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| Cyprian to the Lapsed.
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Epistle
XXVI.2309
| 2309
Oxford ed.: Ep. xxxiii. a.d.
250. |
Cyprian to the Lapsed.
Argument.—The Argument of This Letter is Found Below in Letter
XXVII. “They Wrote to Me,” Says He, “Not Asking
that Peace Should Be Granted Them, But Claiming It for Themselves as
Already Granted, Because They Say that Paulus Has Given Peace to All;
As You Will Read in Their Letter of Which I Have Sent You a Copy,
Together with What I Briefly Replied to Them.” But the
Letter of the Lapsed to Which He Replies is Wanting.
1. Our Lord, whose precepts and admonitions
we ought to observe, describing the honour of a bishop2310
| 2310 [This
is the Cyprianic idea. The idea that this was peculiar to any one
bishop had never entered his mind. See vol. iv. p. 99.] | and the order of
His Church, speaks in the Gospel, and says to Peter: “I say
unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my
Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.”2311
Thence,
through the changes of times and successions, the ordering of bishops
and the plan of the Church flow onwards; so that the Church is founded
upon the bishops, and every act of the Church is controlled by these
same rulers.2312
Since
this, then, is founded on the divine law, I marvel that some, with
daring temerity, have chosen to write to me as if they wrote in the
name of the Church; when the Church is established in the bishop and
the clergy, and all who stand fast in the faith. For far
be it from the mercy of God and His uncontrolled might to suffer the
number of the lapsed to be called the Church; since it is written,
“God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living.”2313
For
we indeed desire that all may be made alive; and we pray that, by our
supplications and groans, they may be restored to their original
state. But if certain lapsed ones claim to be the Church, and if
the Church be among them and in them, what is left but for us to ask of
these very persons that they would deign to admit us into the
Church? Therefore it behoves them to be submissive and quiet and
modest, as those who ought to appease God, in remembrance of their sin,
and not to write letters in the name of the Church, when they should
rather be aware that they are writing to the Church.
2. But some who are of the lapsed have
lately written to me, and are humble and meek and trembling and fearing
God, and who have always laboured in the Church gloriously and
liberally, and who have never made a boast of their labour to the Lord,
knowing that He has said, “When ye shall have done all these
things, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that
which was our duty to do.”2314
Thinking of which things, and
although they had received certificates from the martyrs, nevertheless,
that their satisfaction might be admitted by the Lord, these persons
beseeching have written to me that they acknowledge their sin, and are
truly repentant, and do not hurry rashly or importunately to secure
peace; but that they are waiting for my presence, saying that even
peace itself, if they should receive it when I was present, would be
sweeter to them. How greatly I congratulate these, the Lord is my
witness, who hath condescended to tell what such, and such sort of
servants deserve of His kindness. Which letters, as I lately
received, and now read that you have written very differently, I beg
that you will discriminate between your wishes; and whoever you are who
have sent this letter, add your names to the certificate, and transmit
the certificate to me with your several names. For I must first
know to whom I have to reply; then I will respond to each of the
matters that you have written, having regard to the mediocrity of my
place and conduct. I
bid you, beloved brethren, ever heartily farewell, and live quietly and
tranquilly according to the Lord’s discipline. Fare ye
well.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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