2

as of the greatest efficacy. "We believe," said Cyprian, "that the merits of the martyrs and the works of the just may have much influence with the Judge, when the day of judgment shall come, when, after the end of this life and world, his people shall stand before the tribunal of Christ." 1 And referring to the efficacy of their prayers for others in his book on "the Unity of the Church" he says-" He (God) can grant forgiveness; he can turn his sentence aside; he can mercifully pardon him who repenteth, worketh, asketh. He can accept of whatsoever the martyrs have demanded, or the priests have done for such." No wonder if Cyprian, professing such principles as these, should warmly recommend himself to the prayers of the martyrs; and accordingly we find his epistles to the confessors in prison full of the most moving postulations for their intervention with that Master whom they served so heroically. In one of these, his fifty-seventh letter, he appears to recommend himself to the confessors even after their demise. He begs of them to remember him "always and everywhere." The passage is as follows:"Clearly as now your words in prayer are more efficacious, and your petition better suited to attain the object sought in the midst of trials, petition earnestly and ask that the Divine clemency may consummate the confession of us all, to the end that God may deliver us too in integrity and glory from this darkness and the snares of the world, in such way that, having been joined by the bond of charity and peace, and having stood together against the assaults of heretics and the persecution of the Gentiles, we may rejoice alike in the kingdom of heaven. I wish you, most blessed and beloved brethren, farewell in the Lord, and to remember me always and everywhere." It would be scarcely fair to insist too much upon the concluding words; they may be fairly employed without any reference

1

Cypr. Liber de Lapsis, No. 17, p. 480в, tom. iv. Curs. Compl. Patrol.: Paris, 1844.

2 Id. Liber de Unitate Ecclesiæ, No. 36, p. 494, ibid.

to the next life. All that can be said of them is, that, if they be taken literally, they will apply to the whole period during which the soul of man exists. They will consequently include the period beyond the grave, and in this sense the words of Cyprian would involve a petition to the confessors, that they should remember him and pray for him, when crowned with the martyr's crown and standing before the throne of God.

Cyprian, if he be the author of the book "De Laude Martyrum," which appears among his writings, again approaches the subject of prayers to the martyrs, in a strain which sounds very like an address to the sainted dead. He begs of them to pray for him, "when God begins to honour martyrdom in their persons," which, with some probability, may be said to be when, in recompense for their sufferings, they are first admitted to the company of the blessed. His words are as follows:-" Wherefore, beloved brethren, though that be entirely (the work) of the Lord's promise and bounty, and though it be given from on high, nor be attained but by His power, and cannot be conceived by the mind, or expressed in words, or be revolved in prayer, or accomplished by any powers of eloquence; still this may be the work of your benevolence, as it will be of your charity and love, if you deign to be mindful of us when the Lord begins to honour martyrdom in you."? Again, we are forced to hesitate before we accept of Cyprian as an expounder of the doctrine of prayers to the saints, as it may perhaps be said that the Lord begins to honour martyrdom in His servants, not only when he confers its reward upon them in the next world, but when in this life He enables them by His grace to accept of the stroke of death for the faith.

The same form of expression occurs in his book “on the Dress of Virgins," where it appears to be susceptible of only one meaning. "Only remember me, when your virginity begins to be honoured." Whatever may be said

1 Liber de Laude Martyr. No. 39, p. 802, Curs. Compl. Patrol. : Paris, 1844.

2 Liber de Habitu Virgin. No. 24, p. 464в, tom. iv. ibid.

of martyrdom, it cannot be believed that virginity "begins to be honoured" until it receives its reward in heaven. Therefore Cyprian here recommends himself to the prayers of the " spouses of Christ," not in their present but in their future state; not as in exile upon earth, but as crowned among the saints in heaven. He prays to them by anticipation, and he evidently implies that by their prayers before the throne of God, they may aid him in his difficulties and conflicts in this world. Here, then, is an overt address to the saints. Clearer still and more significant are the words with which he concludes his thirteenth epistle to Pope Cornelius. "Let us be mutually mindful of each other, in concord and unity. Let us everywhere and always pray for each other; let us by mutual charity lighten the pressures and difficulties (to which we are subjected); and if either of us by the celerity of the Divine mercy shall go before the other, let our love persevere before the Lord, and let not prayer for the brethren and sisters cease unto the mercy of the Father."1 Some of the Protestant editors of the works of Cyprian, have raised a difficulty as to the interpretation of this passage, which it would be a loss of time to discuss. The sense is obvious. The doctrine of prayers to the saints is clearly floating on the surface.

