Cyprian of Carthage, On the Mortality
Although many of you, my dearest brothers, possess a steadfast mind, a firm faith, and a devoted soul that the present abundance of mortality does not shake, but which, like a strong and stable rock, breaks the world's turbulent attacks and the age's violent waves rather than being broken by them, and which is not conquered by temptations but proven by them, I nevertheless notice among the common people some who, whether through weakness of mind, smallness of faith, the sweetness of secular life, softness of sex, or, what is worse, error of truth, stand less firmly and do not exercise the divine and invincible strength of their hearts. This matter must not be hidden or left unspoken, so that, as far as my mediocrity suffices, a sermon conceived from the Lord's reading and delivered with full vigor may suppress the laziness of delicate minds, and that the one who has begun to be a man of God and of Christ may be deemed worthy of God and of Christ. For the one who serves God, who is stationed in the heavenly camp and already hopes for what is divine, ought to acknowledge himself so that no trepidation or disturbance exists in us amid the world's storms and whirlwinds, since the Lord has foretold these things with a provident voice, exhorting, teaching, preparing, and strengthening his Church's people for every endurance of future events. He announced that wars, fires, earthquakes, and pestilences would arise in various places, and he forewarned that adversities would increase more and more in the last times, so that we would not be shaken by the unexpected and new fear of threatening things. Behold, the things spoken are coming to pass; and as the things predicted beforehand happen, the things promised will also follow, the Lord himself promising and saying: "When you see all these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near" (Luke 21:31). The kingdom of God, my dearest brothers, has begun to draw near. The reward of life, the joy of eternal salvation, perpetual security, and the possession of paradise, recently lost, now arrive as the world passes away; now heavenly things succeed earthly ones, great things succeed small ones, eternal things succeed transient ones. What room is here for anxiety and worry? Who is troubled and sad amid these things except the one who lacks hope and faith? For it belongs to the one who fears death to refuse to go to Christ. It belongs to the one who refuses to go to Christ to disbelieve that he will begin to reign with Christ. For it is written that the just man lives by faith. If you are just and live by faith, if you truly believe in Christ, why do you not embrace the fact that you will be with Christ in the future, and why are you not secure in the Lord's promise, and why do you not rejoice that you will be free from the devil? Simeon, that just man who was truly just, who kept God's commands with full faith, when he had been divinely assured that he would not die before seeing Christ, and when Christ the infant came to the temple with his mother, recognized in the Spirit that Christ had already been born, the one foretold to him; and upon seeing him, he knew he would soon die. Therefore, rejoicing at his approaching death and secure in his near summons, he took the child in his hands, and blessing the Lord, he exclaimed: "Now you dismiss your servant, Lord, according to your word, in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation"; thereby proving and testifying that peace belongs to the servants of God then, a free peace then, a tranquil rest then, when, extracted from the world's turmoil, we seek the harbor of eternal rest and security, when, having finished this death, we come to immortality. For that is the true peace, that faithful tranquility, that stable, firm, and perpetual security. Moreover, what else is the world but a daily battle against the devil, a constant conflict against his darts and arrows? We contend with greed, impurity, anger, ambition, carnal vices, and worldly allurements in a continual and troublesome struggle. The human mind, besieged and hedged in on all sides by the devil's attacks, can hardly meet each assault, can hardly resist. If greed is cast down, lust rises; if lust is suppressed, ambition follows; if ambition is despised, anger inflames, pride puffs up, drunkenness entices, envy breaks concord, and jealousy severs friendship. You are forced to curse what the divine law forbids, compelled to swear what is not permitted.
