the found-
ations of our faith ; it is this that bears upward the growings
of our hope ; this guides our conduct, that we may be able
to hold the way of Christ, while wc walk according to His
long-suflering ; and makes us to continue sons of God, by
imitating the patience of our Father.

Scripture exhortations to patience. 263

15. Yet since I know, dearest brethren, of very many, who 3. \
because either of the pressure or the pain of poignant injuries,
are desiring speedily to be avenged of them that assail and
rage against them, and will not put off the recompense of
evils, until that day of last Judgment, we exhort you for the
mean while, embrace with us this benefit of patience, that
while amid these storms of a turbid world, we are placed —
under persecutions whether of Jews or of Gentiles and like-
wise heretics, we may patiently await the day of vengeance,
and not hasten to retaliate our suffering, with a complaining
and envious haste. For it is written, Wait ye upon Me, Zeph. 3,
saith the Lord, in the day that I rise vp for testimony ; for '
My Judgment is to the congregations of the nations, that I
m,ay take hold on kings, and p)our out upon them, Mine anger.
The Lord commands us to wait, dearest brethren, and to abide
the day of future vengeance in stedfast patience ; who also in
the Apocalypse thus speaks, saying, Seal not the sayings of the Rev. 22,
prophecy of this Book , for now the time is at hand, for them "
that continue to hurt,lo hurt; and for him that is filthy, to he
filthy still; hut for the righteous to do things yet more righteous,
and likewise for him that is holy to do things yet holier. Behold
I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man
according to his tcork. Wherefore also the Martyrs that cry, \
and that press to their avenging in tlieir bursting grief, are '"
required yet to await, and to provide patience unto the com-
pleting of times, and fulfilling of Martyrs. And nhcn, he Rev. 6,
saith. He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of '
God, the souls of theni 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 o)i the earth?
And there ivere given to tliem each white robes : and it was
said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season,
until the number of tlieir fellow-servants and brethren is
fulfilled, who afterward shall be killed, after their example.
And when shall come the divine vengeance of righteous
blood, the Holy Spirit declares by Malachi the Prophet, ]\iai.4 i.
saying, Behold the day of the Lord cometh burning as an oven,
and all aliens and all the wicked shall be stubble ; and the
day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord. This

264 Scripture encouragements to patience.

Treat. likewise we read in the Psalms, where the advent of God the

^^- Jud<;e is proclaimed, to he had in reverence in the Majesty

Ps. 4D. of His inquisition ; God shall come manifest, our God, and

^g' shall not keep silence. A Jire shall burn before Him, and

about Him a great tempest. He shall call the heaven above,

and the earth from below, that He mag separate His people.

Gather His saints together nnto Him, them that make a

covenant ivith Him nith sacrijices ; and the heavens shall

declare His righteousness, for God is Judge. And Esaias

Is. G6, foreannounces the same things, saying, For behold the Lord

lo. IG. ^f-iii (.(j^jiQ liJic (I fire, and His chariot like a tempest, to

render vengeance tcith anger ; for with the Jire of the Lord

theg shall be judged, and with His sword they shall be

Is. 42, wounded. And again ; The Lord God of hosts shall go forth

''^" '^" and shall crush the war, He shall stir up the battle, and

shall erg out against His enemies with strength ; I have held

My peace; shall I be ever silent? But who is This, who

saith that before He kept silence, and that He will not be

Is. 53, 7. ever silent.? Surely it is He, who was led as a sheep to the

slaughter, as the lamb before its shearer is without voice, so He

Is. 42, 2. opened not His mouth : surely He, who did not cry, neither

is. 50,5. ^'«* His voice lifted up in the streets : surely He, who was ?iot

rebellious, neither contradicted, uhen He offered His back

unto stripes, and His cheeks to the palms of the hand, neither

turned atcay His face from the foulness of spitting : surely

Mat. 27, He, who ichen He was accused by the chief Priests and

•2- 1-1. Scribes answered nothing, and while Pilate uondered, kept a

most patient silence. This is He, who having kept silence

in passion, will break silence afterward in judgment. This

is our God, the God, that is, not of all, but of the faithful and

believing, who when He comes manifested in His second

Advent, will not keep silence, for whereas He came hidden

in humility at the first, He shall then come manifested in

power.

16. For Him let u.s wait, dearest brethren, our Judge and
Avenger; who will avenge at once Himself and the people of
His CJhurch, and the company of all the righteous from the
beginning of the world together with Himself He who
hastes and presses too fast unto his avenging, let him
consider that not yet has the Avenger been avenged. God

Christ must be avenged before we are. 265

the Father hath commanded that His Son should be worship-
ped ; and the Apostle Paul, mindful of the divine command-
ment, sets forth, and says, God haih exalted Him, and giveyi^^^^-^'
Him a Name ichich is above every tnime ; that at the Name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things beneath. And in the Apocalypse the
Angel resists John who would worship him, and says, See^^^-'^^'
thou do it not ; for I am, thy felloiv -servant and of thy
brethren. Worship Jesus the Lord. How great is the Lord
Jesus, and what His patience, that He who is adored in
heaven, is not yet avenged upon earth ! Let us think of His
patience, dearest brethren, in our persecutions and passions.
To His coming let us offer an obedience full of waiting
thoughts. Let us not, servants as we are, haste with irre-
ligious and immodest speed, to be defended before our Lord.
Rather press we and labour on, and let us, watching with the
whole heart, and stedfast unto all longsuffeiing, maintain the
commandments of the Lord ; that when the day of anger and
avenging comes, we may not be punished with the impious
and the sinning, but may receive honour among righteous
men and fearers of God.

TREATISE XII.

ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY.

[This Treatise was written with the same object as the foregoing, appa-
rently in the same or following year, A.D. 256. Neither in this nor the
foregoing is the object expressly uicntioned.]

Treat. To feel jealousy of what you regard as good, and to envy

^^^' those who are better than youiself, to soine, dearest brethren,

seems a light and minute offence; and when it is thought

light and minute, it is unfeared; and when unfeared it is held

in contempt ; and when held in contempt it is with difficulty

escaped from ; and it becomes a dark and covert destruction,

which, from not being perceived and thereby provision made

against it, works latent affliction upon incautious minds.

Further, the Lord has commanded us to exercise prudence,

and has instructed us to watch Avith thoughtful anxiety, lest

an Adversary, who is ever watchful, and ever on the alert to

ensnare, after having stolen entrance into the breast, out of

sparks kindle llamc, from little things build up the greatest:

and while flattering the inert and incautious with gentler air

and softer breeze, lift storms and whirlwinds up, and compass

the downfal of faith and shi])wreck of oiu' life. For this

cause, dearest brethren, we must be keeping sentry, and toil

with all our might, that against a raging enemy, who is

directing his darts against all parts of our body wherein we

can be stricken and wounded, we may with anxious and

abundant vigilance carry on the fight; according to that

which Peter the Apostle in his Epistle admonishes and

The idles of the Devil. 267

teaches, thus saying, Be sober and watch, because your ^ Pet. 5,
Adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking
some one uhoni he may devour. He goeth about each of us;
and, as an enemy that makes siege upon men who are shut
within, he spies the walls, and tries whether there may be
some part of our members less stedfast and less sure, by
access of which he may gain entrance to the inner places.
To our eyes he offers alluring images and easy pleasiues, that
by sight he may destroy chastity. He tries the ears with
melodious music, that by listening to sweetest sounds, he
may relax and enervate our Christian vigour. The tongue
he provokes by revilings, the hand by provocation of injuries
he stirs up to the wantonness of murder ; to make a man dis-
honest, he sets unjust gains before him; that money may
make the soul its captive, he loads up the heap of pernicious
gatherings ; promises earthly honours, that he may take away
the heavenly ; holds out the shew of false things, that he may
steal the real ; and when he cannot deceive unseen, he for-
wardly and undisguisedly threatens, and stretches out the
dread of tumultuous persecution, that he may subdue the
servants of God ; ev^er unquiet and ever adverse ; deceitful in
peace, and violent in persecution.

2. Wherefore, dearest brethren, the mind ought to be
standing in its array and armed, equally whether against the
treacherous plots or the open threats of the Devil; as ready
at all times to repel, as is the enemy at all times ready to
assail. And since those darts from him are more numerous,
which make their approach in a lurking way, and the more
covert and hidden discharging of them, does, because unper-
ceived, bear down more heavily and thickly to our wounding,
against those also let us be on the watch to know and to
repel them; amongst which, is the evil of jealousy and envy.
And if any man deeply consider this, he will discover that
nothing ought to be more guarded against by a Christian,
nothing more cautiously heeded, than his becoming ensnared
by envy and bad feeling, so that entangled in the unseen
snares of a deceitful enemy, a brother swayed by jealousy to
hatred of his brother, should perish at unawares by his
own sword; which that we may collect the more fully and
see more plainly, let us go back to its source and beginning.

268 Instances of envy in Scripture.

Trp.at. 3. Let us consider from whence, and at what time, and in
_2^1L what way, jealousy had its beginning; for it will be easier for
us to escape from so destructive an evil, if both the source
and magnitude of that evil be known. From it the Devil in
the very beginnings of the world, did first both perish and
viil. xi. destroy. He who long had been upheld in Angelic majesty,
'-• "°'^ he the accepted and dear to God, when he beheld man made
after God's likeness, did in malignant wrath break forth into
envy, not sooner overthrowing another through impulse of
jealoxisy, than by jealousy he was himself overthrown ;
captive before he was capturer; perishing before he became
destroyer; and while under the spur of envy he carries off
from man the grace of immortality that had been given him,
becoming the loser of that estate which had before been his.
What evil, dearest brethren, is that, by which an Angel
fell? — by which that lofty and illustrious height was able to
be deceived and overthrown? — by which he was deceived
who was the deceiver? It is thus that envy practises its
assaults upon earth, when man, about to perish through bad
feeling, submits himself to the teacher of perdition; becoming
through jealousy imitator of the Devil. As it is written,
\\K,A.2,But through envy of the Devil death came into the world.
They therefore imitate him who are of his part. Hence in a
word the original estrangements of the new brotherhood, hence
commenced the unnatural fratricide ; unrighteous Cain be-
coming jealous of righteous Abel, the bad man persecuting
the good with envy and venom. So much availed the mad-
ness of jealousy towards the commission of crime; so that no
thought was felt of love for a brother, nor of the greatness of
the crime, nor fear of God, nor retribution for guilt. He was
unrighteously oppressed, who first had manifested righteous-
ness; he underwent hatred, who knew not to hate; and he
was in)piously killed, who in death made no resistance. It
was through jealousy also that Esau was enemy of his
brother Jacob. For because the one had received the
blessing of his Father, the other became inflamed to perse-
cuting hatred by the firebrands of envy. Moreover when
Joseph's brethren sold him, the cause of their selling him was
derived from cnviousness; for when he with simplicity set
forth to them, as a brother to brethren, that prosperous thing

Evil fruits of envy. 269

which had been shewn to him in visions, their unkindly spirit
broke forth into envy. ^Vhat else moreover than the spur of
jealousy provoked King Saul to hate David, and seek with
persecutions oftentimes repeated to kill that innocent and
merciful man, full of meek and gentle patience? Because
when Goliath was killed, and that great enemy destroyed
through the help and goodness of God, the admiring people
broke forth with suffrage of acclamation in praising David,
Saul conceived through envious feeling the mad spirit of
hatred and persecution. And not to lengthen on in num-
bering all, let us mark the fate of a nation that entirely
perished. Did not the Jews for this cause perish, because
they would rather envy Christ, than believe in Him ? Carp-
ing at those great works which He performed, they were
deceived by jealousy that blinded them, and could not
open the eyes of their heart to the acknowledgment of
divine things.

4. Thinking now on these things, dearest brethren, let us
watchfully and boldly arm our heaven-surrendered breasts,
against this great instrument of destruction. Let others' death
avail for our saving; let the sufferings of un watchful men
contribute health to those who take thought. None can
think that that mischief exists in a single form, or is compre-
hended in brief limits or a narrow boundary. Far spreads the
manifold and fertile mischief of jealousy. It is the root of all
evils, the fountain of calamities, the seedbed of sins, the
material of wicked deeds. Hatred arises from hence ; from
hence wrathfulness issues. Jealousy inflames avarice, when
a man cannot be content with his own, seeing another more
rich. Jealousy excites ambition, when a man sees another in
greater possession of honours ; when jealousy blinds our senses,
and reduces the secret springs of the mind under its power,
the fear of God is despised, the guidance of Christ is disre-
garded, and the day of Judgment unprovided for: pride
inflates, fierceness embitters, unbelief plays false, impatience
harasses, discord rages, anger burns; nor can he any longer
restrain or rule himself, who is delivered over to another
power. By this the bond of the peace of the Lord is broken,
by this the love of brethren is violated, by this truth is
corrupted, unity is rent, and men fly to heresies and schisms;

270 Special evil and misery of envy.

TKFAT-whcn Priests are misrepresented, and Bishops are envied, and
-^^ men either complain that they themselves were not rather
ordained, or deign not that another should be set over them.
Hence the man who is proud tln-ough jealousy and perverted
by envy kicks and rebels ; in wrathfulness and illwill, op-
posing not the man but the dignity.

5. And wliat mothworm of the soul, what corruption of
thoughts, what eating away of the breast, to be jealous of
another either for his virtue or his happiness ; — that is, to
hate in him either his own merits or God's gifts; to con-
vert the good things of others into one's own hurt, to
be tortured by the prosperity of illustrious men, to turn the
glory of others into pain to one's self ; to bring as it were the
men of blood to one's own breast, to apply torturers to one's
thoughts and counsels, who rend with intestine torments, and
smite the hidden places of the heart with the barbs of hatred !
Food cannot be happy to such men, nor their drink pleasant ;
ever are they in sighs, in groans, in grief; and since the evil
nature is never put off by envious men, the besieged bosom
is torn without ceasing by day and night. Other evils have
their limit, and whatsoever sin is committed ends in the com-
mission of the offence. The crime of the adulterer is done,
when his sin has been perpetrated ; the crime of the robber
has its repose, when his nuuder is committed ; the rapacity
of the thief is at rest when he is possessed of his booty, and
the cheat is stayed by the accomplishment of his deceit.
Jealousy has no limit, a lasting and continuous evil, a sin
without an end, and in proportion as he against whom envy
is felt goes on in the increase of his success, so also does the
envious man become inflamed to gi-eater heat by the fire
of jealousy. Hence the threatening comitenance, the look of
fierceness, the pallid face, the trembling lips, the gnashing
teeth, wild words, unbridled revilings, the hand prompt to the
violence of bloodshed, and if emjity meantime of the sword,
still anned by the hatred of a ]direnzied mind ; and therefore
Ps. 36, the Holy Spirit saith in the Psalms, Be not jealous against
1*1 Ifi ^'"'' that prospereth in his nay ; and again. The wicked shall
I3l]['2.rspy the jitst, and shall ynash upon him u-ith his teeth; hut
Cod shall laugh at him, for He seeth that his day is coming.
These the blessed Apostle Paul designs and points out, saying,

Scripture exhortations against envy. 27 1

The poison of asps is under their lips, and their mouth is full Rom. 3,
of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, ~
destruction and misery are in their ways, who have not knoxtn
the way of peace, neither is the fear of God before their
eyes. It is a much lighter evil, and a less danger, when
liinbs are wounded by the sword. It is an easy cure where
the blow is seen ; and a wound that is in sight is quickly
brought to recovery by the aid of medicine : the wounds of
jealousy are withdrawn and covert, and admit not the anti-
dote of remedial art, having shut themselves in secret suffering
within the hidden recesses of the conscience. You who are
envious and malignant, consider how treacherous, pernicious,
and adverse you are towards those whom you hate: yet
to the welfare of none of them are you a greater enemy
than to yom* own. Whomsoever you persecute with jealousy,
he will be able to escape and avoid you ; but you cannot
escape from j^ourself Wheresoever you are, your enemy
is with you, the foe is always in your bosom, your ruin is
shut within, you are tied and bound with the inextricable
length of chains, captive under the dominion of jealousy, and
imaided by any consolations. It is a long lasting evil, to
maintain enmity against a man that has a part in God's
favour ; it is a calamity without remedy, to hate the happy.

