Chapter 1.—1. The comparison of the Church with Paradise1333
| 1333 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. ad Jubaian. 10.
|
shows us that men may indeed receive her
baptism outside her pale, but that no one outside can either receive or retain the
salvation of
eternal happiness. For, as the words of Scripture testify, the
streams from the
fountain of
Paradise flowed copiously even beyond its bounds.
Record indeed is made of their names; and through what
countries they flow, and that they are situated beyond the limits of
Paradise, is known to all;
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and yet in
Mesopotamia, and in Egypt, to which
countries those
rivers extended, there is not found that
blessedness of
life which is
recorded in
Paradise. Accordingly, though the waters of
Paradise are found beyond its boundaries, yet its
happiness is in
Paradise alone. So, therefore, the
baptism of the
Church may exist outside, but the
gift of the
life of
happiness is found alone within the
Church, which has been founded on a
rock, which has received the keys of binding
and loosing.
1335
"She it is alone who holds as her privilege the whole
power of her Bridegroom and
Lord;"
1336
| 1336 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 11.
|
by
virtue of which
power as bride, she can bring forth sons even of handmaids. And these, if they be not high-minded, shall be called into the lot of the inheritance; but if they be high-minded, they shall remain outside.
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