Latin
Etsi apud plurimos vestrum, fratres dilectissimi, mens solida est et fides firma et anima devota, quae ad praesentis mortalitatis copiam non movetur, sed tamquam petra fortis et stabilis turbidos impetus mundi et violentos saeculi fluctus frangit potius ipsa nec frangitur, et tentationibus non vincitur, sed probatur, tamen quia animadverto in plebe quosdam vel imbecillitate animi, vel fidei parvitate, vel dulcedine saecularis vitae, vel sexus mollitie, vel, quod majus est, veritatis errore minus stare fortiter nec pectoris sui divinum atque invictum robur exercere, dissimulanda res non fuit nec tacenda quo minus quantum nostra mediocritas sufficit, vigore pleno et sermone de dominica lectione concepto delicatae mentis ignavia comprimatur, et qui homo Dei et Christi esse jam coepit, Deo et Christo dignus habeatur. Agnoscere enim se debet, fratres dilectissimi, qui Deo militat, qui positus in coelestibus castris divinam jam sperat, ut ad procellas et turbines mundi trepidatio nulla sit in nobis, nulla turbatio, quando haec ventura praedixerit Dominus providae vocis hortatu instruens et docens et praeparans atque corroborans Ecclesiae suae populum ad omnem tolerantiam futurorum, bella et fumes et terrae motus et pestilentias per loca singula exsurgere praenuntiavit et cecinit. Et ne inopinatus nos et novus rerum infestantium metus quateret, magis ac magis in novissimis temporibus adversa crebrescere ante praemonuit. Fiunt ecce quae dicta sunt; et quando fiunt quae ante praedicta sunt, sequentur et quaecumque promissa sunt, Domino ipso pollicente et dicente: Cum autem videritis haec omnia fieri, scitote quoniam in proximo est regnum Dei.. Regnum Dei, fratres dilectissimi, esse coepit in proximo. Praemium vitae et gaudium salutis aeternae, et perpetua securitas, et possessio paradisi nuper amissa, mundo transeunte jam veniunt; jam terrenis coelestia et magna parvis et caducis aeterna succedunt. Quis hic anxietatis et sollicitudinis locus est? Quis inter haec trepidus et moestus est, nisi cui spes et fides deest? Ejus est enim mortem timere qui ad Christum nolit ire. Ejus est ad Christum nolle ire qui se non credat cum Christo incipere regnare. Scriptum est enim justum fide vivere. Si justus es, et fide vivis, si vere in Christum credis, cur non cum Christo futurus et de Domini pollicitatione securus quod ad Christum voceris amplecteris, et quod diabolo careas gratularis. Simeon denique ille justus, qui vere justus fuit, qui fide plena Dei praecepta servavit, dum ei divinitus responsum fuisset quod non ante moreretur quam Christum vidisset, et Christus infans in templum cum matre venisset, agnovit in Spiritu natum esse jam Christum, de quo sibi fuerat ante praedictum; quo viso, scivit se cito esse moriturum. Laetus itaque de morte jam proxima, et de vicina accersitione securus, accepit in manus puerum, et benedicens Dominum exclamavit et dixit: Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secuudum verbum tuum in pace, quoniam viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum; probans scilicet atque contestans tunc esse servis Dei pacem, tunc liberam, tunc tranquillam quietem, quando, de istis mundi turbinibus extracti, sedis et securitatis aeternae portum petimus, quando expuncta hac morte ad immortalitatem venimus. Illa est enim vera pax, illa fida tranquillitas, illa stabilis et firma et perpetua securitas. Caeterum, quid aliud in mundo, quam pugna adversus diabolum, quotidie geritur, quam adversus jacula ejus et tela conflictationibus assiduis dimicatur? Cum avaritia nobis, cum impudicitia, cum ira, cum ambitione congressio est, cum carnalibus vitiis, cum illecebris saecularibus assidua et molesta luctatio est. Obsessa mens hominis et undique diaboli infestatatione vallata vix occurrit singulis, vix resistit. Si avaritia prostrata est, exsurgit libido: si libido compressa est, succedit ambitio: si ambitio contempta est, ira exasperat, inflat superbia, vinolentia invitat, invidia concordiam rumpit, amicitiam zelus abscindit. Cogeris maledicere quod divina lex prohibet, compelleris jurare quod non licet.