6. And therefore, dearest brethren, the Lord taking counsel
against this peril, so that none should run into the snare of
death by jealousy of a brother, when His Disciples asked
Him who among them was the greater, answered, ^J^hvsoever ^^^^^ c^
shall be least among you all, the same shall be great. He cut 48.
off all emulation by His answer; He rent out and cut away all
cause and matter of a gnawing envy. To the Disciple of
Christ it is not lawful to be jealous, it is not lawful to envy.
There can be no contention for eminence among us, from
humility we gTo\v to greatness, we have learnt how to become
accepted. Finally, also the Apostle Paul, instructing and
warning us, that being ilkimined with the light of Christ, and
having escaped the shadows of a conversation that is of the
night, we ought to walk in the works and dealings of the
light, writes thus and says. The night is far spent, the day is Rom.i3,
at hand ; let w.s therefore cast off the irorks of darkness, and^'^- ^^■
let us put upon us the armour of light ; let us ivalk honestly

\

272 Scripture exhortations against envy.

1V.V.1.T:. as in the day ; not in riothiy and drunkenness, not in lusis
-' ■ and wantonness, not in strifes and jealousy. If the shadows
have gone forth from your breast ; if night is dispersed from
it ; if the darkness is wiped away ; if the brightness of day
has illumined your senses, if you have begun to be a man of
hght, wear the things which are Christ's ; for Christ is light
and day. Why do you rush into the shades of jealousy ?
why wrap yourself in the mist of evil feeling ? why in the
blindness of envy quench all the light of peace and kindness?
who do you return to the Devil whom you had renounced?
why do you become like to Cain ? For that whosoever is
envious and feels hatred towards his brother is convicted of
the sin of murder, the Apostle John pronounces, in his Epistle
1 John thus saying, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer;
^' ' and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
1 John him. And again ; He that saith he is in the light, and hateth
' ' ' his brother, is in darkness even until now ; and walketh in
darkness, and knouefh not whither he goeth, because that
darkness hath blinded his eyes. He, he saith, that hateth
his brother walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he
goeth ; for he goeth unknowing into hell, ignorant and blind
he descends headlong to punishment ; depai'ting, that is, from
John 8, the light of Christ, who warns us and says, / am the light of
^2- the uorld ; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life. He then follows Christ, who
treads in His commandments, who walks by the path of His
instruction, who follows His footsteps and pathways, who
imitates that which Christ both did and taught ; according to
that which Peter also exhorts and counsels, thus saying,
1 Peter Christ suffered for us, leaving you an exainjjle, that ye should
follow His steps.

7. We ought to remember by what word Christ names His
people, by what title He designates His flock ; He calls
them sheep, that the innocence of Christians may be like
sheep ; He calls them lambs, that their simplicity of mind
may imitate the simple nature of the lambs. Why doth the
wolf lurk beneath the clothing of sheep ? why doth any
falsely calling himself a Christian, put to dishonour the flock
of Christ? To put on the Name of Christ, and not to walk by
the way of Christ, what is it but the counterfeit of a divine

Envy incompatible with charity. 273

Name, and desertion of the way of salvation ? For Himself
teaches and says, that he comes unto life, who keeps the
commandments ; and that he is wise, who hears His words,
and does them ; that he also shall be called the greatest
Doctor in the kingdom of heaven, who does and so teaches ;
for that then will avail to the preacher, what has been well
and profitably preached, when that which goes forth from his
mouth is fulfilled in his works ensuing. But what did the
Lord more often commit to His Disciples, what among His
saving instructions and heavenly precepts did He oftener
charge them to keep and observe, than that with the same
love with which He loved the Disciples, we also should love
one another? But in what manner does he keep either the
peace or love of the Lord, who through influence of jealousy
can be neither peaceable nor loving ? Therefore also when
the Apostle Paul set forth the merits of peace and charity, and
firmly maintained and taught that neither faith, nor alms, nor
even the passion itself of Confession and Martyrdom, would
profit him, except he kept the claimsof charity perfect and in-
violate, he added and said, Charity is of great soul, charity i cor.
is kind, charity envies not. Teaching, that is, and shewing, ^3, 4.
that he can hold fast charity, who is of great soul, and kind,
and alien from jealousy and ill-feeling. Likewise in another
place, when he counselled, that the man who has become full
of the Holy Spirit, and is made the child of God by a heavenly
birth, ought to follow none other things than spiritual and
divine, he sets it forth, and says, And I, brethren, could not iCor.3,
speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as '
iinto babes in Christ. I have fed you ivith milk and not icith
meat ; for ye were not hitherto able, neither yet now are ye
able, for ye are yet carnal : for whereas there are among you
jealousy and contention and strifes, are ye not carnal, and
walk as men ?

8. Vices and carnal sins, dearest brethren, must be crushed,
and the noxious mischief of the earthly body be trodden
underfoot by spiritual vigour, lest again borne back to the
conversation of the old man, we be entangled in the snares of
death; the Apostle having providently and wholesomely
forewarned us of this very thing ; Therefore, he saith, brethren, j^^^ g
let us not live after the flesh ; for if ye live after the flesh, ye 12—14.

T

274 Envy incompotihle with the new birth.

Tnr.AT. tvill presently die ; but if ye through the Sjnrit do mortify
^"' the deeds of the body, ye shall live: for as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. If we are sons
of God, if we have now begun to be His Temples, if when
we have received the Holy Spirit, wc live holily and spiri-
tually, if we have raised our eyes from earth to heaven, if
we have lifted to high and heavenly things a bosom full of
God and of Christ, let us do none other things than those
which arc worthy of God and Christ, as the Apostle also

Col. 3, awakens and exhorts us; If tje be risen, ho says, fcHh Christ,

'""''■ seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on
the right hand of God; set'yonr affection on things above,
not on tilings which are upon the earth. For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God; hut when Christ
who is your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory. Let us therefore, who according to the carnal
sins of the old man have both died and are buried in Baptism,
who have risen together with Christ in heavenly regeneration,
let us both think and do the things which are of Christ, as the

iCor.i5,same Apostle again teaches and admonishes, saying, The
~~ 'first man is of the earth of the ground, the second man is
from heaven; as is the earthy, such also are the earthy;
and as is the heavenly, such are also the heavenly. As we
hare borne the image of him that is from earth, let us also bear
the Image of Him that is from Jieaven. But we cannot bear the
heavenly Image, unless in the state wherein we now are, we
shew the likeness of Christ; for this is to change that which
you had been, and to become what you were not, that a

deifica divine nativity may shine in you, that a deific discipline may

plin'a. ^6 reflective in you of God the Father, and God be glorified in
man, in the honour and praise of living ; as Himself exhorts and
counsels us,promising a coiTcsponding recompense to them that

iSam.2, glorify Him ; Them, He saith, that glorify Me, I will glorify;
and he that despiseth Me shall be despised. The Lord
forming and training us for this glorification, and engen-
dering in the sons of God the likeness of God the Father,

^ut.'-. saith in His Gospel, Ye hare heard that it hath been said,

~ "*■ Thou shall love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But

I say nnto you. Love your enemies, and pray for them lohich

])crsccuie you, that ye may be the children of your Father

30

Peace has its palms and croums as icell as persecution. 275

which is in heaven; who maketh His sun to rise on the good
andonthe evil,and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
If to men it is happy and glorious to have children like
them, and it then more pleases them to have begotten them,
when the engraffed progeny reflects its father in answering
lineaments; how much more doth God the Father rejoice,
when a man is spiritually born in such sort, that the divine
nobleness is confessed by his acts and deserts ! What
palm of righteousness, what crown is it, to be such an
one that God says not of you, I have nourished and^^-^-'^-
brought up children, hut they have rebelled against Me;
but rather Christ approves you, and invites you to the
reward, saying. Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit //<eMat.25,
Kingdom which is j^repared for you from the foundation
of the world.

9. By these meditations the mind is to be strengthened,
dearest brethren, by such exercises to be hardened against all
the darts of the Devil, Let divine reading be before the operatic,
eyes, good works in the hands, thoughts of the Lord in
the understanding. Let continual prayer be never inter-
mitted. Let saving works be held on in. Let us be ever
occupied in spiritual acts, that whensoever the Enemy
approaches, however often he may attempt to come, he may
find our breast both closed and armed against him. For
that is not a Christian man s only crown, which is gained in
the time of persecution. Peace too has its crowns, and when
through manifold and multiplied assailance we become con-
querors, and our Adversary is downfallen and subdued, with
such we are crowned. To have subdued lust, is the palm of
continency. To have resisted anger and injuriousness, is the
crown of patience. It is a triumph over avarice, to despise
money. It is the glory of faith, to endure the evil things of
the world, through reliance in the things to come. And he
who is not proud in prosperity, earns glory from his humility.
And he who is disposed to the mercifulness of cherishing the
poor, obtains the recompense of a heavenly treasure. And
he who knows not to be jealous, but with one heart and
with gentleness loves his brcthren,is honoured with the reward
of love and peace. In this race-course of virtues we are
running day by day ; to these palms and crowns of righteous-

T 2

276 Exhortations against envy and malevolence.

Treat, ncss without intermission of time wc come. To these that

XII

— — '- you too may come, who were possessed by jealousy and
illwill, cast away all that malice, by which you before were
held, re-enter anew with saving steps into the path of life
eternal. Pluck out the thorns and thistles from your breast,
that the seed of the Lord may enrich you with a fertile
produce, and the divine and spiritual corn may grow up in
the wealth of a fruitful harvest. Eject the poison of gall, put
from within you the venom of discord; let the mind be
purged, which the serpent's blackness had defiled, and all the
bitterness which had gathered itself within, be softened by
the gentleness of Christ. If you take both your meat and
drink from the sacrament of the Cross, let that wood which
at Mara availed in a figure to give sweetness of taste, in you
in verity avail from giving gentleness to a softened bosom.
You will not toil for a medicine to aid your renewing health ;
there get your cure, where you received your wound. Love
them whom you hated before, be affectionate to them, whom
with unjust detraction you envied. Imitate good men, if
you are able to follow; but if you cannot follow them, at
least be glad and gratulant with men who are better than
yourself Make yourself their partner in oneness of affection,
make yourself coheir in the fellowship of kindness and the
bond of brotherhood. Your debts will be forgiven when you
yourself forgive ; your sacrifices will be accepted, when you
come unto God in peace. Your thoughts and acts will be
divinely guided, when you consider those things which are
Prov.16, divine and righteous ; as it is written. Let the heart of a man
'■"*P'" consider riyhteoim thinr/s, that his steps may he directed by
God. You have indeed many things to consider: consider
Paradise, whither Cain returns not, who through jealousy
slew his brother. Consider the heavenly kingdom, to which
the Lord admits none, but them that are of one heart and of
one mind. Consider that they only can be called the chil-
dren of God, who are peaceable; who in heavenly birth and
by a divine law, are united and respond to the simi-
litude of God the Father and of Christ. Consider that we
are standing beneath the eyes of God; that while Himself
beholds and judges us, we run through the career of our
conversation and living; that then at last we may attain

Exhortations. 277

to the privilege of seeing Him, if when now He sees us,
we please Him in our conduct ; if we present ourselves
worthy of His grace and indulgence ; if we who are to be
accepted in His Kingdom for ever, are accepted first in
this world.

TREATISE Xlll.

EXHORTATION UNTO MARTYRDOM.

ADDRESSED TO FOKTUNATUS.

[It is uncertain whether the following collection of passages from Scrip-
ture was made on occasion of the persecution of (iallus, or of Decius,
or of Valerian ; the earliest date is 252, the latest 25?. Fortunatus was
probably the Bishop of that name who was present at the Council
of Carthage, A. D. 25fi.]

Preface.

Treat. You asked me, most dear Fortunatus, in a season when

^^^^' the load of persecutions and troubles is lying hard upon us,

^jjj and when in the end and conclusion of this world, the hostile

Mipra, time of Anti-Christ is making close its approach, to gather

'\x.2~ exhortations out of the divine Scriptures, for the training and

establishment of the brethren's minds; and thus to hearten the

soldiers of Christ unto their heavenly and spiritual combat. I

needs must obey that so natural request of yours, so far as my

poor powers extend, furnished with the aids of divine inspii'a-

tion ; by drawing forth from the precepts of the Lord, arms as

it were and defences, for brctln*en who are to be in battle.

It is little, that we stimulate God's people by the trumpet

of our voice, unless we uphold the faith of those who

believe, and their courage dedicated and devoted to God, by

divine readings. And what can more suitably or more

fully coincide with my own duty and solicitude, tlian to make

ready by ceaseless exhortations, a congregation divinely to

me intrusted, an army posted in the heavenly camp, against

the weapons and darts of the Devil? A soldier cannot fitly

go to battle, unless he has first acquired his training on the

field ; nor will he who aims at the crown of mastery be

rewarded on the stadium, unless he has made provision

beforehand, for using and ascertaining his strength. It is

Scripture to he committed to each believer to use for himself. 279

an old enemy, an ancient foe, with whom we are waging the
warfare. Six thousand years are now well nigh complete,
since the Devil became the antagonist of man". He has
discovered, in this long process of ages, all the methods of
temptation, all arts and snares whereby we may be over-
thrown. If he find the soldier of Christ unprepared, if
untrained, if unsolicitous, wanting watchfulness of the whole
heart, he ensnares his ignorance, beguiles his unthought-
fiilness, betrays his inexperience. But if any withstand him,
who keeps the instructions of the Lord, and holds himself in
strength unto the steps of Christ, then must he be con-
quered; because Christ, whom we confess, is unconquerable.
That I might not, dearest brother, extend my discourse too
far, and fatigue either the hearer or the reader by the large •
amount of what I write, I have collected my topics together ;
so that placing first the headings, which every one ought to
acquaint himself with and to remember, I subjoin passages
from the Word of the Lord, confirming the proposition I
have laid down, by the authority of divine Scripture; and
thus I may be thought, not so much to have sent you a
Treatise of my own, as to supply others with the means of
making one. Individuals will find increased advantages
ensuing from this. If I were to give to any man a garment
finished and made, it would but be my garment which
another was wearing; and having been made for me,
without respect to the proportions of his stature and make,
he might find it less suitable for him. But now, I am
sending you the very wool and the purple, from the Lamb by
whom we were redeemed and made alive; and when you
receive it, you will fashion for yourself a coat to your plea-
sure, finding contentment in it the rather, as being a garment
personally and privately your own ; and you will also place
what we have sent before the view of others, that they too
may finish it according to their choice, and covering that
their old nakedness, may all appear in Christ's garments, robed

a The belief that the world would Hilar, in Matth. c. 17. §.2. Hieron. in

last only 6000 years seems to have Psalm SiJ, (90.) ad Cyprian. Ep. 140. Ed.

come from the Jews, and that Christ's Vallars. Augustin (Civ. Dei, xx. 7.)

eoming was in the sixth thousand from favours it, but elsewhere (in Ps. 89. §. 5.)

the dat«s in the Septuagint version, vid. condemns it. Ambros. in Luc. \\i, 7.

Pseudo-Justin. Qutest. 71. Iren. Haer. seems to dissent also.
V. c. 28. §. 3. Lactant. Instit. vii. 14.

280 Martyrdom a second or greater Baptism.

Treat, ill the sanctification of heavenly grace. And I have consi-
^^^^- dered, dearest brother, another rule to be useful and salutary ;
in an exhortation so serious as one which invites men to be
Martyrs, we must cut short all delay and loitering in our words,
and put away the elaborateness of human discourse ; those
things only must be named, which God speaks, by which
Christ stirs up His servants unto Martyrdom. The divine
precepts themselves must be handed like arms to the combatants.
Let these be notes of the martial trumpet, these the combatants'
war-blast. By tliem let the ear be startled, let the mind be
put in readiness, let the powers both of soul and body be
hardened to all endurance of suffering. Be it for us only*",
who by the Lord's permission, have given believers the fust
baptism, to train men to the next also, possessing them with
the lesson, that this Baptism is in grace more great, in power
more sublime, in dignity more precious; the Baptism with
which Angels baptize; the Baptism in which God and His
Christ rejoice; the Baptism after which none sins more; the
Baptism which completes the growth of our faith ; the
Baptism which withdrawing us from the world, forthwith
conjoins us to God. In Baptism of water is obtained
remission of .sins; in that of blood, the crown of virtues. It
is the thing which we are to embrace and to long for, and to
entreat in all the earnestness of our supplications, that being
God's servants, we may become His friends.

