Werke Cyprian von Karthago (200-258) De mortalitate

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On the Mortality

On the Mortality. 1

Argument.--The Deacon Pontius in a Few Words Unfolds the Burthen of This Treatise in His Life of Cyprian. 2 First of All, Having Pointed Out that Afflictions of This Kind Had Been Foretold by Christ, He Tells Them that the Mortality or Plague Was Not to Be Feared, in that It Leads to Immortality, and that Therefore, that Man is Wanting in Faith Who is Not Eager for a Better World. Nor is It Wonderful that the Evils of This Life are Common to the Christians with the Heathens, Since They Have to Suffer More Than Others in the World, and Thence, After the Example of Job and Tobias, There is Need of Patience Without Murmuring. For Unless the Struggle Preceded, the Victory Could Not Ensue; And How Much Soever Diseases are Common to the Virtuous and Vicious, Yet that Death is Not Common to Them, for that the Righteous are Taken to Consolation, While the Unrighteous are Taken to Punishment. 3

  1. Eusebius in his Chronicon makes mention of the occasion on which Cyprian wrote this treatise, saying, "A pestilent disease took possession of many provinces of the whole world, and especially Alexandria and Egypt; as Dionysius writes, and the treatise of Cyprian concerning the Mortality' bears witness." a.d. 252. ↩

  2. He says: "By whom were Christians,--grieved with excessive fondness at the loss of their friends, or what is of more consequence, with their decrease of faith,--comforted with the hope of things to come?" [See p. 269, supra.] ↩

  3. Then to the tacit objection that by this mortality they would be deprived of martyrdom, he replies that martyrdom is not in our power, and that even the spirit that is ready for martyrdom is crowned by God the judge. Finally, he tells them that the dead must not be bewailed in such a matter as that we should become a stumbling-block to the Gentiles, as if we were without the hope of a resurrection. But if also the day of our summons should come, we must depart hence with a glad mind to the Lord, especially since we are departing to our country, where the large number of those dear to us are waiting for us: a dense and abundant multitude are longing for us, who, being already secure of their own immortality, are still solicitous about our salvation. ↩

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De la mortalitaté

DE LA MORTALITÉ

1° Causes du fléau; — 2° Avantages; — 3° Désir du Ciel.

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De la mortalitaté
On the Mortality
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