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15, 47.

130 The new birth specially realized in Virginity.

TREAT. higher grace in the heavenly places. All indeed who proceed IV. unto the divine Laver, by the sanctification of Baptism, do there put off 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, who 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 mani1 Cor. 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 we have borne the image of him that is earthly, may we also bear 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 Lord, to whom you have dedicated 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.

ci. e. begins 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 probably 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 censures, and who used their privilege on this occasion 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 off 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.]

13.

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 danger 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

V.

132 The craft of Satan more dangerous than his violence.

THAT. 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 Mat. 19, and overcome? For Himself admonishes us, and says, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments; and again, If ye do the things I command you, henceforth I call you not 14, 15. 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.

17.

John

24.

Whosoever, saith He, heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise 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 was 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 commandment? Needs must he totter and fall astray; caught by a spirit of terror, he will be wafted up like dust in a whirlwind; nor will his walk lead forward to salvation, 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 craft and fraud. What now

Heresy and schism the craft of Satan.

133 can be more crafty, or what more artful, than for this enemy, 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 11, 14. for day, of death for salvation, giving despair while they proffer hope, faithlessness clothed as faith, Antichrist under pe fithe name of Christ; that by putting false things under diam. 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 Master. If any one consider and weigh this, he will not need length of comment 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 say unto thee, (saith He,) that Mat. 16, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and 18. 19. the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give

a Vid. note at the end of this Treatise.

21.

134

S. Peter the principle of unity.

TREAT. unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever V. thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. To him again, after His resurrection, He says, Feed My sheep. Upon him being one He builds His Church; and though John 20, He gives to all the Apostles an equal power, and says, As My Father sent Me, even so send I you; receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever 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. Certainly the other Apostles also were what Peter was, endued with an equal fellowship both of honour and power; but a commencement 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 our Lord: My dove, My spotless one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, elect of her that bare her.

9.

4.

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 firmly 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 in soli- corrupt the truth of our faith, by a faithless treachery. The dum te- Episcopate is one; it is a whole, in which each enjoys full possession. The Church is likewise one, though she be spread abroad, and multiplies with the increase of her progeny: even as the sun has rays many", yet one light; and the tree boughs many, yet its strength is one, seated in the deeplodged root; and as, when many streams flow down from one

netur.

The oneness here spoken of is, according to Roman Catholics, fulfilled in the organization of the whole Church; whereas according to Anglo-Catholics it

is fulfilled in each Bishoprick, each Bishop viewed by himself being a full representation and successor of St. Peter. vid. note at the end of this Treatise.

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