Heads of the folloiving Book.

Whei'efore, in exhorting and training our bretlu'cn, to
utter forth their confession of the Lord in firnuiess of virtue
and faith, and in arming them for the battle of persecution
and passion, we must in the first place atfinn, 1 . that those Idols
are no Gods, which man makes for himself. Things which
are made, cannot be greater than their maker and artificer ;
nor can they protect or preserve any man, which themselves
perish from out of their Temples, unless man keep charge of
Ihem. And again that the elements are not to be worshijjped

»» " Baptism formerly wa.'; not admi- iiacans, §. 8. Hence there was a Bap-
nistered except by order of the Bishop, tistery only in the Church iu which he
Tid. S. Iguiitius's Epistle to the Smyr- had his seat." Fell in loc.

Heads of the following book. 281

in the place of Gods, which serve man according to the
disposition and commandment of God.

Having put down Idols, and manifested the truth concern-
ing the elements, we are to shew, 2. that the Lord alone is to
be worshipped.

We must next add, 3. what is the commination of God
against them, who sacrifice to Idols.

Further we must shew, 4. that God doth not readily pardon
idolaters ; 5, and that God is so wrathful against idolatry,
that He hath even commanded them to be killed, who entice
to offer sacrifice and serve Idols.

It must be added after this, 6. that having been redeemed
and made alive by the blood of Christ, we ought to account
of nothing before Christ, because neither did He account of
any thing before us ; preferring for our sakes, evil things to
good, poverty to riches, servitude to dominion, death to im-
mortality. That we on the other hand, when we are in our
sufferings, are giving preference to the riches and delights of
Paradise over jDoverty in this world ; to dominion and an eternal
kingdom, over the slavery of the present time ; to immortality
over death, to God and Christ, over the Devil and Anti-Christ.

It must be conveyed also, 7. that they who have been
snatched from the jaws of the Devil, and set free from the
chains of this world, if they find themselves in straits and
tribulations, must not suffer themselves to lapse back to the
world, and lose what they have become.

8. Rather, that we must press on in faith and virtue, and in
the perfecting of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may
be able to attain unto the palm and crown.

9. For that tribulations and persecutions come to pass, to
the end we may be proved.

10. Neither are injuries, and pains of persecution to be
dreaded ; for greater is the Lord to protect, than the Devil to
assail.

And that no man may be affrighted and troubled at
the tribulations and persecutions which we suffer in this
world, we must shew, H. that it was before prophesied, that
the world would hold us in hatred, and would stir up
persecutions against us, and that by the event of these things
coming to pass, the truth of the divine promise is displayed.

282 Idols are no r/ods, dements not to be worshipped.

TiiEAT. in respect of recompenses and rewards hereafter to follow.

'- And tliat no new thing is befalling Christians, since from the

beginning of the world the good have been sufferers, and
righteous men oppressed and slain by the unrighteous.

It must be laid down in the last place, 12. what hope and
what reward awaits the righteous and the Martyrs, after the
conflicts and passions of this present time. And that we
shall receive more in the recompensing of our passion, than
what we endure in our very passion here.

1. That those Idols are no Gods, which man makes for
himself; and that neither are the elements to be worshipped
in the place of Gods, which serve man according to the
disposition and commandment of God.
Ps. 134, It is shewn in the hundred and thirteenth Psalm; The
15_I8 1(^1^ of the heathen are silver and gold, the icork of men's
Ps. \\^, hands; they have mouths, and speak not; eyes have they, aiid
\_%[ they see not ; they have ears, and hear not, neither is there
breath in their months. Let tliem that make them become
Wisd. like unto them. Likewise in the Wisdom of Solomon ; They
17' counted all the Idols of the heathen to be Gods: tvhich neither
have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears
to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle; and as for their feet,
they are slow to go. For man made them, and he that
borrowed his oivn spirit fashioned them : but no man can
make a God like unto himself. For being mortal, he worketh
a dead thing ivith wicked hands; for he himself is better than
the things which he worsldppeth ; whereas he lived once, but
Ex.lOA-they never. Likewise in Exodus; Thou shall not make unto
thee an Idol, neither the likeness of any thing. Likewise in
Wisd. Solomon concerning the elements; Neither by considering
' 'the 7Corks 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 the Gods which govern the earth. On account of whose
beauty if they thought this, let them knoto how much more
beautiful is their Lord than they ; or if they admired their
powers and operations, let them understand by them,

God alone to he loorshipped ; He threatens idolaters. 283

tluit He that made these miglUy tldngsy is mightier than
they.

2. That the Lord alone is to be worshipped.

It is written in Deuteronomy, Thou shalt u-orship the Deut. 6,
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve. Likewise in ^q" '
Exodus ; Thou shalt have no other Gods besides Me. Like- Ex.20,3.
wise in Deuteronomy; /See that I ant He; and there is 7?oDeut.32,
God besides Me; I will kill, and I will make to live; icill
wound, and I will heal; neither is there any that can deliver
out of My hands. Likewise in the Apocalypse ; And I saiv Rev. 14,
another Angel Jly in the midst of heaven, having the ever-
lasting Gospel, to preach over the earth, and over all nations,
and kindreds, and tongues, and people ; saying uith 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 the Gospel makes mention of the first and
second commandment, saying, Hear, O Israel ; The Lord thy Marki2,
God is one God; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God «<^"'^/' Mau22
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; 37—40.
this is the first ; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments
hangeth all the Law and the Prophets. And again; And Johnll,
this is life eternal, that they may know Thee the only and
true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.

3, The commination of God against them who sacrifice to
Idols.

In Exodus; He that sacrificeth unto Gods, save unto the Ex. 22,
I^ord only, shall be utterly destroyed. Likewise in Deute-
ronomy ; They sacrificed unto Devils, and not unto God. Deut.
Likewise in Isaiah ; They worshipped Gods, whom their fin- Xs,2,8.9.
gers have made, and the man was bowed down, and the great
man humbled himself, and I will not forgive them. And
again; Unto them ye have 2iOiired drink offerings, and untois.67,6.
them ye have offered meat offerings. For these therefore shall
I not be provoked to anger, sailh the Lord. Likewise in
Jeremiah; Walk ye not after other Gods to serve them, and Jer.l, 6.
tvorship them not, and provoke Me not in the uorks of your
hands to destroy you. Likewise in the Apocalypse ; //' any Rev. 14,
man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark^—^'^'

284 He does not readili/ pardon them; haseven ordered them tohekiUed.

Treat, fn ///.<? forehead, and in his hand, he also shall drink of the
■ wine of the xvrath of God, tthich is mixed in the cup 0/ His

nrath, and shall he punished tcith 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 doth not readily pardon idolaters.

Moses in Exodus prays and obtains not for the people;

F,x. 32, / beseech Thee, O Lord, he saith, this people hath sinned a
great sin ; they have made them Gods of gold. And
now, if Tliou forgivest them the sin, forgive it ; but if not,
blot me out of the book which Thou hast written. And the
Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me,
him will I blot out of My book. Likewise when Jeremiah
entreated for the people, the Lord spoke unto him, saying,

Jer. 7, And ])ray not thou for this people, and beseech not for them
in prayer and entreaty; because I will not hear, in the time
wherein they shall call upon Me, in the time of tJieir affiiction.
Ezekiel also denounces this same wrath of God, against

Ezek.i4,thera who commit sin against God; And the word of the

^2—14. Xorc?, he sdXi\\,camc unto me, saying, So?i of man, whatsoever
land sin neth against Me, by committing a siyi, I will stretch
out Mine hand upon it, and will crush the sustenance of
bread, and will send famine upon it, and will take man and
beast away from it; and though these three men be in the
midst of it, Noe, Daniel, and Job, they shall not deliver sons
nor daughters, themselves only shall be delivered. Likewise

lSam.2, in the first of Kings; If one man offend by sin against
another, they shall intreat the Lord for him ; but if a man
sin against God, who shall intreat for him ?

5. That God is so wrathful against idolatry, that He hath
even commanded them to be killed, who entice to offer sacri-
fice and serve idols.

Deut. In Deuteronomy; But if thy brother, or thy son, or thy
10.' ~ daughter, or thy wife which is in thy bosom, or thy friend,
which is as thine own soul, ask thee secretly, saying, Let ns
go and serve other Gods, Gods of the Gentiles, thou shall not
consent unto him, and thou shall not hearken unto him,
neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shall thou conceal

If God of old bade kill such, let us be killed rather than be such. 285

him; declaring thou shall declare him; thine hand shall he
upon him^ first 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, though one and all in it consent in idolatry;
Or if thou shall hear say in one of the cities, which the Lord thy Deut.
God shall give thee to dwell there, saying. Let us go arul^^'^ ~
serve other Gods, which thou hast not known ; thou shall
enquire diligently, and if thou shall find that that is certain
tvhich is said, slaying thou shall kill all which are in the city
with the slaughter of the sword, and thou shall burn with fire
that city, and it shall be without habitation for ever. It shall
not be built again evermore, that the Lord may be turned
from the fierceness of His anger. And He shall shew thee
mercy, and have compassiori upon thee, and multiply thee, if
thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep
His commandments. In remembrance of which strict com-
mandment, Mattathias slew him who had come to the altar to iiviac.2,
sacrifice. But if before the coming of Christ these command- ^^'
ments were kept concerning the worship of God, and the
spurning of idols, how much more are they to be kept, since
Christ's coming ! since He, when He came, not by words
alone exhorted us, but by deeds also, who after all
injuries and insults, likewise suffered and was crucified, that
He might teach us to suffer and die, after His example ; so
that man has no excuse in not suffering for Him, since He
suffered for us, and whereas He suffered for the sins of others,
much more ought each to be ready to bear suffering on
account of his own sins. For this cause in the Gospel Ho
utters threat, and says, Whosoever shall confess Me before mm.io,
men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in^'^'^^'
heaven; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I
also deny before My Father ichich is in heaven. Likewise
the Apostle Paul ; For if we be dead with Him, we shall also 2T\m. i
live with Him ; if we sujfer, we shall also reign with Him; 11-12.
if we deny Him, He also will deny us. Likewise John;
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father ; \Jq-^^2
he that acknouledgeth the Son, hath both the Son and fhe'^^-
Father. Wherefore the Lord exhorts and stablishes us unto

286 Tjct m set nothing before Christ, for He set nothing before us.

Thkat. contempt of death, saying, Fear not them which kill the body.,

Jl • but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him, which

28. ' w able to destroy the soul and body in hell. And again ; He
.lohn 12, fff^jf lQf.f.f/, /lif. liff, _^j,(iii i()f;(, if . ff„fi ffg tJifit hateth his life in

this world, shall keep it unto life eternal.

6. That having been redeemed and made alive by the blood
of Christ, we ought to account of nothing before Christ,
because neither did He account of any thing before us.
Mai. 10, In the Gospel the Lord speaks, saying. He that love/h
37.38. jo^f/fgy fjf. mother more than Me, is not tcorlhy 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 foil oireth after Ale, is
Deut. not wortliy of Me. So also it is written in Deuteronomy ; Who
^^' ^- say unto their father and mother, I have not known thee,
and have tiot ackno7fledgcd their o?cn cliildren ; these have
observed TJiy precepts and kept Thy Covenant. Likewise the
Eom. 8, Apostle Paul ; Who shall separate ics, saith he, from the love
35—37. ^ Christ ? Tribulation, or distress, or pe7'secution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is tcriften, For Thy
sake ice are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter; nay, in all these tilings we conquer,
\CoT.6,through Him that loved tis. And again; Ye are not your
^^' own, for ye are bought tcith a great price ; glorify and carry
2 Cot. 5, God ill your body. And again; He died for all, that both
^*' they which live may not henceforth live unto themselves, but
unto Him nhich died for them, and rose again.
' 7. That they who have been snatched from the jaws of
the Devil, and set free from the chains of this world, if they
find themselves in straits and tribulations, must not suffer
themselves to lapse back to the world, and lose what they have
become.

In Exodus, the people of the Jews, prefigured after the
shadow and image of our people, after that, under God its
guardian and avenger, it had escaped the most hard slavery
of Pharaoh and of Egypt, that is, of the Devil and of the
world; unbelieving and unthankful to Godward, murmurs
against Moses, in thought of the hardships of the desert and
of their toil ; and not understanding the divine gifts of liberty
and salvation, seeks to return to that slavery of Egypt, that
is, of the world, which it had been rid of; when rather it

We who are redeemed must not lapse, but must press on to our crown, 287

ought to have placed trust and belief in God, since He who
delivers His people from the Devil an^ the world, protects
whom He has delivered. Wherefore hast thou thus r/ert/^Kx. 14,
with us, they say, in indting us forth out of Egypt? It had
been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that ice should
die in this u-ilderness. And Moses said unto the people.
Have trust, and stand, and see the salvation of the Lord,
which He will do to you to-day ; the Lord Himself shall
fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. The Lord
counselling" us hereof in His Gospel, and warning us against
returning again to the Devil and to the world which we have
renounced, and from which we have come out, says, No man Luke 9,
looking back, and having put his hand to the plough, is fit "'
for the kingdom of God. And again; And he that is in #AeLukel7,

' • • ' • 31 32

field, let him not return back ; Heniember LoCs icife. And *
that no man, from any lust of these things, or fondness for
his own, become slackened in his following of Christ, He
saith further, He that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot Lukei4,
be My disciple.

8. That we must press on in faith and virtue, and in the
perfecting of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may be
able to attain unto the palm and crown.

In Chronicles ; The Lord is with you, while ye also be with 2 Chron.
Him. But if ye forsake Him, He icill forsake you. Like- ' '
wise in Ezekiel; The righteousness of the righteous shall wo^Ezek.33,
deliver him, in whatsoever day he shall transgress. Likewise
in the Gospel the Lord speaks and says, He that endureth Mat. lo,
to the end, the same shall be saved. And again; If ye io\xnQ
continue in My word, ye are My disciples indeed; and ye 31. 32.
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Forewarning us also that we ought always to be prepared,
and to stand fast, girt up in readiness. He further saith; Zef Lukel2,
your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye ~ '
yourselves like unto men, that wait for their Lord, when He
will return from the wedding ; that ichen He cometh and
knocketh, they may open unto Him. Blessed are those
servants, tchom their Lord when He cometh shall find zcatcli-
ing. Likewise the blessed Apostle Paul, that our faith may make
progress, and increase, and attain unto the highest things,
exhorts saying. Know ye not, that they which run in a race, i Cor.9,

288 Tribulations and jjersecutions are sent that we may he proved.

TnvAT. run indeed all, but one receiveth the prize'? So run, that yc
may obtain; for every one that striveth for the mastery

is temperate in all thinys. And they indeed do it to obtain a
2Tim.2. corruptible crown, but ye a}i incorruptible. And again; No
'*• ^' man that war ret h for God, entangleth himself with troubles
of this world, that he may be able to please Him, to whom he
hath approved himself But if a man also strive for masteries,
yet he is not crowned, except hejiyht lawfully. And again ;
Rom.V2, But I beseech you, brethren, by the iuercy of God, that ye
1.2. 2)rcsent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God; and be not conformed to this world; but be ye trans-
formed by the reneiviny of the Spirit, that ye may prove what
is that good and acceptable and perfect ivill of God. And
Rom. 8, attain ; IVe are the children of God; and if children then

1 fi 1 7 • .

heirs; heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs ivith Christ ; if
we suffer together, that we may be also glorified together. In
the Apocalypse tlie same exhortation of divine preaching

Rev. 3, speaks, saying, Hold that which thou hast, that another take
not thy crown. This example of perseverance and persisting
is delineated in Exodus, where Moses, that he might over-
come Amalek, who bare the type of the Devil, raised his
outspread hands, in the sign and sacrament of the Cross '. Nor
could he conquer the adversary, until that he persevered

Ex. 17, stedfastly, in lifting his hands without break in that sign. And

it came to pass, he says, when Moses held up his hands,

Israel prevailed; but when he had let down his hands,

Amalek grew strong. And they took a stone, and put it

under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hiir stayed

up his hands, on the one side, and on the other side ; and

Moses' hands were made steady, until the going dotcn of the

sun. And Jesus discomfited Amalek, and all his people.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this, that it may he

, a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Jesus;

for in destroying I will destroy the memory of Amalek from

under heaven.

