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On the Lapsed

Cyprian of Carthage

Section 17

About this work

Cyprian addresses Christians who sacrificed or obtained certificates during persecution, balancing rebuke, repentance, pastoral restoration, the claims of confessors, and the discipline of the church.

Author: Cyprian of Carthage
Date: c. AD 251
Origin: Carthage, North Africa
Genre: Theological Treatise

17. Let no one cheat himself, let no one

‹ Section 16 Section 18 ›

deceive

himself

.

The

Lord

alone

can

have

mercy

.

He

alone

can

bestow

pardon

for

sins

which

have

been

committed

against

Himself

,

who

bare

our

sins

,

who

sorrowed

for

us

,

whom

God

delivered

up

for

our

sins

.

Man

cannot

be

greater

than

God

,

nor

can

a

servant

remit

or

forego

by

his

indulgence

what

has

been

committed

by

a

greater

crime

against

the

Lord

,

lest

to

the

person

lapsed

this

be

moreover

added

to

his

sin

,

if

he

be

ignorant

that

it

is

declared

,

“

Cursed

is

the

man

that

putteth

his

hope

in

man

.

”

The

Lord

must

be

besought

.

The

Lord

must

be

appeased

by

our

atonement

,

who

has

said

,

that

him

that

denieth

Him

He

will

deny

,

who

alone

has

received

all

judgment

from

His

Father

.

We

believe

,

indeed

,

that

the

merits

of

martyrs

and

the

works

of

the

righteous

are

of

great

avail

with

the

Judge

;

but

that

will

be

when

the

day

of

judgment

shall

come

;

when

,

after

the

conclusion

of

this

life

and

the

world

,

His

people

shall

stand

before

the

tribunal

of

Christ

.

Notes

40
Jer. xvii. 5. [Here is an emphatic repudiation of what produced mediæval indulgences, saint-worship, and Mariolatry. Of the latter, so pre-eminently the system of modern Rome, not a syllable in all these Fathers. “Quam ritus eccles. nescit.” Bernard, Ep. clxxiv., Opp.., i. 389.]
41
[All the whole base on which “indulgences” and the like rest, is here shown to be worthless.]