and lowly of 28-30. 28. 29. 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 bands asunder, and cast away their yoke from us. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew; Come unto Me, all ye that labour, Mat. 11, and are heavy-laden, and I will make you to rest. Take My not V. yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am mild heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls. 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 Acts 15, upon you no burden, than these things which are necessary; not V. that ye should abstain from things offered to idols, and from the shedding of blood, and from fornication. And whatsoever vid. Mat. ye would not to be done to you, do ye not to others. 120. That we are to be instant in prayers. In the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians; Continue in Colos. 4, prayer, and watch in the same. Likewise in the first Psalm ; Ps. 1, 2. But in the law of the Lord is his pleasure, and in His law V. will he meditate day and night. Likewise in Solomon; Be Ecclus. not hindered from praying ever, and delay not unto death tot V. be justified; for the repayment of the Lord abideth for evera. a S. Cyprian's agreement or disagreement from the Vulgate, will not be noticed henceforth. It may be observed, that in referring to "the Gospel ac- 7, 12. Luke 6, 31. 2. 18, 22. TREATISE IV. ON THE DRESS OF VIRGINS. [Fell and Pearson consider this 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 Fœminarum and de Virginibus velandis; for instance, (as Fell observes, Adv. Jud. i. præfat.) 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 Prescription 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.] TREAT. IV. 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 be angry, and so ye perish from the right way, if His Ps. 50, wrath be quickly kindled against you. And again: But unto the ungodly said God; Why dost thou preach My laws and takest My covenant in thy mouth; whereas thou hatest Discipline, and hast Wisd. 3, cast My words behind thee? And again we read, Whoso From Solomon again we 12. 17. 11. 11. despiseth Discipline is miserable. 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 rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He rebuketh. If then God rebukes whom He loves, and the 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; And I will give you pastors Jer. 3, according to My heart, which shall feed you with the food oflá. Discipline. 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 those temples we are worshippers and priests; let us submit ourselves to Him, whose we have now begun to be. Paul tells us in those Epistles 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 1 Cor. 6, are bought. Glorify and possess God in your body. Let us portate glorify and possess God in a pure and chaste body, and with Deum, an increased obedience; let us who are redeemed by the 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. 19. and so V. 14. 3. It is the word of the Lord, when giving health and teaching together, at once curing and admonishing, Behold, John 5, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing 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 118 Vows of Virginity lead to high rewards. IV. TREAT. attained to know Him. Let men and women alike, let young and old, of either sex and every age, give heed and care herein, according to the duty and faith which they owe to God, lest what is received in holiness and purity from the Lord's condescension, may be kept with an inadequate Mat. 10, solicitude; for it is written, He who perseveres unto the end, the same shall be saved. 22. gines. ad Vir- 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 fruitfulness 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 feel, is attended by an increase of fear of the assaults of Satan. It is not a vain caution, nor a groundless 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 saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs which were 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 remained virgins; these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Not that to the male sex only, doth God 11. 4. They who are chaste in person should be chaste in dress. 119 promise the grace of continency, 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 Protobeing two in one flesh, so that in the male is signified the plas woman also. tum. 10. 32. 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 world's apparel and adornings, wherewith while seeking to please men, they offend God, not considering the word written; They who please men are put to Ps. 52, confusion, because God hath despised them; and those high [53,] 6. noble tones of Paul, If I yet pleased men, I should not be the Gal. 1, 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 careth 1 Cor. 7, for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord: but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. So both virgin and woman, 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 whom the world is crucified 14. unto me, and I unto the world. Yet does a Virgin, within the Church, glory in beauty of the flesh, and the body's |