9. That tribulations and persecutions come to pass, to the

end we may be proved.

Deut. In Deuteronomy; The Lord your God provetk you, to
13, 3.

' The same interpretation is given by (Quajst. in Exod. 34.) &c.
S. Justin, (Tryph. 111.) Theodoret,

Persecutionnottobedi'eaded,f 07- God ii>f/reaterthanourenemy. 289

knoro whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your strength. And again
in Solomon; The furnace proveth the •potter'' s vessels; and^'cc]\is.
just men the trial of tribulation. Paul likewise witnesses '
and speaks like things; We rejoice in hope of the glory o/"Rom. 5,
God; and not only so, but we glory in tribidations also,
knoicing that tribulation worketh patience, and jmtience
experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not
ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. And
Peter in his Epistle lays it down and says, Beloved, be not i Pet. 4,
surprised at the fiery heat that falleth upon you, ivhich is for ~
a trial unto you; and fail not, as though some strange tiling
happened unto you ; but rejoice iti all things, as often as ye
partake in Christ^s sufferings, that when His glory shall be
revealed, ye may rejoice with gladness. If ye be reproached
for the Name of Christ, happy are ye; because the Name of
the majesty and poicer of the Lord resteth upon you; which
indeed according to them is evil spoken of, but according
to us is glorified.

10. That injuries and pains of persecution are not to be
dreaded ; because greater is the Lord to protect, than the
Devil to assail.

John in his Epistle gives proof, saying, Greater is He i John
that is in you, than he that is in this trorld. Likewise in ' '
the hundred and seventeenth Psalm; / tcill not fear whatPs. 117,
man may do unto me; the Lord is my helper. And again ;'^ ^
These in chariots and these in horses, but we will glory in the Ps. 19.

r201 7

Name of the Lord our God. TJieir feet are shackled, and\ -■
they are fallen ; but we are risen and stand upright. And
the Holy Ghost yet more strongly teaching and shewing,
that the host of the Devil is not to be dreaded, and that if the
enemy declare war against us, rather our hope stands in
that war itself, and that by such a combat the righteous attain
to the reward of the abode of God, and of eternal salvation,
doth in the twenty-sixth Psalm set forth and say, Though an p^ 26,
host were set in array against me, my Jieart shall not be^^"^^^'
afraid; and though there rose up war against me, in it will
F pjit my hope. One desire have I desired of the Lord, this
will [require; that I may divell in the house of the Lord all

u

290 God's omnipotence in giving boiinded only by f ait hinreceiving.

\RT.M.t/ie days of my life. Likewise in Exodus divine Scripture
-liliil declares, that by tribulations we are rather multiplied and
F.x. 1.1 2. increased; thus saying, And the more they afflicted them, the
more they multiplied and grew. And in the Apocalypse the
Rev. 2, divine protection is promised in our suflerings; Fear none of
'^' tlioae things, saith he, which thou shall suffer. Nor doth any
other promise to us security and protection, than He, who by
Is. 43. Esaias the Prophet speaks and says, Fear not, for I have
* redeemed thee, and called thee hy 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 tlirougk
the fire, thou shall not be burned, and the flame shall not
burn thee; for I the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
am He that maketh thee safe. Who in the Gospel also
promises that divine aid shall not be wanting to the servants
Mat. 10, of God, in persecutions, thus saying, But when they 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 that speak, but the Spirit of your Father ivhich
Lvi]i.e2\, speakefh in you. And again; Settle it in your hearts, not to
meditate before what ye shall make answer; for I will give
you a mouth and icisdom, which your adversaries shall not be
able to resist. Even as in Exodus to Moses delaying and
Ex. 4, fearing to go to the people, God speaks thus, saying, Who
■ *" hath given a mouth to man? or who maketh stammering,
and deaf? and who the seeing and the blind? Have not I
the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will open thy mouth,
and teach thee what thou shall say. Nor is it a hard thing
for God to open the mouth of a man devoted to Himself, and
to inspire constancy and boldness of speech into His con-
fessor, who in Numbers made even a she-ass to speak, against
the Prophet Balaam. Wherefore in persecutions let none
take thought what peril the Devil threatens, but verily let him
consider, what aid God gives; let not human assailance
weaken the mind, but let God's protection make reliance
strong; since every man according to the promises of the
Lord, and the merits of his faith, so much receives from the
aid of God, as he believes himself to receive; nor can the
Almighty be unable to grant, except the faith of the receiver
be sicklv and fail.

Persecution no new thing. 201

11. That it was before prophesied, that the world would
hold us in hatred, and would stir up persecutions against us;
and that no new thing is befalling Christians, since from the
beginning of the world, the good have been sufferers, and
righteous men oppressed and slain by the unrighteous.

The Lord in the Gospel forewarns and foredeclares, saying,
// the world hate you, knoiv that it hated Me first . If ?/e.Tohni5,
ivere of the world, the world would love what tvas its oicn ;
but because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you
out of the tcorld, therefore the ivorld hateth you. Remember
the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than
his lord: if they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute
you. And again ; TJie hour will come, that whosoever killeth John 16,
you, will think that he doeth God service. But this ivill they^~ ^'
do, because they have not known the Father nor Me. But
these things have I told yon, that when the hour shall come,
ye may have them in rememhrance, that I told you of them.
And again ; Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall iveep joim 16.
and lament, but the ivorld shall rejoice: ye shall be sorronful, ^^•
but your sorroia shall be turned into joy. And again ; These john itJ,
things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye may have peace; ^^•
but in the world ye shall have tribidation ; yet be of good
cheer, because I have overcome the world. And when He was
asked by His Disciples, concerning the sign of His coming
and of the end of the world. He answered and said, Take Mat. 24,
heed that no man 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 come to pass, but
the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom ; and there shall be famines and
earthquakes and pestilences, in all j)laces ; but these thifigs
are the beginnings of travails. Tlten shall they deliver you
up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated
of all nations, for My Nai7ie\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
deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the lore
of many shall wax cold ; but he that shall endure unto the
end, the same shall be saved. And this Gospel of the Kingdom

u 2

'29-2 The just have ever suffered persecution.

Treat, shall be preached in all the world, for a wittiess to all nations;
-^^HL and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see
the ahominaiion of desolation , spoken of by Daniel the Prophet,
standing in the holy place, {tchoso readeth, let him under-
stand,) then let them uhich be in Jiid<ea flee into the moun-
tains ; and let hint tihich is in the housetops not come doitn
to take any thing out of the house ; and let him which is in
the field, not return back to take away his clothes. But woe
imto them that are ivith child, and to them that give suck in
those days. But pray ye, that your flight be not in winter,
neither on the Sahbath-day. For there shall be great tribu-
lation, such as was not since the beginning of the world unto
this time, neither shall be ,• and except those days should be
shortened, there should no flesh be saved ; but for the elecfs
sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall
say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or Lo, there ; believe it not. For
there shall arise fcdse Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs, and wonders, to dedeive, if it were possible,
the very elect. But take ye heed; behold, I have told you cdl
things before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold,
He is in the desert, go not forth ; behold. He is in the secret
chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the
east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of
the Son of Man be. Wheresoever the carcase is, thither will
the eagles be gathered together. But immediately after the
tribidation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and
all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they 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 ends of heaven even unto the utmost
points thereof. Neither are those new or sudden things,
which are now befalling Christians, seeing that the good
and righteous, who are dedicated to God in the law of
innocency and the fear of tnie religion, ever walk in the
difficulty of a narrow path, amid tribulations and injuries,
and the heavy and manifold endurances of hatred exercised

Abel, Joseph, David, JELias, Zecharias, Three Children. '293

against them. Thus in the immediate beginning of the world,
righteous Abel the first was killed by his brother, and Jacob
exiled, and Joseph sold ; King Saul persecuted the tender-
hearted David,and King Ahab endeavoured to oppress Elias,who
constantly and bravely asserted the majesty of God ; Zecharias
the Priest was slain between the Temple and the altar, him-
self made a victim in that place, where he was wont to offer
up victims to God. So many martyrdoms of the righteous
have in truth been celebrated, so many examples of faith and
virtue have been set forth unto the times to come. The three
children, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, in age compeers, in love
concordant, in faith stedfast, in virtue constant, stronger
than the flames and pains that pressed them, cry out and say,
that God alone they serve, alone know, alone worship ; King Dan. 3,
Nahuchddonosor, we have not need to answer thee concerning ~ '
this matter. For the God nhom we serve is able to deliver us
out of the burning Jiery furnace ; and He tcill deliver us out
of thine hands, O King. And if not, be it known unto thee,
that ive serve not thy Gods, and worship not the golden image
tvhich thou hast set up. And Daniel devoted to God, and
full of the Holy Ghost, exclaims and says, / icorship nothing Bel and
but the Lord my God,whohathcreatedtheheavenand the earth, o^n ver!
Tobias also though under regal and tyrannical servitude, yet ^•
in thought and spirit free, holds fast his confession unto God,
and sublimely preaches the virtue and majesty of God, thus
saying; In the land of my captivity do I confess to Him, and ^(^^'^^
declare His might in a sinful nation. And what read we in the
Maccabees, of seven brethren, compeers alike in birth and vid.supr.
virtues, and filling up the number seven, by the sacrament of
a full perfection ? Seven brethren, conjoined so in martyr-
dom, as the first seven days in the divine appointment, having vid.supr.
in them seven thousands of years ; as the seven Spirits and ^'''^*"^'*^-
the seven Angels, which stand and go in and out before the
face of God; and the seven-fold lamps in the Tabernacle of
witness ; and seven golden candlesticks in the Apocalypse ;
and the seven columns in Solomon, upon which Wisdom
builded her house ; equally here were there brethren in
number seven, embracing in the amount 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,

•20 i Antiochus a figure of Antichrist.

Tiu. AT. seven women lay liolcl on one man, whose name they desire
-iiilL to be invoked upon them ; and the Apostle Paul, who makes
mention of this appointed and fixed number, sent Epistles to
seven Churches. And in the Apocalypse, the Lord directs
His divine commands and heavenly instructions to seven
Churches, and to their Angels, the number which here is
found in the brethren, that so a designed appointment might
have its fulness. To the seven children there evidently is
conjoined also, their Mother, the origin and root ; which
Petram afterwards bare seven Churches, herself having been founded
Fell. Pe- first and alone, by the voice of the Lord, upon a Rock. Nor
BaZ'z. is it nothing, that in their passions, the INIother only is with
viti. su iier children ; for Martyrs who attest themselves the sons of
iSA.mte.Godi in passion, are now no more accounted as from any
Father but God ; as in the Gospel the Lord teaches, saying,
Mat. 23, ^'^^^ «o man your FatJier upon the earth, for One is your
^' Father, which is in heaven. But what outspeakings of con-

fession did they utter forth ! how glorious, how great mani-
festations of faith did they yield ! The king Antiochus their
enemy, yea in Antiochus Antichrist figured, sought to defile
with the contamination of swine's flesh the mouths of Martyrs
glorious and unconquered in the spirit of Confession, and
when he had heavily scourged them with rods, and could
prevail nothing, commanded iron plates to be made hot ;
these having been heated and surrounded with fire, he ordered
him who had spoken first, and who had rather provoked the
king by the constancy of virtue and faith, to be brought nigh
and scathed, that tongue having first been pulled out and cut
off, which had been making confession of God ; which fell
the more gloriously to the Martyr; for the tongue which
confessed the Name of God ought itself the first unto God to
depart. Next in the second more poignant pains having
been invented, before torturing his other members, he pulled
off' the skin of his head with the hair, in hatred which had a
meaning. For since Christ is the head of the man, and God
the head of Christ, he who lacerated a Martyr's head, in his
head dealt persecution against God and Christ. But he
being of good cheer in his Martyrdom, and promising
himself the reward of resurrection from God's repayment,
•2Mac.7, exclaimed and said, Thou indeed furiously destroyest us out

Sufferings of the Maccahees. 295

of this present life ; hut the King of the icorld shall raise us
tip, ivho have died for His la/cs, unto the resurrection of life
for ever. The third when he was required put out his tongue
soon; for he had now learnt from his brother to despise the
pain of his tongue being cut out ; his hands too he courage-
ously held out to be cut off, greatly blessed in such a manner
of penalty, to whom belonged in the stretching forth of his
hands for punishment, to imitate the form of the Lord's
passion. Moreover also the fourth with equal bravery
despising torments, and smiting down the king by the answer
of his heavenly voice, exclaimed and said, It is better, heing -im^cJ ,
put to death by men, to look for hope from God to he raised l'**
U2} again by Him ; for to thee there shall be no resurrection
to life. The fifth, besides that he trampled by strength of
faith upon the bloodshedding of the king, and his hard and
manifold torments, animated too by the Spirit of Divinity
to the foreknowledge and acquaintance of future things,
prophesied to the king the kindled wrath of God, and the
vengeance that should speedily follow ; Having poicer over 2Mac.7,
men, said he, though thou beest corruptihle, thou doest nhat
thou wilt. Yet think not that our nation is forsaken of God.
Abide, and behold His great porver, how He will torment thee
and thy seed. What aiding was this to the Martyr, hoWyj^. xi.
great a comfort, in his sufferings to be thinking not of his own '^» i^-
torments, but to be uttering forth the penalties of his torturer !
But in the sixth, not his bravery alone, but his humility is
likewise to be commemorated. Nothing to himself did the
Martyr claim, vaunted not the honour of his confession in
words of pride, rather to his own sins ascribed it, that
he suffered persecution from the king ; but made it of
God, that he should be avenged afterward. He taught
that Martyrs are modest, are confident that they will be
avenged, but make no vaunting in their passion; Be not, 2Mdc.7,
said he, deceived without cause, for we suffer these things '"•
for ourselves, having sinned against our God. But think not
thou that thou shall escape unpunished, having taken in
hand to strive against God. The admirable Mother also, who,
unbroken by weakness of her sex, and unmoved in the multi- ,

tude of her bereavement, was the cheerful spectator of her
dying children, counting it not punishment in her dear ones,

296 The conduct of their Mother.

Treat, but glory, and giving as great testimony to God in the
^^^^- courage of her eyes, as her sons gave in the tortures and
sufferings of their limbs; when after six had been punished
and slain, one remained of the brethren, to whom the king gave
offer of riches and dominion, and many things, that his cruel
and savage nature might be refreshed with the satisfaction
of gaining conquest over this one, and claimed of the Mother,
to make entreaty of her son, that so both might fall away
together, — she did indeed make entreaty, but as became a
Mother of Martyrs, as became one, whose thoughts were
toward the law and toward God; as became one, whose love
for her children was severe rather than indulgent. She made
entreaty to him, but it was, that he would confess God ; she
made entreaty, that a brother would not part from his brethren,
in the fellowship of praise and glory; then only accounting
herself the Mother of seven sons, when it became her lot to
have borae seven sons, not to this world, but to God. Aiming
him and strengthening him therefore, and bearing her son

