The main passage which the Papists cite from Cyprian is as follows: “It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory: it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord.” (Epistle 51, to Antonianus)
Bellarmine cites this passage as one that alludes to 1 Cor. 3:15, and hence it is proper for us to address it here.
This quotation is removed from both its historical and literary context. Cyprian wrote this letter during the Novatian controversy, in which was discussed what the proper course of discipline and procedure was for Christians who had denied the faith under the threat of persecution and martyrdom, but later on sought repentance and readmission into the Church. This is the issue which Cyprian is discussing throughout the letter. When we read the entire paragraph in which this quotation occurs, it is a comparison between the martyr and the penitent, in which Cyprian says the condition of the former is better than the latter:
“And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that repentance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace is offered to the penitent. The strength of the truly believing remains unshaken; and with those who fear and love God with their whole heart, their integrity continues steady and strong. For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigour of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to the adulterer. It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory: it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord.”
Cyprian’s point is clear in this text: it is better to suffer the pains of martyrdom and be immediately received into heaven, rather than deny the faith in order to escape tortures and physical suffering, and then have to go through years of proving one’s repentance and then being readmitted into the church, and if not, awaiting God’s judgment at the last Day. The “fiery trial” of which he was speaking is church discipline.
Another issue is this: based on the context, we know that those who are “purged by fire”, as Cyprian says, are specifically lapsed Christians, and yet the Romanists believe that there will be those in purgatory who never denied the faith.
Elsewhere, we have places where Cyprian shows no knowledge of an intermediate state for purification and satispassio, but rather teaches that saints who die go into the presence of God in paradise immediately:
“What room is there here for anxiety and solicitude? Who, in the midst of these things, is trembling and sad, except he who is without hope and faith? For it is for him to fear death who is not willing to go to Christ. It is for him to be unwilling to go to Christ who does not believe that he is about to reign with Christ. For it is written that the just lives by faith. If you are just, and live by faith, if you truly believe in Christ, why, since you are about to be with Christ, and are secure of the Lord's promise, do you not embrace the assurance that you are called to Christ, and rejoice that you are freed from the devil? Certainly Simeon, that just man, who was truly just, who kept God's commands with a full faith, when it had been pledged him from heaven that he should not die before he had seen the Christ, and Christ had come an infant into the temple with His mother, acknowledged in spirit that Christ was now born, concerning whom it had before been foretold to him; and when he had seen Him, he knew that he should soon die. Therefore, rejoicing concerning his now approaching death, and secure of his immediate summons, he received the child into his arms, and blessing the Lord, he exclaimed, and said, Now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation; Luke 2:29 assuredly proving and bearing witness that the servants of God then had peace, then free, then tranquil repose, when, withdrawn from these whirlwinds of the world, we attain the harbour of our home and eternal security, when having accomplished this death we come to immortality. For that is our peace, that our faithful tranquility, that our steadfast, and abiding, and perpetual security.” (Treatise on Mortality, sections 2-3)
“When you have once departed there, there is no longer any place for repentance, and no possibility of making satisfaction. Here life is either lost or saved; here eternal safety is provided for by the worship of God and the fruits of faith.” (An Address to Demetrianus, 25)
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