Chapter 28.—Cyprian’s Treatise “On the Mortality.”

But if any wish to be instructed in the opinions of those who have handled the subject, it behoves them to prefer to all commentators the book of Wisdom, where it is read, “He was taken away, that wickedness should not alter his understanding;” because illustrious commentators, even in the times nearest to the apostles, preferred it to themselves, seeing that when they made use of it for a testimony they believed that they were making use of nothing but a divine testimony; and certainly it appears that the most blessed Cyprian, in order to commend the advantage of an earlier death, contended that those who end this life, wherein sin is possible, are taken away from the risks of sins. In the same treatise, among other things, he says, “Why, when you are about to be with Christ, and are secure of the divine promise, do you not embrace being called to Christ, and rejoice that you are free from the devil?”95    Cyprian, On the Mortality, as above. And in another place he says, “Boys escape the peril of their unstable age.”96    Cyprian, On the Mortality, as above. And again, in another place, he says, “Why do we not hasten and run, that we may see our country, that we may hail our relatives? A great number of those who are dear to us are expecting us there,—a dense and abundant crowd of parents, brethren, sons, are longing for us; already secure of their own safety, but still anxious about our salvation.”97    Cyprian, On the Mortality, as above. By these and such like sentiments, that teacher sufficiently and plainly testifies, in the clearest light of the catholic faith, that perils of sin and trials are to be feared even until the putting off of this body, but that afterwards no one shall suffer any such things. And even if he did not testify thus, when could any manner of Christian be in doubt on this matter? How, then, should it not have been of advantage to a man who has lapsed, and who finishes his life wretchedly in that same state of lapse, and passes into the punishment due to such as he,—how, I say, should it not have been of the greatest and highest advantage to such an one to be snatched by death from this sphere of temptations before his fall?

28. Sed qui sententiis tractatorum instrui volunt, oportet ut istum librum Sapientiae, ubi legitur, Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus, omnibus tractatoribus anteponant: quoniam sibi eum anteposuerunt etiam temporibus proximi Apostolorum egregii tractatores, qui eum testem adhibentes, nihil se adhibere nisi divinum testimonium crediderunt. Et certe beatissimum Cyprianum disputasse constat, ut celerioris mortis beneficium commendaret, a peccatorum periculis eripi eos qui hanc vitam finiunt in qua peccari potest. In eodem libro ait inter caetera: 0981 Cur non cum Christo futurus, et de Domini pollicitatione securus, quod ad Christum voceris, amplecteris; et quod diabolo-careas, gratularis? Et alio loco: Pueri, inquit, periculum lubricae aetatis evadunt. Itemque alio Quid non, inquit, properamus et currimus, ut patriam nostram videre, ut parentes salutare possimus? Magnus illic nos charorum numerus exspectat parentum, fratrum, filiorum; frequens nos et copiosa turba desiderat, jam de sua incolumitate secura, adhuc de nostra salute sollicita. His atque hujusmodi doctor ille sententiis in catholicae fidei luce clarissima, satis aperteque testatur, usque ad hujus corporis depositionem peccandi pericula tentationesque metuendas; deinceps nulla talia quemquam esse passurum. Quod etsi non testaretur, quando de hac re christianus qualiscumque dubitaret? Quomodo igitur homini lapso, et in eodem lapsu istam vitam misere finienti, atque in poenas eunti talibus debitas; quomodo, inquam, huic non plurimum summeque prodesset, si ex hoc tentationum loco priusquam laberetur, morte raperetur.