2i\iac.7,now by a happier birth, My son, she said, have j^ it y upon me,
that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck
three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto
this aye. I beseech thee, my son, look upon the heaven and
the earth, and having beheld all things that are therein, con-
sider that God made them of things that tcere not, and the
race of man likewise. So shall it be, that thou /ear not this
tormentor, but being worthy of thy brethren take thy death,
that in the same mercy uith them, I may receive thee again
together with thy brethren. Great was the Mother's praise
in her exhortation unto valour; greater in her fear of God,
and truth of faith, in that she claimed nothing for herself and

viJ supr. ^^^ '"^°"' ^y reason of the honour of six Martyrs, neither thought

vi. 12. that the prayer of his brethren would avail to save him, had he
made denial ; rather she persuaded him to be partaker of
their passions, 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 any thing else befitting,
than that she who had given birth to Martyrs, and made
them, should be joined with them in the fellowship of glory ;
and that whom she had sent up to God, herself should follow.
And that none embrace the unrighteous boon of deceivers,

Instance of Eleazar. 297

when the occasion of being dishonest is offered him, through
certificate or any other means, let Eleazar too be named, who,in,eiii
when means were offered him by the ministers of the king, ^'^- *"•
by bringing flesh which it was lawful for him to eat, of
pretending, (that so the king might be deceived,) to eat what
was proffered from among sacrifices and unlawful food; re-
fused to consent in this deception, saying, that it became
neither his age, nor his noble station, to pretend a thing, by
which others would be offended, and drawn into error, think-
ing that Eleazar, being ninety years old, had gone into the
manner of strange men, leaving and betraying the law of
God : and that it was not worth while to make gain of the
brief moments of life, and thereby incur the eternal penalties
of an offended God. And he having been long tormented,
and now in extremity, while dying amid stripes and tortures,
groaned and said, O Lord, that hast the holy knowledge, it 2Mac.6,
is manifest, that ivhereas I vnight he delivered from, death, /'^"•
endure most sore pains in body, by being beaten ivith stripes ;
hut in soul, because I fear Thee, I am well content to suffer
these things. Of a surety, his sincere faith, and virtue perfect
and fully pure, had no thought for King Antiochus, but for
God the Judge ; and knew that it could not profit him for
salvation, if he played deception with man, since God, who
is Judge of our conscience, and is only to be feared, can never
be sported with, nor deceived. If then we likewise live devoted
and surrendered to God, and take our path on the ancient and
holy footsteps of the righteous, let us go on through the
evidences of suffering, the same testimonies of passion, herein
accounting the glory of these days the greater, that while the
number of those former examples may be reckoned, Christian
Martyrs, in their mounting abundance of virtue and faith, are
without number; as the Apocalypse bears witness, and says.
After these things I beheld a great multitude, which no man j^^^ 7^
cotild number, of every nation, and of every kindred, and^—^^-
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 r^oice,
Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the iMinb. And one of the Elders answered, saying
unto me, Who are those which are arrayed in white robes,

298 The hope of the righteous.

The AT. and whence come they? Arid I said unto him, My Lord,
J^IIi" thou knowest; and he said unto me. These are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Ttterefore
are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and
night in His temple. But if the assemblage of the Christian
Martyrs is shewn and proved to be so great, let no man
think it a difficult or arduous thing to become a Martyr,
when he sees that the multitude of Martyrs cannot be num-
bered.

12. What hope and reward awaits the righteous and
the Martyrs, after the conflicts and passions of this present
time.

By Solomon, the Holy Spirit hath shewn and forecautioned
Wisd.3, us, saying, A?id though they suffered torments in the sight of
4—8. jfien^ their hope is full of immortality. And having been in
few things chastised, they shall be in many rewarded, for God
tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold
in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as
whole burnt offering ; and in its season their visitation icill
be. They shall Judge the nations, and have domitiioti over
the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. Likewise in
the same our avenging is described, and the repentance of
Wisd. 6, them that persecute and assail us is declared. Then, he
^— ^- saith, shall the righteous stand in great boldness before such
as have afflicted them, and put to nouc/Jit their labours; when
they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and
shall be amazed at the strangeness of their unexpected
salvation, saying among themselves in repentance, and groan-
ing for anguish of spirit. These are they, whom we had
sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach. 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! Therefore have we erred
from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath
not shincd unto us; and the sun rose not upon us. We have
been wearied in the way of wickedness and perdition, and
have gone through hard deserts, and have not known the way
of the Lord. What hath pride profited us? or what hath
the vaunting of riches brought us? All those things arc

Of Martyrs whether in deed or in will. 299

passed away like a shadow. Likewise in the hundred and
fifteenth Psalm the pi'ice and reward of passion is manifested ;
Precious, he says, in the sight of the Lord, is the death ofpg_ us
His Saints. Likewise in the hundred and twenty-fifth t 'J ^J
Psahn, the sadness of conflict and the joy of repayment is
expressed; They, he says, that sow in tears, shall reap in Ps. 125,
joy. Walking they walked and wept, casting their seeds ; ^^'^^} ^'
but coming they shall eome with rejoicing, hearing their
sheaves. And again in the hundred and eighteenth Psahn ;
Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way, and thatv%. 11 8,
loalk in tlie law of the Lord. Blessed are they that search \}^^^ '•
His testimonies, that seek Him with the whole heart. Like-
wise the Lord in the Gospel, Himself the Avenger of our
persecution, and the Repayer of our suffering; Blessed, Hej^j^j ^
saith, are they which suffer persecution for righteousness ^O-
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And again;
Blessed are ye, when tnen shall hate you, and shall sejJarate j^^i^^ 6
you from their company, and cast you out and revile your ^2. 23.
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
heaven. And again; Whosoever will lose his life for iJi^LukeQ
sake, the same shall save it. Nor is it only the reproached 24.
and slain, that the rewards of the divine promise await; but
even though actual passion have never been suffered by true
believers, and meanwhile their faith has continued perfect
and unconquered, and the Christian, despising and surren-
dering all things, approves himself a follower of Christ, he
too is accounted of Christ among the Martyrs, according to
His promise and word; There is no man that leaveth //owse, Lukei8,
or land, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the^^'^^'
kingdom of God's sake, but he shall receive seven times so
much in this present time, but in the icorld to come life ever-
lasting. Likewise in the Apocalypse He saith the same
thing; And I saiv. He saith, the souls of them that were nev. 20,
slain for the Name of Jesus and the Word of God; and when ^' ^'
He had placed them that were slain in the first place. He
fui'ther said, and they which had not worshipped the image
of the beast, neither had received his mark upon their fore-
head or in their hand; all these he gathers together, as seen
by him in one place, and says, and they lived and reigned

300 Meditation on heaven prepares the mind for Martyrdom.

jRBKT.with Christ. He saith that all live and reign with Christ,

— not only who were slain, but whosoever standing fast in the

firmness of their faith, and in the fear of God, worshipped not
the image of the beast, and consented not in his deadly and
sacrilegious edicts.

2 Cor. The blessed Apostle Paul, who being by the divine good
pleasure carried up into the third heaven and into Paradise,
bears witness that he heard unspeakable words; who glories
that he saw Jesus Christ by a faith not \^ithout sight ; who
delivers that which he both learnt and saw, in a more

Rom. 8, entire truth of assm^ance, says. The sufferings of this present
time, are not ivorthy to he compared tcith the coming glory
which shall be revealed in tis. Who then does not labour
with all his strength to attain to so great glory, that lie may
be made the friend of God, and presently be in joy with
Christ? that after penalties and torments on earth, he may
reap divine rewards .? If to the soldiers of this world it is a
glorious thing, when they have conquered the enemy, to
return triumphant into their country; how far better and
greater is the glory, having conquered the Devil to return
triumphant into Paradise, and wherefrom Adam was cast out
for sin, thither with the overthrow of his subduer, to carry in
the trophies of victory? to offer to God the gift He most
accepts, faith uncorrupt, virtue of spirit unfailing, praise of
devotion full of honour? to be His companion, when He
enters upon His way to take vengeance of His enemies? to
stand beside Him, when He sits in judgment? to be made
coheir of Christ? to be equal to Angles? with Patriarchs,
with Apostles, with Prophets, to rejoice in the possession of
the heavenly kingdom? These thoughts what persecutions
can conquer, what torments can subdue them ? The mind
that is grounded in religious meditations abides in strength
and stedfastness ; against all terrors of the Devil and threats
of the world, that spirit abides unshaken, which has its
strength from a sure and solid faith in the things to come.
In persecutions, earth is shut, but heaven opens; Anti-Christ
threatens, but Christ protects ; death enters, but immortality
ensues; in our destruction the world is taken from us, in our
restoration Paradise is avvarded; the life of time is quenched,
the life of eternity accomplished. What dignity and what

Blessedness of the moment of Martyrdom. 301

safety is it, to go forth hence in joy; among afflictions and
straits to go forth with glory I In a moment to close the
eyes which had been looking upon men and earth, and to
open them at once, where God and Christ are seen ! How
fleet the transit into joy! Suddenly snatched from earth, to
be placed in the realms of heaven ! These things we ought
to embrace in our mind and thoughts; on these to meditate
day and night. If the soldier of God be thus found, when
persecution meets him, his valour, prompt to battle, will not
be able to be conquered. Or if his summons call him sooner
away, a faith that had become ready for Martyrdom will not
be without reward. Without the penalty of delay the reward sine
will be rendered by God the Judge; in persecution thetg^^°°_
crown is with the warrior, and in peace with the true of"s.
heart.

INDEX.

Adulation, iii. (3) 115.

Afflictions, the trial of the good, iii.
(iii) 6, 15. follow upon sin, 47. bless-
ing to Christians, viii. 11. misery to
the heathen, 12.

Christians consoled under, ix. 1.

Alms, wash out sins done after Bap-
tism, X. 1. preferred to praj'er and
fasting, X. 4. scriptural instances,
X. 3 — 6, 14. blessedness of, x. 12,21.
no robbery of our own family, 14.
done to Christians done to Christ, 21.

Amalek, a type of the Devil, xiii. 8.

Angels, cause of their fall, xi. 12. note.

Anger, to be subdued, iii. (iii) 8.

Antichrist, iii. (iii) 118. viii. 2. xiii,
pref. figured in Antiochus, xiii. 11.

Arian doctrine that Our Lord had a
beginning of existence, iii. (ii) 1, note.

Ark, the ; a type of the Church, v. 5.

Athanasius fled his see in the Arian
persecution, vi. 7, note.

Aifgvries and auspices, devices of the
wicked spirits, ii. 3.

Augustine, his opinion of Cyprian's
Testimonies,!, pref. quotes Cyprian,
vii. 1.

B.

^ac^i/^mg- forbidden, iii. (ii) 110.

Baptism ; effects how great, i. 2. a
second birth^3. life-giving water, ib.
beginning of spiritual life, 4. suc-
ceeded to circumcision, iii. (i) 8.
old succeeded by new, iii. (i) 12.
alone can wash the guilt of Christ's
blood from the Jews, iii. (iii) 24. neces-
sary to salvation, iii. (ii) 25. grace
of, forfeited by sin, 27. cleanses from
all impurity of sin, iii. (iii) 65. iv. 2.
life-giving laver, ibid, abrenunciation
of sin in, 6. sanctification of the
divine Laver, 14. sanctification, vii. 7.
Christians die to sin in, xii. 8.

Administered only by order from
a Sishop, xiii. pref. and note.

Bishops, duty of rising up before, iii.
(iii) 85. ordained Bishops only to
rule in the Church, v. 9. engaged in
secular employments, vi. 4. chief
objects of persecution, 7, note, justi-
fiable in saving themselves by flight,
ibid.

C.

Carthage, Council of, xiii. pref.

Catechumens must siii no more, iii. (iii)
98.

Charity, consists in will, not in alms,
iii. (iii) 2. greater than good works
and martyrdom, xi. 9.

Charity of the early Church, vi. 21.

Christ; the Sermo, or Word, ii. 6.
iii. (ii) 3. et passim, the Holy Spirit,
ii. 6, note, the Mediator, ii. 6. iii.
(ii) 10. tame first to the Jews, ii. 7.
the Prophet like unto Moses, iii. (i)
18. the first-born, iii. (ii) 1. the Wis-
dom of God, ibid, the hand and arm of
God, iii. (ii) 4. the Angel who is
God, iii. (ii) 5. God, iii. (ii) 6. Son
of God from the beginning, iii. (ii) 8.
begotten anew according to the flesh,
ibid. Man and God, iii. (ii) 9, 10.
born of a Virgin, ibid, of the seed of
David, iii. (ii) 11. in Bethlehem, 12.
came in low estate, 13. the Just
One, 14. a Sheep and Lamb who was
to be killed, 15. a Stone, 16. the
Mountain to which the Gentiles
should ascend, 18. the Bridegroom
of the Church, 19. was not to remain
in hell, 24. should rise on the third
day, 25. and should receive all power
from the Father, 26. the only way
to God, 27. iii. (i) 21. the Judge,
iii. (ii) 28, 30. shall reign King for
ever, 29, 30. our example of life, 39.
the way to eternal life, viii. 15. in
all things an example to Christians,
xi. 4. our Judge and Avenger, xi.
16. to be worshipped, ibid, the only
object of Christian worship, xiii. 2.

804

INDEX.

C/irist's coming foretold, iii. (ii) 7. and
His crucifixion by the Jews, 20.

C/iristia>is ; must renounce the world,
iii. (iii) 11. not to swear, 12. not to
murmur, 14. not to judge one an-
other, 21. not to return evil, 22. hated
of the world, 29. must not live a
Gentile life, 84. women not to dress
fine, 36. should not incur punishment
for other oflences be'sides his name,
36, 38. must not go before Gentile
Judges, 44. women not to speak in
the Church, 46. to love their ene-
mies, 49. not to seek after much
food, 60. nor gain, 61. not to marry
Gentiles, 62. masters should take care
of their households, 76. mustbe simple
aa well as prudent, 80. not to keep
company with the wicked, 95. to
visit the sick, 109. to protect the
widow and orphan, 113. the salt of
the earth, v. 1. voluntary poverty
recommended to, vi. 8. their duty
under persecution, vi. 18. viii. 9.
have renounced the world, vii. 14.
ix. 20. rejoice in dying, ix. 3. ex-
horted to patience under suffering,
5, 6. not to sorrow for the dead, 15.
exhorted to patience under provoca-
tion, xi. 1, 2. must not be angry, or
return evil for evil, xi. 10. Christ's
sheep, xii. 7. die to sin in Baptism,
xii. 8. to esteem nothingbefore Christ,
xiii. 6. must not return to the world,
7. to press on in faith and virtue,
xiii. 8.

Christianity, the only safe refuge from
the misery of life, i. 13.

Church, the, our mother, and Spouse
of Christ, V. 5.

Corruption of from long peace,
vi. 4.

Cira/mcisioji, made way for Baptism,
iii. (i) 8.

Commi/fiion, daily, when observed, and
when discontinued, vii. 13, note, of-
ferings at, made in kind, x. 12, note,
allowed to infants, vi. 16.

Ccm/ession, to be made, iii. (iii) 114.
vi. 19. public in churches, vi. 11.

Confcssws, 16. vi. 2. xiii. 10. in the Old
Test. xiii. II.

Confessor ship, a call for higher obe-
dience, v. 17.

Cross, virtue in passion, and sign of,
iii. (2)21.

Sacrament of the, xii. 9.

Criwifiximi foretold, iii. (ii) 20.
Darkness of, 23.

Cursifin- and swearing forbidden, iii.
(iii) 12, 13.

C>/pria>i, his account of his state before
Baptism, i. 2. a rhetorician before

his conversion, 7, note, fled from his
see in the Decian persecution, vi, 7,
note.

D.

Death, matter of joy, not sorrow, iii.
(iii) 68. ix. 16, 17.

Defection, how far excusable under
torture, vi. 10.

Detraction forbidden, iii. (iii) 107.

Devil, the ; has no power but by God's
permission, iii. (iii) 80. vii. 17.

Our combat against, iii. (iii) 117.
xii. 1.

Discipline, to be obsen-ed, iii. (iii) 66.
those who despise to be shunned, 68.
benefits of, iv. 1.

Dispensation, the new, prophecies of,
iii. (i) 11.

Divination forbidden, iii. (iii) 82.

Divorce, iii. (iii) 90.

Donattis, friend and neighbour of Cy-
prian, with him in the country in the
autumn of 246, i. 1.

Dress, of the women should be plain,
iii. (iii) 38. iv. 5.

