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CvpRiAN OK Carthage. A. D. 248. 49
* hast, that another take not thy crown," ' Rev. iii. 11.
One of the bishops at the covincil of Carthage, in the year
256, says; '1'" am of opinion that blasphemous and
' wicked heretics, who pervert the sacred and adorable
' words of the scriptures, ought to be accursed.' Afterwards
another bishop, in the same assembly, ' says ; I" also, follow-
' ing- the authority of the divine scriptures, am of opinion
* that heretics are to be baptized.' Cyprian " earnestly ex-
horts all in general, but especially christian minusters, in all
doubtful matters to have recourse to the gospels, and the
epistles of the Apostles, as to the fountain where may be
found the true original doctrhie of Christ. He begins his
discourse on the Lord's prayer on this manner; ' The? precepts
of the g-ospel, my beloved brethren, are to be considered
as the lessons of God to us ; as the foundations of
our hope, and the supports of our faith; as spiritual consolations
to us, showing- us the paths of righteousness, and
setting us forward in the way of salvation : for, whilst with
teachable and willing minds we receive upon earth the instructions
conveyed to us, we are led on insensibly to the
kingdom of *i heaven.'
The respect for the scriptures, particularly of the New
Testament, appears in the public reading- of them in the
church. Cyprian, in two different letters, written in his retirement,
gives his people an account of his having- there
ordained two persons, Aurelius and Celerinus, who were
before confessors, to be readers. In the former of those two
letters he relates the many sufferings of Aurelius, and gives
him a great character: and then adds ;
' That"^ he had de-
" Haereticos blasphemes et iniquos, verbis variis decerpentes sancta et adorabilia
scripturarum verba, execrandos censeo. Num. 31. p. 23o.
" Et ipse secutus divmarum scripturarum auctoritatem baptizandos haereticos
esse censeo, ibid. num. 33. vid. et num. 37. p. 337. ° Nam si ad
divinae traditionis caput et originem revertamur, cessat error humanus. Si
canalis aquam ducens, qui copiose prius et largiter profluebat, subito deficiat,
nonne ad fontem pergitur ? Quod et nunc facere oportet Dei sacerdotes
praecepta divina servantes, ut, si in aliquo nutavent et vacillavent Veritas, ad
originem Dominicam et evangelicam, et apostolicam traditionem revertamur,
et inde surgat actus nostri ratio, unde et ordo et origo surrexerit. Ep. 74. p. 215.
P Evangelica praecepta, fratres dilectissimi, nihil sunt aliud quam magisteria
divina, fundamenta aedificandae spei, firmamenta corroborandae fidei, nutrimenta
fovendi cordis, gubernacula dirigendi itineris, pnesidia obtinendae salutis
quae, dum dociles credentium mentes in terris instruunt, ad coelestia regna per-
ducunt. De Orat. Dom. p. 139. '' That passage I have put down
as translated by Mr. Marshall.
" Merebatur talis clericae ordinationis
uiteriores gradus et incrementa majora, non de annis suis, sed de meritis aestimandus.
Sed interim placuit, ut ab officio lectionis incipiat ; quia et nihil
magis congruit voci, quae Dominum gloriosa praedicatione cont'essa est, quam
celebrandis divinis lectionibus personare ; post verba sublimia quae Christi
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