{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. viii.</span>—11. In short, we may see how great an evil\r\nin itself is envy, which cannot be other than malicious. Let\r\nus not look for other testimony. Cyprian himself is sufficient\r\nfor us, through whose mouth the Lord poured forth so\r\nmany thunders in most perfect truth, and uttered so many\r\nuseful precepts about envy and malignity. Let us therefore\r\nread the letter of Cyprian about envy and malignity, and see\r\nhow great an evil it is to envy those better than ourselves,—an\r\nevil whose origin he shows in memorable words to have\r\nsprung from the devil himself. \"To feel jealousy,\" he says,\r\n\"of what you regard as good, and to envy those who are\r\nbetter than yourselves, to some, dearest brethren, seems a\r\nlight and minute offence.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_212_212\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_212_212\">[212]</a> And again a little later, when\r\nhe was inquiring into the source and origin of the evil, he\r\nsays, \"From this the devil, in the very beginning of the\r\nworld, perished first himself, and led others to destruction.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_213_213\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_213_213\">[213]</a>\r\nAnd further on in the same chapter: \"What an evil, dearest\r\nbrethren, is that by which an angel fell! by which that exalted<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_90\">[Pg 90]</a></span>\r\nand illustrious loftiness was able to be deceived and overthrown!\r\nby which he was deceived who was the deceiver!\r\nFrom that time envy stalks upon the earth, when man, about\r\nto perish through malignity, submits himself to the teacher of\r\nperdition,—when he who envies imitates the devil, as it is\r\nwritten, 'Through envy of the devil came death into the\r\nworld, and they that do hold of his side do find it.'\"<a id=\"FNanchor_214_214\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_214_214\">[214]</a> How\r\ntrue, how forcible are these words of Cyprian, in an epistle\r\nknown throughout the world, we cannot fail to recognise. It\r\nwas truly fitting for Cyprian to argue and warn most forcibly\r\nabout envy and malignity, from which most deadly evil he\r\nproved his own heart to be so far removed by the abundance\r\nof his Christian love; by carefully guarding which he remained\r\nin the unity of communion with his colleagues, who without\r\nill-feeling entertained different views about baptism, whilst\r\nhe himself differed in opinion from them, not through any\r\ncontention of ill will, but through human infirmity, erring in\r\na point which God, in His own good time, would reveal to\r\nhim by reason of his perseverance in love. For he says\r\nopenly, \"Judging no one, nor depriving any of the right of\r\ncommunion if he differ from us. For no one of us setteth\r\nhimself up as a bishop of bishops, or by tyrannical terror\r\nforceth his colleagues to a necessity of obeying.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_215_215\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_215_215\">[215]</a> And in\r\nthe end of the epistle before us he says, \"These things I have\r\nwritten to you briefly, dearest brother, according to my poor\r\nability, prescribing to or prejudging no one, so as to prevent\r\neach bishop from doing what he thinks right in the free exercise\r\nof his own judgment. We, so far as in us lies, do not\r\nstrive on behalf of heretics with our colleagues and fellow-bishops,\r\nwith whom we hold the harmony that God enjoins,\r\nand the peace of our Lord, especially as the apostle says,\r\n'If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such\r\ncustom, neither the churches of God.'<a id=\"FNanchor_216_216\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_216_216\">[216]</a> Christian love in\r\nour souls, the honour of our colleges, the bond of faith, the\r\nharmony of the priesthood, all these are maintained by us\r\nwith patience and gentleness. For this cause we have also,\r\nso far as our poor ability admitted, by the permission and\r\ninspiration of the Lord, written now a treatise on the benefit<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_91\">[Pg 91]</a></span>\r\nof patience,<a id=\"FNanchor_217_217\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_217_217\">[217]</a> which we have sent to you in consideration of\r\nour mutual affection.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_218_218\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_218_218\">[218]</a></p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK FOURTH."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-136"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"fe63fb763138e5e09ab3b1ba4829d0f2e07949d7a250514fcb90d945a2e34257","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_218_218","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Title leaves identify J. R. King, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1872; catalog identifies translator John Richard King (1835-1907). Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/American Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_218_218","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_218_218\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_218_218\"><span class=\"label\">[218]</span></a> Cypr. <i>Ep.</i> lxxiii. sec. 22.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_218_218","text_sha256":"cf9f371f63843395724b9ddcaad965db180966b9283c3c9bcf706db0b76358c1","verified":false,"work_id":null}