Of virgins, directions for, iv. 6, 7.
fine ascribed to the reprobate, 8. arts
of, taught by the apostate angels, 9.

Duty, of parents, iii. (iii) 71. of chil-
dren, 70. of slaves, 72. of masters,
73. of young to old, 76. of wives, 90.

E.

Empires, succession of the great, ii. 3.

Envy, evils of, xii. 4. Scripture in-
stances, xii. 3.

Episcopacy, Catholic and Romish sys-
tems of, contrasted, v. note.

Eucharist, to be received with fear, iii.
(iii) 94. allowed to infants, vi. 16.
taken home from church, 17. our
daily bread, vii. 13. ofiferings in kind
at, X. 12. and note.

Exorcism, ii. 4. viii. 8.

F.

Fabian, Bishop of Rome, martyred in

the Decian persecution, vi. 7, note.
Faith, our only power, iii. (iii) 42, 43.
The, not to be sold to the un-
worthy, iii. (iii) 50.

Is of free choice, iii. (iii) 52.
Fear, a ground of hope, iii. (ii) 20.

INDEX.

305

Feliciasimus, v. pref. and note. vi. pief.
Flesh and spirit, opposition between,

vii. 11.
Forgiveness of injuries, iii. (iii) 2-2.

vii. 16.
Fortunatus, Bishop, xiii. pref.
Forum, injustice and crimes prevalent

in, i. 9.

G.

Getiiiles, conversion of, foretold, iii.
(iii) 21. more than Jevrs attain to
Christ's kingdom, iii. (iii) 24. ex-
horted to turn to God, viii. 14.

Gladiators, i. 6.

Glorying, not allowable to Christians,
iii. (iii) 4, 40, 51. but in God only,
iii. (iii) 10.

God; One and Incomprehensible, ii.o.
Omniscient, iii. (iii) 56. secrets in-
scrutable, iii. (iii) 63.

Gods, of Greece, ii. 1. of Eome, 2.

Grace, not given by measure, i. 4.

Of God not to be sold at a price,
iii. (3) 100.

H.

Heresy, foretold, iii. (iii) 93.

The craft of Satan, v. 2. sign of the
end of the world, v. 14.

Heretics ; converse with forbidden, iii.
(iii) 78. V. 14, 19. have not Christ's
presence, v. 11. cannot be martyrs,
V. 12. cannot sacrifice, ibid.

Homily ' On Almsdeeds,' refers to Cy-
p"ian, X. pref. and 2, note.

Hi pe, iii. (iii) 45.

Jjumility, duty of, iii. (iii) 5.

Idols, no gods, xiii. 1.

Idolaters; God does not readiiy par-
don, xiii. 4. put to death by Moses'
law, 5.

Idolatry, Eusebius' account of its ori-
gin, ii. 1. note.

Of the Cyprians, ibid, of the Jews,
iii. (i) I. of the Gentiles, iii. (iii) 59.
God's threatenings against.

Jealousy, evils of, xii. 4. its wounds
more grievous than bodily wounds,
5. exhortations against, 11.

Jesting, foolish, forbidden, iii. (iii) 41.

Jews, their unbelief and blindness, iii.
(i)2.

Misunderstanding of Scripture ow-
ing to their rejection of Christ, 5.
lost .Terusalei^i^ 6. and the light of
the Lord, 7. and Christ's bread and
cup, 22.

Succeeded by Gentiles as God't

people, ibid. vii. 6.
Jewish Church, Gentile sons to, iii.

(iii) 20.
Impatience, cause of the Devil's fall,

xi. 12. cause of the idolatry of the

Jews, ibid, of their crucifying Christ,

ibid, of heresy, 13.
Infants admitted to the Eucharist,

vi. 16.
Job, his example of patience, xi. 11.
Isaac, a type of Christ, iii. (iii) 10.
Judgment, the day of, to be in 6,000

years from the creation, xiii. pref.

K.

Kingdom of God, what it i.'«, vii. 8.

L.

iMctantius, heterodox respecting the

Trinity, xi. 12. note.
Lamb, the paschal, a type of Christ,

iii. (ii) 14.
Lapsed, how to be treated, vi. 11.

Miraculous punishment of some

of them, 15. may recover God's

favour, 22.

iMver, life-giviijg of Baptism, iv. 2.

Laws, iniquitous administration of, i. 9.

Of Moses abolished, iii. (i) 9.

New of the Gospel, iii. (i) 10.

Leah, a tvpe of the synagogue, iii. (iii)

20.
Ij)vr of God, iii. (iii) 18.

M.

Marriage, not to be made with Gen-
tiles, iii. (iii) 62.

Martyrs, pray for the penitent, \i. 22.
cannot be numbered, xiii. 11.

Martyrdom, benefit of, how great, iii.
(iii) 16. its rewards, iv. 12. xiii. 12. a
second and greater baptism, xiii. pref.
Avails not where there is disunion,
vii. 16. may be in will as well as in
deed, ix. 12.

Mercy, benefit of, iii. (iii) ].

Mimes, i. 7.

Miraculous judgment on the lapsed,
vi. 17. ■

Vision granted to a dying Priest,
ix. 14.

Money not to be sought after, iii. (iii)
61.

Murmuring unlawful, iii. (iii") 14.

N.

Neslnrianism, ii. 6. note.
Novntian, v. pref. and note.

.';()(;

INDEX.

s.

PardoN, fiillinvb oiilv du ptiiiteiice, vi.

22.
Patience; enforced, xi. 1. example nt'
Christ, 4. of Piitriarehs anrl Pro-
jihets, 6. necesHiiiy, to bear the ori-
ginal curse, (!. to bear trials of life, 7.
and persecution, ibid.

In well doinir, 8. nnd charity, must
go together, 9. necessary to bear sick-
ness, 11. benefits of, 1.'5, 14.
Penance, imposed on the lapsed, vi. 11.
Time of, shortened at the interces-
sion of Martyrs, 12. easier penance
ofiered by schismatics, 20.
Persecniion, under Decius, ii. pref. 7,
note, xiii. pref.

Dnty of Bishops under, laid down
by St. Augustine, vi. 7- note, patience
of Christians under, viii. 11. xiii. 9.
not to be dreaded, xiii. 10. foretold, 1 1 .
proceeds from Antichrist, 12. in A.D.
252. viii. 6.
Pestilence, imputed to the anger of the
Gods at the spread of Christianity,
^^ii. pref.

Sign of end of the world, ix. 2.
Christians exhorted to patience
imder, ix. 9. brings men to serious
thoughts, ix. 11.
Peter, St. the centre of unity, v, .3. and

note.
Prayer, duty of, enforced from Scrip-
ture, iii. (iii) 120.

Lord's, vii. 1, 3. teaches duty of
united prayer, 4. that v.e have no
Father on earth, 5.

Secret, vii. 2. directions for, ibid.
Scripture precepts and examples re-
lating to, ihid.

To be made with attention, vii. 20.
barren without good works, vii. 21.

lOariy Christians prayed standing,
vii. 20. note, five stated hours, -vii. 21.
reasons for, 22.
Pride, cause of the Devil's fall, xi. 12.

note.
Priests, Christ's, v. 14.

Those who resist warned by ex-
ample of Korah and Uzziah, ibid.
Priesthood, Jewish, succeeded by new,
iii. (i) 17.

Q.

Quiri/iii.'i, iii. (i) pref. iii. (iii) pref.

Pac/tel, a type of the Church, iii. (i) 20.
Richts, evil of, vi.2'2.

Sncrijicex, v. 12, 14.

Jewish succeeded by new, under
the Gospel, iii. (i) 16.
Samuel, a type of Christ, iii. (i) 20.
Snnctijicatiun, daily bv prayer, vii. 7.
Sr/iisM, sin of, iii. (iii) bU. v. 16.
Scriptures, fountains of divine fulness,
iii. (i) pref. not understood by the
Jews, 4. u.se of by private Chris-
tians, xii. pref.
Seven, mvstery of the number, iii. (i)

20. xiii. 1 1 .
Sliephei'ds, old, succeeded bv new, iii.

(i) 14.
Sick, duty of visiting, iii. (iii) 109.
Sign of Christ upon Christians, viii. 12.
Sin, cau.se of sorrow, iii. (iii) 47. Chris-
tians not free from, iii. (iii) 54. all
put off" in Baptism, iii. (iii) 6.5.
Of fornication, iii. (iii) 63.
Of schism, iii. (iii) 86. v. 16.
After Baptism, iv. 3.
The irremissible, iii. (iii) 28.
Sinner, to be publicly rebuked, iii.

(iii) 77.
Slaves, duty of, iii. (iii) 72.
Society, universal depravity of in Cy-
prian's time, i. 8.
Socrates, his doemon, ii. 4.
Spirit, the Holy, must not be grieved,
iii. (iii) 7. appearances in fire, iii.
(iii) 101. as a Dove to signify the
peace of the Church, v. 8.
S/iirits, unclean, i. 4.

evil, their power in the world, ii. 4.
submit when adjured in the name of
God, ibid.
Siceuring, forbidden, iii. (iii) 12. xi. 10.

Temple, old succeeded bv new, iii.
(iii) 15.

Temptation, iii. (iii) 91. iii. 17.

Theatres, i. 7-

Transubstantiation, originated in prac-
tice of taking the Eucharist home,
vi. 17. note.

U. V.

Veil, worn in Roman worship, vi. 3.
note. Moses typical, vi. 3.

Vices of Gentile world, i. 8. viii. 6.

Viduus, a Roman deity, ii. 2.

Vintage, ;>a«t of retained in the Church,
i. 1, note.

Virgins, their dress should be simple,
iv. 5, 6. .should give their worldly
means to Christ, '• to :'void mar-
riage-feasts and public baths, iv. 10.

INDEX.

307

Virginity, iii. (iii) 3*2.

High reward of, iv. 4, 12. of free
choice and not of necessity, 13.
Virtiie, of chariby', iii. (iii) 2.

Of martyrdom, iii. (iii) 16.

Of mercy, iii. (iii) 1.

Of obedience, iii. (iii) 19.

Of forgiveness, 22, 106.

Of continence, 32.

Of innocencj' of life, 38, 79.

Of humility. 5.

Of love of enemies, 49.

Of temperance, 60.

Of obedience to parents, 70.

Of simplicity, 87.

Of honesty, 88.

Of readiness to take reproof, 102.

Of truth, 104.

Not wisdom the kingdom of God,
69.
Vision, granted to a dying Priest, ix. 14.
Unanimity enjoined, v. 19. vii. 16.
Unity enjoined by Christ, v. 3.

Of the Church, signified by Christ's
coat without seam, v. 6.

Difference between Catholic and
Romish doctrine of, v. 4. note.
Vows, to he paid quickly, iii. (iii) 30,
Usury, forbidden, iii. (iii) 48.

W.

Wickedness of the world, God'.s judg-
ments on, viii. 3, 5.

Wicked, their sacrifices not acceptable,
iii. (iii) 111.

Widows, iii, (iii) 74, 113.

Will of God, conformity to, viii. 9, 10.

Wow^e/?, forbidden to speak in theChurch ,
iii. (iii) 46.

Works, benefit of, iii. (i) 1. x. 2.

Requisite, iii. (iii) 26, 27- not to
be done boastingly, iii. (iii) 40, 51.
must always accompany prayer, vii.
21.

World, must be renounced by Chris-
tians, iii. (iii) 11.

Its hatred of Christian name, iii.
(iii) 19. end of the, iii. (iii) 89. ix.
1,2. in 6,000 years from the Crea-
tion, xiii. pref.

Approaching old age of, viii. 2.

Y.

Yoke of the Law and Yoke of Christ,
iii. (iii) 119.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

a

E^

ESIS.

1, 26.

iv

9.

3, 14. 15.

iii

. (ii) 9.

16.

3, 32. iv 13.

17. 19.

(iii) 68. >i. 6.

4.

vii. 16.

6,24.

iii

(iii) 58. ix. 17

12, 1-3.

(i)21.

1.5, ().

(i) 6. (iii) 42.

19, 24.

(iii) 33

22, 1.2.

(iii) 15.

11. 12.

(iii) 20. (ii) 6

24.

(iii) 62.

25, 23.

(i) 19.

17, 27—29.

(i)21.

28, 11. 12-

-18.

(ii) 16.

31, 13.

(ii) 5.

36, 1.

(ii) 6.

38, 14. 15.

(iii) 36.

4S 17—19.

(i) 21.

4?, 8—12.

(i)21.

1,12.
3,2.

2—6.
4, 11. 12.

12, 3—12.
4.

11.
13.
46.

13, 21.

14, 11—14.
19.

17, 9—14.
11—14.
12. 13.

19, 10. 11.
15.
18.

20, 3.
3,4.
4.

7.
23.

EXODUS.

xiii. 10.

iii. (iii) 101.

(ii) 19.
xiii. 10.
iii. (ii) 15.

(iii) 86.

(iii) 11.

(ii) 22. viii. 12.
V. 7.

iii. (ii) 5.
xiii. 7.
iii. (ii) 5.

(ii)21.
xiii. 8.
iii. (ii) 16.

(ii) 25.

(iii) 32.

(iii) 101.
viii. 3.
xiii. 1, 2.
iii. (iii) 69.

(iii) 12.

(iii) .59.

22, 20.
22—24.
28.

23, 20. 21.
25, 37.
32, 6.

31.

y'l. 6. viii. 9.
iii. (iii) 113.

(iii) 1.3.

(ii) 5.

(i)20.
iii. (iii) 60.
vi. 12.

xiii. 2-

31—33. iii. (i) 1. xiii. 4.

LEVITICUS.

7, 20. iii. (iii) 94. xi. 6.
19,13. (iii) 81.

18. (iii) 106.

27. (iii) 83, 84. vi. 19.

32. (iii) 85.

20, 7. vii. 7.

24, 13. 14. iii. (iii) 13.

NUMBERS,

17. 10. iii. (iii) 14. ix. 8.

23, 19. (ii) 20.
24. (i)21.

24, 7—9. (ii) 10.
17. (ii) 10,

DEUTERONOMY.

6, \X
10, 20.
13,3.
6—10.
12—18

32, 17.
39.

33, 9.

3, 19.
5, 2.

1.5.

24, 26. 27.

xiii. 2.
2.
9.
6.
6.
3.
2.
«.

JOSHUA.

iii. (i) R.
(ii) V^.
(ii) 16.

310

INDEX OF TEXTS.

JUDGES.

1,12.
21.

vii. 17
ix. 6.

2, 11—13.

iii. (i) 1.

21.

22. iii. (ii

)6.

4, 1.

(0 1- ;

2, 1-

7. (ii

)80.

9. 10. (iii) 14

10.

ix. 6.

1 SAMUEL.

14, 4.5

iii. (ii

) 5-1

29, 12.

13. (ii

)1-

(iii) 118.

1, 13.

▼ii. 2.

15.

16. (iii) 1.

2,3.

iii. (iii) 4.

5.

(i) 20.

25.

(iii) 28. xiii. 4.
vii. 6. xii. 8.

30.

PSALMS.

35. 3G.

iii. (i) 17.

6, 15.

(ii) 16.

1, 1.

V.

10.

7

7, 12.

(ii) 16.

2,

iii.

(iii) 120.

16, 7.

vi. 17.

5.

(iii) 31,

17, 49.

iii. (ii) 16.

2, 1.3.

(i) 13. (iii)

21,4.

(.iii) 32.

6.
7.8.

119.
(ii) 29.
(ii) 8.

2 SAMUEL.

10.

11.

(iii) 112.
(iii) 20.

7,5.21—

16. iii. (ii)ll.

3,5.

4, 4.

vii

(iii)66,iv.l.
.2.

6. 12—

16. (i) 15.

5.

iii

(i) 16.

5,2.

\-ii

.22.

6; 6.

iii

(iii) 114.

1 KINGS.

(15)

14,6.

(iii) 48.

(16)

15, 10.

(ii)24.

11,4.

iii. (iii) 62.

(18)

17, 25.26.

(iii) 95.

14.

V. 17. vii. 17.

43. 44.

(i)21.

23.

iii. (iii) 80.