Thus, being fully satisfied from the writings of St. Cyprian as to the prevalence of prayers to the saints in the African Church of the third century, we can afford to dispense with such facts as the annual commemoration of the martyrs, the inscriptions on the slabs which enclosed the bodies of the dead in the Christian cemeteries, the tradition on this subject expressed clearly enough in the apostolic time, and without the slightest ambiguity in the fourth and fifth centuries, all of which demonstrate beyond all controversy that prayers to God's glorified servants were a usage in all Christian times. Lest, however, it may be supposed that we are confined to one witness as

1 Cypr. ep. xiii. ad Cor. No. 5, p. 887A, Curs. Compl. Patrol.: Paris, 1844.

to the practice of the African Church in this particular, where we seldom fail to find abundant materials for filling in the picture of the belief and practice of the people of God in these ages, we will conclude this subject with a few extracts from a letter of Celerinus, which is found among the letters of St. Cyprian. In this letter he beseeches Lucianus, to whom it is addressed, to pray for his sisters to the martyrs already crowned; he also demands of the martyrs that shall be first crowned, to obtain for them the remission of their sins, and Lucianus in his reply to this letter, where he grants the request of Celerinus, states that a distinguished martyr already deceased had given him authority to grant peace in his name to the first that should demand it after he should be called to immortality. The passage, or rather series of passages, will be best understood by quoting them at length. "Still you must know that I am in great tribulation, and as if you were present with me, I recall your former charity both day and night, God alone knows; and therefore I ask you that you yield to my desire and grieve with me on the death of my sister, who in this persecution has fallen from Christ. For she offered sacrifice, and excited the wrath of the Lord, which to me appears quite clear, for whose conduct I in this joyful time of Easter, weeping day and night, have spent my time, and spend it to the present, groaning in sack-cloth and ashes, until aid shall come from our Lord Jesus Christ and pity through you, or through those my lords who will have been crowned, or who have been crowned (coronati fuerint), whom you will ask to pardon the miserable transgression." 1 "Wherefore, I ask you, my lord, and beg of you through our Lord Jesus Christ, that you refer to the rest of your colleagues, your brethren, my masters, and demand of them, that which soever of you be crowned first, should remit this sin to those sisters of mine Numetria and Candida."2 In his reply to this letter of

1

Celerin, ad Lucian. ep. xx. inter Cyprian, No. 2, p. 276, tom. iv. Curs. Compl. Patrol.: Paris, 1844. 2 Ibid. No. 3, p. 277.

Celerinus, Lucianus has these remarkable words. "When the blessed martyr Paul was still in the body, he called me and said to me, 'Lucianus in the presence of Christ I say to you, if any one after my departure ask peace of you, give it in my name."1 It cannot be denied that these passages have much significance, as regards the influence of the saints in the next world, while it must be admitted that they are not so outspoken on the subject of praying to them, as we would desire. However, as I said before, abundant light is shed on this subject by Cyprian, and by the voluminous writers of the fourth century.

DIVISION VII.

VENERATION OF THE CROSS, ETC.

If the Christians of the third century admitted and recognized a degree of blessedness in some material objects, they must have given them a certain amount of rational care and respect. It must be obvious to any one that both things must coexist. If, for instance, the Church of these remote times undertook, as it does now, to pour its benediction upon a statue, a rosary, or to sanctify a communion-cup or chalice for the use of the altar, it would be folly to suppose that she afterwards devoted them to profane or secular purposes. There are numberless modes of religious veneration, each differing in degree, that may be rendered to things which are regarded as holy, such as sovereign and supreme worship of mind and body to the Deity, then corporal prostration, genuflection, salutation in its various forms, reverent osculation; and even contrectation, collocation in a certain place, separation from other objects, are all forms of respect, and may be made

Lucian. ad Celer. inter Cyprian, No. 2, p. 280, tom. iv. Curs. Compl. Patrol.: Paris, 1844.