Cyprian of Carthage, On the Mortality
Although many of you, beloved brothers, have a steadfast mind, a firm faith, and a devoted soul—one that the present onslaught of mortality does not shake, but rather, like a strong and stable rock, breaks the world's turbulent assaults and the age's violent waves without being broken itself, and is not conquered by temptations but proven by them—nevertheless, I see among the common people some who stand less firmly, whether from weakness of mind, smallness of faith, the sweetness of worldly life, softness of sex, or, what is worse, error about the truth, and who do not exercise the divine and invincible strength of their hearts. This matter could not be concealed or passed over in silence, so that, as far as my mediocrity allows, with full vigor and a sermon drawn from the Lord's reading, the laziness of a delicate mind may be suppressed, and whoever has begun to be a man of God and of Christ may be deemed worthy of God and of Christ. For he must recognize, beloved brothers, that the one who serves God, who is stationed in the heavenly camp and already hopes for divine things, should feel no trepidation, no disturbance, when the Lord, with the exhortation of a provident voice—instructing, teaching, preparing, and strengthening his Church's people for all endurance of future things—foretold and declared that wars, fires, earthquakes, and pestilences would arise in various places (Luke 21:31). And lest an unexpected and new fear of threatening things disturb us, he warned beforehand that adversities would increase more and more in the last times. Behold, the things that were said are happening; and when the things predicted beforehand come to pass, 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." The kingdom of God, beloved brothers, has begun to draw near. The reward of life and the joy of eternal salvation, and perpetual security, and the possession of paradise, recently lost, are now coming as the world passes away; now heavenly things and great things succeed earthly and small and transitory things. What room is there here for anxiety and worry? Who is disturbed and sad amid these things, except the one who lacks hope and faith? For it belongs to the one who fears death to be unwilling to go to Christ. It belongs to the one unwilling to go to Christ to not believe that he will begin to reign with Christ. For it is written: "The just shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4). If you are just and live by faith, if you truly believe in Christ, why do you not, secure in the Lord's promise, embrace the future with Christ, and rejoice that you are called to Christ and freed from the devil? Finally, Simeon, that just man, who was truly just, who kept God's commandments with full faith—when he had received a divine answer that he would not die before seeing Christ, and Christ came to the temple as an infant with his mother, he recognized in the Spirit that Christ had already been born, the one foretold to him beforehand; and when he saw him, he knew he would soon die. So, rejoicing in his approaching death and secure in his near summons, he took the child in his hands, and blessing the Lord, exclaimed and said: "Now you dismiss your servant, Lord, according to your word, in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation"; proving and testifying that peace belongs to God's servants, then freedom, then tranquil rest, when, extracted from the world's turbulences, we seek the harbor of eternal security, when, having finished this death, we come to immortality. For that is the true peace, that faithful tranquility, that stable and firm and perpetual security. But what else is there in the world except a daily battle against the devil, a constant conflict against his darts and arrows? We face confrontation with avarice, impudicity, anger, ambition; we wage a constant and troublesome struggle with carnal vices and worldly allurements. The human mind, besieged and hemmed in on all sides by the devil's infestation, can hardly meet or resist individual attacks. If avarice is prostrated, lust rises up; if lust is compressed, ambition succeeds; if ambition is despised, anger exasperates, pride inflates, drunkenness invites, envy breaks concord, and zeal cuts off friendship. You will be forced to curse what divine law prohibits, compelled to swear what is not allowed.
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.