The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

Trealises joined with Cyprian's Wurks. A. D. 250. 57
no necessity to be n\ore particular here, since it may be relied
upon, and taken lor granted, that this deacon's canon was
the same with his bishop's.
11. There are several treatises, which sometimes have been
ascribed to St. Cyprian, but are now generally allowed by
learned men not to be his. 1 shall here speak of four of
them : Of shows ; Of discipline and the benelit of chastity ;
Of the praise of martyrdom ; Against the heretic Novatian,
or, Against the Novatian heretic. Of the first two, and the
last, l3u Pin'" says, they are ancient and useful; that they
appear to have been all three written by one and the same
person, and that they might be reckoned pieces of St. Cyprian,
if it were not tor the difterence of style ; and that they
are not ascribed to him in the manuscripts, but only in the
printed editions. As I do not see any plain marks of these
three pieces having* one and the same author, I shall give a
distinct account of all the four treatises just mentioned, according
to the order they are placed in above, which is the
same they have in the appendix of St. Cyprian's genuine
works in the Oxford edition. Afterwards 1 shall make some
extracts out of the book of an anonymous author. Concerning
the rebaptizing- of heretics : and lastly, out of a small
piece, entitled, a Computation of Easter ; all these being
now usually joined in the volume of St. Cyprian's works.
I. 1 begin" with the piece. Of shows, which is called an
epistle of an unknown author. It seems to have been written
by a bishop, then" unwillingly separated from his people,
and who had not frequent opportunities of writing- to them.
TillemontP says that, whoever Avas the author, it is an excellent
work: thafi it Avas written in the times of heathenism,
Mhen"^ exoreisms were frequent in the church, and'' whilst it
was yet the custom to carry the eucharist home. That it
was written in the time of heathenism, I think apparent from
divers passages. This book is much commended by the*
quia f oto corde crediderat, a Philippo statini tinctus ; non est similis compara-
tio. Ibid. p. 2. "^ S. Cyprien. Bibl. des Aut, Ecc. T. i. p. 172.
" De Spectaculis. Epistola ignoti auctoris. " Ut me salis confristat,
et animum meum graviter affligit, cum nulla milii scribendi ad vos
porrigitur occasio, (detrimentum enim est meum vobiscum non colloqui,)
ita nihil mihi tantam Isetitiam hilaritatemque restituit, quam cum adest iiirsus
occasio. p. 2. Ed. Ox. p Mem. Ec. T. iv. St. Cyprien. art. 22. See
also note xxviii. ^ Quod enim spectaculum sine idolo ? quis ludus
sine sacrificio ? quod certamen non consecratum mortuo ? p. 3. a. vid. quae
sequuntur. / Impudenter in ecclesia daemonia exorcizat, quorum
voluptates in spectaculis laudat. p. 3. a. * Qui festinans ad spectaculum,
dimissus, et adhuc gerens secum, ut assolet, eucharistiam inter corpora obscoena
meretricium tulit. p. 3. b. m. * Vit. S. Cypr. sect, xxxv.