(19)

18, 5. 6.

(ii) 19.

31.

V. 6.

9.

(iii) 20.

17,6.

vii. 14.

13.

(iii) 66.

14.

X. 14.

(20)

19,7.8.

xiii.' 10.

(22)

21, 6-8.
15.

iii

(li) 13.
(ii) 18.

2 KINGS.

16-22.
27.

(ii)20.
(ii) 29.

24.

vii. 17.

(24)

23, 3. 4.
3.6.
7—10.

(iii) 79.
(ii)18.
(ii) 29.

1

CHRONICLES.

(25)

24, 4.5.

(ii) 7.

(26)

25, 3. 4.

xiii. 10.

17,3.

iii. (i) 15. (ii) 11.

(28)

27, 4. 5.

iii

(i)3.

11. 14

(i)15. (ii)ll.

(30)

29,3.
10.

(ii) 24.
(iii) 114.

(33)

32,6.

(ii)3.

2

CHRONICLES.

(34)

33, 1,
8—10.

(iii) 14.
(i) 22.

15,2.

iii. (iii) 27. xiii. 8.

9.

12.
18.

(iii) 20.
(iii) 13.
(iii) 5.

NEHEMIAH.

18.19.

(iii) 6.

(35)

34, 12. 13.

v.

19.

9, 26.

iii. (i) 2.

(37)

36,7.

12. 13.

xii. 3.
xii. 3.

25.

iii

(iii) 1-

JOB.

25. 26.

xi

.15.

(38)

37, 26.

\i

.14.

1,5.

X. 15.

(41)

40, 1.

x.

4. iii. (iii) 1

8.

iv. f^. iii. (iii) 1-1.

(45)

44, 1.

iii

(ii) 3.

INDEX or TEXTS.

311

^45)

44, 1—4.
6—7.

iii. (ii) 29.
(ii) 6.

PROVERBS.

0—11.

(ii) 29.

1, 28.

29.

iii. (i) :i.

(46)

45, 10.

(ii) 6.

3, H.

iv. 1.

(50)

49, 1—6.

(ii) 28.

11.

12.

iii. (iii) (id.

3-6.

xi. 15.

28.

(iii) 1.

13—15.

iii, (i) 16.

8,22-

-31.

(ii) 1.

14.15.

(iii) 30.

9,1.

(i) 20.

16. 17.

(iii) 66.

1—

6.

(ii) 2.

18.

(iii) 68.

8.

(iii) 102.

20.

(iii) 107.

10, 3.

vii. 14. X. 8.

23.

(i)l6.

9.

iii. (iii) 53.

(51)

.50, 5,

(iii) .54.

19.

(iii) 103.

17.

(iii) G. iv. 1.

11, 26.

(iii)61.

(52)

51, 17.

\x. 8.

12, 16.

(iii) 8.

^53)

52,5.

iii. (iii) 55.

22.

(iii) 104.

6.

iv. 5.

13, 24.

(iii) 105.

(56)

55, 11.

iii. (iii) 10.

14, 25.

(iii) 16.

(62)

61, 1. 2.

(iii) 10.

15,3.

(iii) 56. vii. 2

(68)

67, 1—7.

(ii)2S.

16,1.

xii. 9.

4.

(ii)6.

6.

iii. (iii) 1. x. 2.

G.

(iii)86.(iii)

32.

(iii) 8,

113.

19, 17.

(iii) 1. X. 12.

(69)

68, 6.

V. 7. vii. 4.

18.

(iii) 105.

(72)

71, 1.2.

iii. (ii)30, (^iii)
33.

20, 7.
9.

(iii) 1. X. 15.
X.3.

(74)

73, 1. 2.

(ii) 29.

13.

iii. (iii) 107.

(82)

81, 1. 6. 7.

(ii) 6.

22.

viii. 10.

3.

(iii) 5.

21,1.

iii. (iii) 80.

5.

(i) 3. (ii^ 6.

13.

X. 4.

8.

(ii) 28.

23, 9.

iii. (iii) 50, viii. 1

((84)

83, 1.

(iii) 58.

24, 15.

(iii) 95.

'(85)

84, 1.

ix. 17.

25, 21.

(iii) 1.

'88)

87, 9.

iii. (ii) 20.

26,4.

viii. 1.

(89)

88, 27—33,

(ii) 1.

27.

iii. (iii) 108.

32. 33.

(iii) 57.

28, 14.

(iii) 20.

(90)

89, 30.

vi, .5.

27.

(iii) 1 X, 7.

(96)

95, 5.

iii. (iii) 59.

28.

(iii) 6.

(107)

106, 20.

(ii) 3.

(108)

109, 1. 2.

(ii) 26.

3.

(i)l7.

ECCLESIASTES.

(111)

110, 10.

(iii) 20.

(112)

Ill, 9.

(iii) 1.

1, 14.

iii. (iii) 11.

(115)

114, 4.8.

xiii. 1.

5, 4.

(iii) 30.

(116)

115, 5.

iii. (iii) Hi.

10.

t'iii)61.

15.

xiii, 12.

7, 17.

(iii) 53.

(117)

116, 6.

10.

23, 11.

(iii) 12,

(118)

117, 6.8.

iii. (iii) 10.
(.iii) 57.

21—26.

(ii) 16.

SONG OF SOLOMON.

26.

(ii).").

(119)

118, 1. 2.

22.
120.

(iii) IG. xiii.
12.
vii. 22.
iii. (ii) 20,

.5,2.
6,9.

vii. 20,
v. 3.

(126)

125, .■!. 6.

(iii) 16. xiii,
12.

ISAIAH.

(132)

131, 11.

(ii)I].

1,2.

xii. 8.

(133)

132, 1.

(iii) 86.

2—

-4.

iii. (i)3.

(135)

134, 15— IR.

(iii).59. xiii.

3.

vii. 6.

I.

7~

9.

iii. (i)6.

040)

l.SO, 16.

vi. 17.

11-

-12.

(i) 16.

(in)

140, 2.

iii. (ii) 20.

15-

-20.

(i)2(.

yl'J

INDEX OF lEXTS.

1, ir. 18.

iii. (iii) 113.

19.

{ill) 52.

2, 2—4.

(ii) 18.

3. 4.

(i) 10.

5.6.

(i)7.

8.

viii. 9-

8.9.

vi. 5. xiii. 3.

3, 1.2.

iii. (i) 22.

12.

(iii) 115. vi. 11.

16.

iv. 8.

5,8.

iii. (iii) 01.

25. 26.

(i)21.

26. 27.

(i)22.

6, 9. 10.

(.i) 3.

r, 9.

(1)4. (iii) 42.

10—15.

(ii)9.

8, 16.17.

(i)9.

9, 1. 2.

(i)21.

6.

(ii) 21.

10, 22.

vii. 18.

23.

iii. (ii) 3.

11, 1.3.

(ii)ll.

10.

(i)21.

13, 6. 9.

viii. 12.

14, 16.

iii. (iii) 118.

22, 13. 14.

(iii) 60.

26, 11.

(ii)4.

28, 16.

(ii) 16.

29, 10.

vi. 20.

11—18.

iii.(i)4.

14.

xi. 1.

15.

iii. (iii) n3.

30, 51.

vi. 22.

33, 10.11.

iii. (ii) 26.

14—17.

(ii)29.

.-15, 3—6.

(ii) r.

40, 3—5.

(ii)6.

6.

(iii) 58. iv. 5.

41, 15—20.

(ii) 4.

42,2.

xi. 15.

2 4.

iii. (ii) 13.

6—8.

(ii) 7.

13. 14.

(ii)28. xi. 15.

24.

vi. 13. vii. 17.

43, 1, 3.

xiii. 10.

18—21.

iii. (i) 12.

45, 1.

(i)21.

14—16.

(ii)6.

48,21.

(i) 12.

50, 5.

xi. 15.

.5—7.

iii. (ii) 13.

52, 10.

(ii) 4.

11.

(iii).34.vi. ?!.

15.

(i)2l.

53, 1.

(ii) 4.

1—7.

(ii) 13.

7.

xi. 15.

7—9. 12.

iii. (ii) 15.

54, 1—4.

(i) 20.

55, 1.

(iii) 100.

4. 5.

ri)2l.

6.7.

(iii) 11.

57, 6.

xiii. 3.

58, 1.

X.4.

1—9.

iii. (iii) 1. x. 4.

6.

vii. 21.

7.

iii. (iii) 7o.

59, 1.

viii. 5. vi. 13.

1—4.

iii. (ii) 4. (iii) 47.

61, 1.2.

(ii) 10.

63, 9.

(ii) 7.

65, 1.

(i)21.

2.

(ii) 20.

13—15.

(i) 22.

66, 1.2.

(ii) 4. (iii) 6.

2.

(iii) 20.

15. 16.

xi. 15.

18. 19.

iii. (i) 21.

JEREMIAH.

1,5.

iii. (i) 21. vi. 12.

2, 13.

(i) 3. V. 10.

30.

viii. 3.

3, 15.

iii. (i) 14. (iii) 66.

4, 3. 4.

(i)8.

5, 3.

viii. 3.

6, 10.

iii. (i) 3.

18.

(i)2l.

7,6.

xiii. 3.

16,

vi. 12. xiii. 4.

25.

iii. Ci) 2.

8,4.

(iii) 114.

9, 23. 24.

(iii) 10.

10,2.

(iii) 34.

11, 18. 19.

(ii) 15.

19.

(ii)20.

15,9.

(ii)23.

16,9.

(ii) 19.

17,5.

vi. 12.

5—7.

(iii) 10.

9.

(ii) 10.

23, 16—21.

V. 10.

20.

(i)4.

23.

vi. 17.

23. 24.

iii. (iii) 56. vii. 2.

25, 4. 6. 7.

(i)2.

6.

viii. 3.

30, 8. 9.

iii. (i) 13.

31, 10. 11.

(i) 14.

31—34

(i) 11.

48, 10.

(iii) 30.

iv. 1.

EZEKIEL.

9,

4.

iii. (ii) 22. viii. 12

4—6.

(ii) 22.

5.

viii. 12.

14,

12—14.

xiii. 4.

13.

vi, 12.

18

7.».

iii. (iii) 48.

32.

vi. 22. xi. 2.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

3L3

33, 11.
12.

34, 10—16.
37, 11. 14.

2, 31— 3j

3, 16—11
25.

4,27.
7, 13. 14
12, 4. 7.

1, 10.

2, 23.
4,1.

1—4.
6,1.
2.
6.
11,9. 10.

iii. (iii) 114. vi. 22.
xiii. 8.
iii. (i) 14.
(iii) 68.

DANIEL.

iii. (ii) 17.

(iii) 10. xiii. 11.
V. II.
X. 4.
iii. (ii) 26.

(i)4.

HOSEA.

iii. (i) 19.

(i) 19.
viii. 4.
iii. (iii) 47.
vii. 22.
iii. (ii) 26.

(iii) 1.

(ii) 6.

JOEL.

1,9.

3, 1. 3-
8.9.
9.
4,2.

10.
9,9.
10, 11.
12, 10.

12.

HAGGAl.
yiii. 3.

ZECHARIAH.

5. iii. (n) 13.

(ii) 16.
(i) 20.
(i)20.
(i) 20.
(ii) 29.
(ii) 6.
(ii) 20.

1, 10. 11.
14.

2, 6—7.
10.
11.

3, 3.
4,1.

2.

MALACHL

iii. (i) 1.

(ii) 29.

(ii) 5.

(iii) 3.

(i)l.

(iii) 57.

(ii)28.viii.l2.xi.l5.
vii. 22.

1 ESDRAS.

2,

12.
13.
15. 16.

vi. 19.

22. xi. 2.
iii. (ii) 19.

8,9.

iii. (iii) 62.
TOBIT.

AMOS.

2,2.
14.

iii. (iii) 1.

(iii) 6. ix. 7.

4,

7.

viii. 3.

4,6—11.

(iii) 1. X. 16.

5,

6.

13.

12.

(iii) 62.

8,

9. 10.

iii. (ii) 23.

12,8.
8.9.
12.

vii. 21.

X. 4.

vii. 21. ix. 7.

MICAH.

16.
13, 16.

iii. (i) 20.
xiii. 11.

4

2.3.

iii. (i) 10.

14, 10. 11.

x. 16.

f>,

2.

(ii) 12.

WISDOM.

HABAKKUK.

1, 1.

2, 12—22.

iii. (iii) 53.
(ii) 14.

2

4.

iii.(i)5.(iii)42.ix. 1.

24.

xii. 3.

3,

3—6.

(ii)21.

3, 4—8.

iii. (iii) 15. xiii. 12.

17.

viii. 11.

11.
4,11.
11. 14.

(iii) 66. iv. 1.
ix. 17.
iii. (iii) 58.

ZEPHANIAH.

6,1.
1—9.

viii. 13.

iii. (iii) 16. xiii. 12

1

2. 3.

iii. (iii) 47.

8.

iv. 7.

7.

(ii) 20.

6,6.

iii. (iii) 112.

13. 14

(iii) 61.

13, 1—4.

(iii) 69. xiii. 1.

3. 8.

(iii) 106. xi. 16.

16, 15-17.

(iii) 69. xiii. 1.

314

INDliX OJ TKXTiS.

ECCLESIASTICUS.

iii. (iii) 20.
ix. 5.

xi. 11.

iii. (iii) 63.

(iii) 1. X. 2.

(iii) 113.

(iii) 96.

(iii) 35.

(iii) 97.

(iii) 95.

(iii) 109.

(iii) 95.

(iii) 95.

(iii) 86.

(iii) 51.

(iii)l.

(iii) 120.

(ii)l.

(iii) 95.

(iii) 6. ix.9. xiii.9.

(iii) no.

(iii) 95. V. 14.

(iii) 1. X. 4.

(iii) 111.

SONG OF THE 3 CHILDREN.

1

14.

2

1.4.

4. 5.

3

21.

30.

4

10.

29.

5,

4.

/.

6,

16.

7,

39.

9,

13,

16.

10,

9. 10.

26.

14,

11.

18,

22.

24,

3—7.

25,

9,

27,

5.

28,

15.

24.

29,

12.

34,

19.

2.

vi. 19.

27.

V. 11.

28.

vii. 4.

BEL AND THE DRAGON.

34.
37.

3, .35. 37.
6, 6.

xiii. 11.
vii. 14.
X. 8.

BARUCH.

iii. (ii) 6.
vii. 2.

1 MACCABEES.

2, 24.

xiii. 5.

52.

iii. (iii) 14.

60.

(iii) 53.

62, 63.

(iii) 4.

, 30.
, 9.

14. 16

18.

19.

27.

12.

2 MACCABEES.

iii. (iii) 17. x
(iii) 17. X
(iii) 17.x
(iii) 17
(iii) 17,

xiii. 1 1.

iii. (iii) 4.

11.

11.
iii. 11.
iii. 11.

MATTHEW.

1,20.21. iii. (ii) 7.

23. (ii) 6.

•2, 1. 2. (ii) 12. (ii) 29.

3, 10. (iii) 26.

11. (i) 12.

4, 10. vi. 5.

5, 4. iii. (iii) 6.

5. (iii) 5.

6. (iii) 1.

7. (iii) 1.

8. (iii) 79.

9. (iii) 3. V. 19.

10. (iii) 16. xiii, 12.
13. (iii)87.v.l.vii.l2,
16. (iii^ 26.

19, (iii) 95.

21. 22. (iii) 8.

22. (iii) 13.
23.24. (iii) 3.

24. v. 11. vii. 16,
26, iii, (iii) 57.
34—37. (iii) 12.
42. (iii) 1.
43—45. xii. 8.
43—48. xi. 3,
44.45, iii, (iii) 49.

6,2, (iii) 40.

3.4. (iii) 40.

9. vii. 3.

10, iii. (iii) 19.

12. (iii) 22.
19—21. X. 6.
20.21. iii. (iii) 1.
24. vi, 17.

26, X, 8, iii. (iii) 11,

31—33. 7. iii. (iii) 11.

31, vii. 14.

34, 14.

7, 2. 16.

