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On the Public Shows

Pseudo-Cyprian

Section 9

About this work

Author: Pseudo-Cyprian

9. The Christian has nobler exhibitions, if he wishes for

‹ Section 8 Section 10 ›

them

.

He

has

true

and

profitable

pleasures

,

if

he

will

recollect

himself

.

And

to

say

nothing

of

those

which

he

cannot

yet

contemplate

,

he

has

that

beauty

of

the

world

to

look

upon

and

admire

.

He

may

gaze

upon

the

sun’s

rising

,

and

again

on

its

setting

,

as

it

brings

round

in

their

mutual

changes

days

and

nights

;

the

moon’s

orb

,

designating

in

its

waxings

and

warnings

the

courses

of

the

seasons

;

the

troops

of

shining

stars

,

and

those

which

glitter

from

on

high

with

extreme

mobility

,

—

their

members

divided

through

the

changes

of

the

entire

year

,

and

the

days

themselves

with

the

nights

distributed

into

hourly

periods

;

the

heavy

mass

of

the

earth

balanced

by

the

mountains

,

and

the

flowing

rivers

with

their

sources

;

the

expanse

of

seas

,

with

their

waves

and

shores

;

and

meanwhile

,

the

air

,

subsisting

equally

everywhere

in

perfect

harmony

,

expanded

in

the

midst

of

all

,

and

in

concordant

bonds

animating

all

things

with

its

delicate

life

,

now

scattering

showers

from

the

contracted

clouds

,

now

recalling

the

serenity

of

the

sky

with

its

refreshed

purity

;

and

in

all

these

spheres

their

appropriate

tenants

—

in

the

air

the

birds

,

in

the

waters

the

fishes

,

on

the

earth

man

.

Let

these

,

I

say

,

and

other

divine

works

,

be

the

exhibitions

for

faithful

Christians

.

What

theatre

built

by

human

hands

could

ever

be

compared

to

such

works

as

these

?

Although

it

may

be

reared

with

immense

piles

of

stones

,

the

mountain

crests

are

loftier

;

and

although

the

fretted

roofs

glitter

with

gold

,

they

will

be

surpassed

by

the

brightness

of

the

starry

firmament

.

Never

will

any

one

admire

the

works

of

man

,

if

he

has

recognised

himself

as

the

son

of

God

.

He

degrades

himself

from

the

height

of

his

nobility

,

who

can

admire

anything

but

the

Lord

.

Notes

16
[Compare Clement, vol. ii. p. 256, and note 1.]
17
[De Maistre, who is a Christian, with all his hereditary prejudice and enslavement, has a fine passage in the opening of his Soirées de St. Pétersbourg, which the reader will enjoy. It concludes with this saying: “Les cœurs pervers n’ont jamais de belles nuits ni de beaux jours.” P. 7. vol. i. See vol. iv. p. 173, this series.]