Argument.

 1. Although in very many of you, dearly beloved brethren, there is a stedfast mind and a firm faith, and a devoted spirit that is not disturbed at the

 2. For he who wars for God, dearest brethren, ought to acknowledge himself as one who, placed in the heavenly camp, already hopes for divine things, s

 3. For it is written that the just lives by faith. If you are just, and live by faith, if you truly believe in Christ, why, since you are about to be

 4. But for the rest, what else in the world than a battle against the devil is daily carried on, than a struggle against his darts and weapons in cons

 5. So many persecutions the soul suffers daily, with so many risks is the heart wearied, and yet it delights to abide here long among the devil’s weap

 6. But, beloved brethren, this is so, because faith is lacking, because no one believes that the things which God promises are true, although He is tr

 7. How great is the advantage of going out of the world, Christ Himself, the Teacher of our salvation and of our good works, shows to us, who, when Hi

 8. But nevertheless it disturbs some that the power of this Disease attacks our people equally with the heathens, as if the Christian believed for thi

 9. Moreover, if the Christian know and keep fast under what condition and what law he has believed, he will be aware that he must suffer more than oth

 10. Thus Job, after the loss of his wealth, after the death of his children, grievously afflicted, moreover, with sores and worms, was not overcome, b

 11. Righteous men have ever possessed this endurance. The apostles maintained this discipline from the law of the Lord, not to murmur in adversity, bu

 12. Thus Abraham pleased God, who, that he might please God, did not shrink even from losing his son, or from doing an act of parricide. You, who cann

 13. Thus, moreover, the Apostle Paul, after shipwrecks, after scourgings, after many and grievous tortures of the flesh and body, says that he is not

 14. This trial, that now the bowels, relaxed into a constant flux, discharge the bodily strength that a fire originated in the marrow ferments into w

 15. Many of our people die in this mortality, that is, many of our people are liberated from this world. This mortality, as it is a plague to Jews and

 16. And further, beloved brethren, what is it, what a great thing is it, how pertinent, how necessary, that pestilence and plague which seems horrible

 17. But perchance some one may object, and say, “It is this, then, that saddens me in the present mortality, that I, who had been prepared for confess

 18. We ought to remember that we should do not our own will, but God’s, in accordance with what our Lord has bidden us daily to pray. How preposterous

 19. Besides, that the indications of the divine providence may be more evidently manifest, proving that the Lord, prescient of the future, takes couns

 20. To myself also, the very least and last, how often has it been revealed, how frequently and manifestly has it been commanded by the condescension

 21. Finally, the Apostle Paul reproaches, and rebukes, and blames any who are in sorrow at the departure of their friends. “I would not,” says he, “ha

 22. That in the meantime we die, we are passing over to immortality by death nor can eternal life follow, unless it should befall us to depart from t

 23. Thus, moreover, we find that Enoch also was translated, who pleased God, as in Genesis the Holy Scripture bears witness, and says, “And Enoch plea

 24. It is for him to wish to remain long in the world whom the world delights, whom this life, flattering and deceiving, invites by the enticements of

 25. And this, as it ought always to be done by God’s servants, much more ought to be done now—now that the world is collapsing and is oppressed with t

 26. We should consider, dearly beloved brethren—we should ever and anon reflect that we have renounced the world, and are in the meantime living here

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

ARGUMENTUM.

0581CPaucis argumentum explicat D. Pontius in Vita Cypriani: «A quo, inquit, Christiani mollioris affectus circa amissionem suorum aut, quod majus est, fidei parvioris, consolarentur spe futurorum.» In primis enim, ubi praedictas docuit ejuscemodi 0581Dafflictiones a Christo, non timendam docet mortalitatem seu pestem, eo quod ad immortalitatem 0582Cducat, atque adeo fidem illi deesse qui non ad meliora festinat. Neque mirum quod Christiano cum gentilibus sint mala hujus vitae communia, cum plus caeteris illis in saeculo sit laborandum: atque proinde exemplo sanctorum Job et Tobiae, patientia opus 0582Desse, neque murmurandum. Nisi enim praecesserit pugna, non posse victoriam contingere, et quantumvis 0583Amorbi communes sint virtutibus vitiisque, mortem tamen communem non esse; ad refrigerium enim justos, ad supplicium rapi injustos. Deinde objectioni tacitae quod per hanc mortalitatem privarentur martyrio, respondet; non esse in nostra potestate martyrium, et vel animum ad martyrium promptum Deo judice coronari. Postremo non ita lugendos docet mortuos, ut gentilibus scandalo simus, tamquam spe resurrectionis careamus. Quin si et nostrae accersitionis dies venerit, lubenti animo ad Dominum hinc emigrandum, praesertim cum ad patriam transmigremus: ubi nos magnus charorum numerus exspectat, frequens et copiosa turba desiderat, jam de sua immortalitate secura, et adhuc de nostra salute sollicita, facit autem occasionis qua librum hunc scripsit mentionem 0583BEusebius in Chronico: «Pestilens morbus, inquit, totius orbis multas provincias occupavit, maximeque Alexandriam et Aegyptum, ut scribit Dionysius, et Cypriani de Mortalitate testis est liber.»