6. iii. (iii) 50. viii. 1.

12. (iii) 119. vii. 18.

13. 14, (iii) 6.

14. iv. 12.
19. vii. 21.

21. iii, (iii) 19.

22. V. 13.

22. 23, iii. (iii) 26.

24, V, 1 ,

24—27. iii. (iii) 95.

8,11. vii. 8.

11,12. iii. (i) 23.

20. (iii) 11,

22. vii. 6,

29. iii. (ii) 28.

J1, 4. vii. 2.

10,8. iii. (iii) 100.

16. (iii) 87.

19.20. (iii) 16. xiii. 10.

22. iv.3.v.l7,xi.l7.xiii.8.

26. iii. (iii) 75.

28, (iii) 16, xiii. 5.

INDEX OF TEXTS.

315

10, 32. 33. 22

iii. (jii) 16.

LUKE.

32. 33.

xiii. 5.

37.

X. 13.

1, 10—33.

iii,(ii)ll.

37. 38.

iii. (iii) 18. xiii. 6.

35.

(ii)lO.

11, 13.

(i)9

41—43.

(ii)8.

28—30.

(i) 13. (iii) 119.

67—69.

(ii)7.

12, 30.

(iii) 86. V. 5.

2, 10.11.

(ii)7.

32.

(iii) 28.

29.

ix.2.

36.37.

(iii) 13.

29. 30.

iii. (iii) 58,

39. 40.

(ii) 25.

37.

vii. 23.

13, 8.

iv. 12.

5, 16.

19.

17.

iii. (iii) 27.

6, 12.

19.

45.

X. 6.

22. 23.

iii, (iii) 16. xiii.

12.

45. 46.

iii. (iii) 1,

31.

(iii) 119.

14,31.

(iii) 41.

37.

(iii) 21.

15, 14.

V. 14.

7,47.

(iii) 116.

16, 18.19.

3.

8, 18.

V. 17.

17,6.

iii. (i) 20.

9,24.

xiii. 12.

2.0.

(iii) 41.

25.

iii. (iii) 61,

18, 19 20.

(iii) 3. V. 11.

48.

(iii) 5. xii, C

32.

vii. 15.

62,

(iii) 11. xiii

7.

34.

vii. 16.

11,2.

(iii) 19.

19, 11. 12.

iii. (iii) 32.

40.41.

(iii) 1.

11.

iv. 4.

41.

X, 2.

17.

V. 1.

12,8.

vi. 13.

17.21.

iii. (iii) 1.

20.

iii.(iii)61.x, 10.

vii. 14

21.

vii. 14. X. 6.

33.

(iii) 1. X. 6.

21, 13.

iii. (iii) 100.

35.

V. 20.

22, 37—40.

xiii. 2.

35—37.

iii.(iii)ll.(ii)19

.xiii.8

40.

V. 13. vii. 18.

14, 11.

(iii) 5.

23, 6—8.

iii. (iii) 5.

12—14.

(iii) 1.

9.

vii. 5. xiii. 11.

33.

(iii)ll.vii.l4.

xiii. 7.

12.

v. 17.

16, 11.12.

X. 6.

37—38.

iii. (i)l.

14.

9.

24,2.

(i) 15.

25.

iii. (iii) 61.

3—31.

xiii. 11.

17, 7—10.

(iii) 51.

26, 34.

vii. 8. xii. 8.

21,

(iii) 52,

36.

iii. (iii) 100.

31.32.

xiii. 7.

31—46.

x.l8.iii. (ii)30.(iii)l.

18, 29. 30.

(iii) 16. xiii.

12,

26, 39.

vii. 9. iii. (iii) 19.

Ii), 8. 9.

(iii) I.

27, 12. 14.

xi. 15.

20, 34—38.

(iii) 32,

34.

iii. (ii) 14.

35. 36.

iv. 13.

45.

(ii)23.

21,3.4.
14. 15.

X. 12.

xiii, 10.

MARK.

17.
31.

iii. (iii) 29.
ix. 1.

1,24.

iii. (ii) 28.

22,31.

vii. 19.

3, 28.29.

(iii) 28.

24, 44—47.

iii. (i) 4.

4, 24.

(iii) 22.

7,9.

V. 15. vii. 1.

8,38.

vi. 18.

JOHN.

9, 22.

iii. (iii) 42.

10, 29.

vi. 9.

1, 1.

iii. (ii) 6,

11, 24.

iii. (iii) 42.

1—5.

(ii) 3,

25.

v. 11. vii. 16.

9. 10,

(i)8.

25. 26.

iii. (iii) 22.

11,

vii. 5.

12, 29.

vii. 18.

11, 12.

iii. (i) 3.

30.

V. 13.

26. 27,

(ii) 19.

29—31.

xiii. 2.

29.

(ii) 15.

13, 6.

V. 13.

36. 37.

(ii)29.

23.

14.

2, 16.

(iii) 100.

14,38.

vii. 17.

19.

(i) 15.

58.

iii.(i) 15.

3,5,

vii. 12.

:)16

IJSDKX Ol riiXTS.

3, 6. 6.
14. 15.
18. 19.
27.

28. 29.
36.

4, 2.3.

.32 — 34.
6, 14.

22. 23.
3i). 40.
43.
45—47.

6, 36.

38.

61.

63.
8, 12.

24.

31. .32.

34.

44.
10,9.

16.

18.

.30.

34—38.

11, 25.

12, 2.-).

13, 14. 15.
16. 17.
27.

14,6.

15.

27.

28.
16, 12.

12. 13.

18—20.
16, 2. 3.

2.4.

20.

22.

23.

33.
17,3.

3—5.

20.

24.
19, 11.

20.21.

23. 24.
27—29.

iii. {\) 12. (iii) 25.

(ii) 20.

C\) 8. (iii)31.

(iii) 4.

(ii) 19.

(ii) 27.
vii. 1.
iii. (iii) (JO.

(iii) 27. iv. 3. x. 1.

(ii) 28. (iii) 33.

(i)18.

(ii)6.

(i) 18.

(ii) 22.

(iii) 19. iv. 6. vii. 9.
vii. 13
iii. (ii)22.(iii)25.vii.l3.

(ii) 7. xii. 6.

(i)5.
xi. 7. xiii. 8.
vii. 6.

6.
iii. (ii) 27. (iii) 24.
V. 7.

iii. (ii) 24.
v. 5.

iii. (ii) 6.
ix. 16.
iii. (iii) 16. xiii. 5.

(iii) 39.

(iii) 5.

(iii) 80.

(iii) 24. (ii) 27.

V. 1.

19. iii. (iii) 3.
ix. 4.
V. 12.
iii. (iii) 3.

(iii) 29. xiii. 11.

(iii) 16.
xiii. 11.
ix. 3. xiii. 11.

3.
vii. 1,

xi. 7. xiii. 11.
vii. 18. viii. 13. xiii. 2.
iii. (ii) 1.
vii. 19.

iii. (iii) 58. ix. 16.
vii. 17. iii. (iii) 80.
v. 3.

6.
iii. (ii) 6.

ACTS.

1,

7.

iii. (iii) 89.

14.

V. 19. vii. 4

2,

2—4.

iii. (iii) 101

3,

6.7.

(iii) 61.

4,

8—12.

(ii) 16.

32.

(iii) 3. V

19. X. 20.

5, 3. 4.

iii. (iii) 30.

7, (>().

xi. 10.

8, 20.

iii. (iii) 100.

36. 37.

(iii) 43.

9, 50.

X. 5.

10, 2—4.

vii. 21.

13, 46. 47.

iii. (i) 21.

15, 28. 29.

(iii) 119.

16, 25.

(iii) 14.

ROMANS.

1, 25. 26.

iii. (iii) 10.

2, 1—3.

(iiij 21.

4—6.

(iii) 35. xi. 2.

12.

(iii) 99.

13.

(iii) 96.

3, 3.

v. 18.

8.

iii. (iii) 98.

13—18.

xii. 5.

23. 24.

iii. (ii) 27.

5, 2—5.

(iii) 6. xiii. 9.

8, 12—14.

xii. 8.

16. 17.

iii. (iii) 16.

18.

(iii) 17. xiii. 12

24. 26.

(iii) 45. xi. 8.

.35—37.

(iii) 18. xiii. 6.

9, .3-5.

(ii) 6.

11, 20.21.

(iii) 5.

33—36.

(iii) 53.

12, 1.2.

xiii. 8.

14.

iii. (iii) 12.

17.

(iii) 23.

21.

(iii) 23.

13, 3.

(iii) 38.

7.8.

(iii) 5.

12. 13.

xii. 6.

14,4.

iii. (iii) 21.

17.

(iii) 60.

1 CORIMTHIANS.

1, 10.

17—24.

22—24.
3, 1—3.

16. 17.

18—20.
4,7.

20.

5, 7. 8.

6, 1. 2.
7.9.
9.

9—11.
1.5—17.
1 8—20.
19.

19.20.
20.

7, 1-7.
10. 11.

iii. (iii) 86. v. 7.

(iii) 69.

(ii) 1.

(iii) 3. xii. 7.

(iii) 27.

(iii) 69. xi. 1.

(iii) 4.

(iii) 96.

(iii) 11. iv. 9.

(iii) 44.

(iii) 44.
vii. 7.

iii. (iii) (J.^.
(iii) 62.
(iii-) 63.
iv. 2.

iii. (iii) 11.
vii. 6. xiii. 6.
iii. (iii) 32.
(iii) 90.

INDKX OF TEXTS.

317

7, 29—31.
30. 31.
32.

32—34.
39. 40.

8, 2.
8.

9, 24. 25.

10, 1.
12.
13.
21.
23.

11, 3.
19.
27.
:!:!.

13.

2 8.

3.

4.

4— r.

12.

14, 34. 35.

15, 23.
33.
36.
47.
47-
53.
54.

49.

iii. (iii) 11.

(iii) 32.

(iii) 62.
iii. (iii) 21.

(iii) 60.

(iii) 26. xiii. 8.

(i)4.

(iii) 21.

(iii) 91.
vi. 11.

iii. (iii) 92. iv. 7.
iv. 13.
V. 9, iii. (iii) 93.

iii. (iii) 94. vi. 11.

(iii) 60.
V. 12.
iii. (iii) 3.
vii. 16.
xii. 7.
xi. 9.
iii. (iii) .53.

(iii) 46.

(iii) 95.
V. 14.

iii. (iii) 58.
iv. 14. vii. 12.
iii.(ii)10.(iii)ll.xii.8.

(iii) 58.

2 COKINTHIANS.

3, 14. Hi.
5, 10.
15.
(i, 14.

8, 12. 13.
14. 15.

9, 6. 7.

0 — 12.

10.

12.

11, 14.

12, 2—4.
■ 7.

7—9.

iii. rO 4.

(ii) 29. (iii) 56.
xiii. 6

(iii) 62.

(iii) 2.

(iii) 1.

(iii) 1.

(iii)l.
X. 7.
7.
V. 2.
xiii. 12.
ix. 9.
iii. (iii) 6.

GALATIANS.

1, 10.

3, 6 - 9.

4, 4.

5, U. 15.
17.

17—24.
24.

6, 1. 2.
7.

10, 9.

iii. (iii) 55. iv. 5.

(i) 5.

(ii)9.

(iii) 3.
vii. 11.
iii. (iii) 64.
iv. 5.

iii. (iii) 8.
vi. 18.
X. 19. xi. 8.

2, 17. 18.

4, 2. 3.
3.
4.

22—24.
26.
29.
30. 31.

5, 4.
6.

6, 1—3.
4,

5. 6.
9.
12—17.

EPHESIANS.

iii. (ii) 27.
xi. 9.

V. 7.
4.
iii. (iii) 11.

(iii) 8.

(iii) 12.

(iii) 7. xi.

(iii) 41.
V. 19.
iii. (iii) 70.

(iii) 71.

(iii) 72.

(iii) 7'S.

(iii) 117.

10.

PHILIPPIANS.

1,21.

2, 6—11.
9. 10.
14. 15.
21.

3, 19—21.
21.

4, 18.

ix. 4.

iii. (ii) 13. (iii) ,39.

xi. \6.

iii. (iii) 14.

(iii) 11.

(iii) 11.
ix. 16.
vii. 21.

COLOSSIANS.

15.
18.

2, 8.9.
11.
20.

3, 1—4.

vii. 20.
iii. (ii) 1.
(ii) 1.
xi. 1.

iii. (i) 8.
(iii) 11.
(iii) 11. xii. 8.

1 THESSALONIANS.

4,6.

13. 14.

13.
5, 2. 3.

iii. (iii) 88.
(iii) 68.
ix. 16.
iii. (iii) 89.

2 THESSALONIANS.

2,

10.

vi. 20.

3,

6.

]

iii. (iii) GS. v. 19.
TIMOTHY.

2,

9. 10.

iii. (iii) 36. iv. 7.

11—14.

(iii) 46.

''■)

3—6.

(iii) 74.

11. 12.

(iii) 74.

6,

7.

vii. 14.

7—10.

iii. (iii) 61. x. 8.

9.

vi. 6.

318

INDEX OF TEXTS.

2 TIMOTHY.

2, 4. 5.

11. 12.

17.

23. 24.
3,1.
4, 3. 4.

6—8.

3,2.

10. 11.
11.

iii. (iii) 11. xiii. 8.
xiii. 5.

(iii>78.v.l0.vi.20.

(iii) 5."}.
V. 14.
iii. (iii) 67.

(iii) 16.

TITUS.

iii. (iii) 107.
xi. 4.

iii. (iii) 78.
V. 14.

HEBREWS.

11,5.

2,21.

21—23.
3,3.4.

18.
4,0.

12. 14.

l.'i. 1(5.
.-), 8.

ix. 17.

1 PETER.

xii. 6.

iii. (iii) 39. xi. 4.

(iii) 36. iv. 7.

(ii)27.

(ii) 27.
xiii. 9.

(iii) 37.
xii. I.

2,

17.

iii. (iii) 19.

19.

(iii) 78. V. 9.

21.22.

(iii) 79.

23.

(ii) 27. xiii. 6.

3,

10—15.

(iii) 3.

15.

vii. 16. xii. 6.

17.

iii. (iii) 1. x. 13.

4

2.3.

(ii) 9.

4.

(iii) 10. xiii. 10.

16.

V. 12.

20.

iii. (iii) 3.

2 PETER.
•2, 11. 12. iii. (iii ^ H.

1 JOHN.

1,7. vii. 23.

8. iii. (iii) '>4. vii. 15.
8.1). X. 3.

2, 1. vii. 1.

6. iii. (iii) 1 1. iv.6.xi.4.

9. (iii) 3.
9—11. xii. 6.

15. ix. 18. vii. 9.

1.5—17. iii. (iii) H. iv. 6.

REVELATIONS.

1, 4—12.

12—18.

14.
2,5.

7.

10.

23.

3, 11.

17. 18.

19.
5, 1—5.

6—10.
6,9—11.

10.
7, 9—17.

9—18.
14,1.

4.

6. 7.

9—11.

16, 1.5.

17, 1—4.
1.

18, 4.
4—9.

19, 6. 7.
11—13.
11—16.

20, 4. 5.

21, 6.

6. 7.
9—11.

22, 9.
10—12.
13. 14.

iii. (i) 20.

(ii) 26.
iv. 9.
vi. 1 1 .
iii. (iii) 16.

(iii) 16. xiii. 10.

(iii)66.vi.l7.vii.2.
ix. 12.
V. 5. 11. 8. xiii. 8.
X. 11.
vi. 11.
iii. (ii) 11.

(li) 15.

(iii) 16. xi. 15.
^^. 12.
iii. (iii) 16.
xiii. 11.
iii. (ii) 22.

(iii) 32. iv. 4.
xiii. 2.
xiii. 3.
iii. (iii) 16.

(iii). 36.
iv. 8.
vi. 8.
iii. (iii) 34.

(ii) 19.

(ii)3.

(ii)30.
xiii. 12.
iii. (ii) 1.

(ii) 6. (iii) 100.

(ii) 19.
xi. 16.
iii. (iii) 23. xi. 15.

(ii)22.

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