To Quirinus: Three Books of Testimonies 2.30–3.10

That he is both Judge and King.

Likewise in Psalm 71: “O God, give your judgment to the king and your righteousness to the king's son, to judge your people in your righteousness.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True; he judges fairly and justly and makes war. And his eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he bore a name written that no one knew but himself; and he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in pure white linen; and from his mouth came a sharp sword, that with it he might strike the nations, whom he will shepherd with a rod of iron; and he will tread the winepress of the wine of the wrath of God almighty. He has also on his garment and on his thigh a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.” Likewise in the Gospel: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all nations will be gathered before him; and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand: Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them: Truly I say to you, as long as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Then he will say to those at his left: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty and you did not give me drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in; naked and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison and you did not come to me. Then they too will answer, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not serve you? And he will answer them: Truly I say to you, as long as you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. And these will go into eternal fire, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Cyprian to his son Quirinus, greeting. In keeping with the faith and devotion that you show toward the Lord God, dearest son, you asked me to excerpt for your instruction from the holy Scriptures certain headings bearing on the religious discipline of our school. You were looking for a concise course of divine reading, so that a mind devoted to God might not be wearied by long or numerous volumes of books, but, instructed by a summary of heavenly precepts, might have a wholesome and ample compendium to support its memory. And because I owe you a service full of love, I have done what you asked, laboring once so that you would not have to labor always. So, as far as our modest ability could take in, I have collected certain commands of the Lord and divine teachings that may be both easy and useful to readers, since a few things arranged in a summary are both read through quickly and repeated often. I pray, dearest son, that you may always fare well.

On the good of works and of mercy. In Isaiah: “Cry out with strength and do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their crimes. They seek me day by day and long to know my ways, like a people that had done righteousness and had not forsaken the judgment of God. They now ask of me a just judgment and long to draw near to God, saying: ‘Why is it that we fasted and you did not see, that we humbled our souls and you did not take notice?’ For in the days of your fasting your own wills are found. For either you goad those who are subject to you, or you fast for lawsuits and quarrels, or you strike your neighbors with your fists. Why do you fast to me, so that today your voice may be heard in clamor? This is not the fast that I have chosen, nor a day for a man to humble his soul. Even if you twist your neck like a hoop and spread sackcloth and ashes beneath you, not even so will you call it an acceptable fast. Not such a fast have I chosen, says the Lord; but loose every knot of injustice, undo the strangling bonds of oppressive dealings, send the broken away into rest, and tear up every unjust contract. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see someone naked, clothe him, and you shall not despise those of your own seed. Then your early light shall break forth, and your garments shall quickly spring up; and righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you. Then you shall cry out, and God shall hear you; while you are still speaking, he will say: ‘Here I am.’” Also in Job: “I kept the needy from the hand of the mighty, and I helped the orphan who had no helper. The mouth of the widow blessed me, since I was eye to the blind; I was also foot to the lame, and father of the weak.” Also in Tobit: “And I said to Tobias my son: ‘Go and bring whatever poor man you find among our brothers, provided he keeps God in mind with his whole heart. Bring him, and he shall share this meal of mine with me. See, I am waiting for you, son, until you come.’” Also there: “All the days of your life, son, keep God in mind, and do not transgress his commandments. Do righteousness all the days of your life, and do not walk in the way of iniquity; for if you act in truth, there will be regard for your works. Give alms from your substance, and do not turn your face away from any poor man; so it will come about that the face of God is not turned away from you. As you have, son, so do: if your substance is abundant, give more alms from it; if you have little, share out of that very little. And do not be afraid when you give alms: you are laying up a good reward for yourself against the day of need, for almsgiving delivers from death and does not allow one to go into darkness. Almsgiving is a good gift for all who practise it in the sight of the most high God.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “He who has mercy on the poor lends to God.” Also there: “He who gives to the poor will not be in want; but he who turns away his eye will be in great poverty.” Also there: “By almsgiving and faith sins are purged.” Also there: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by doing this you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Also there: “As water quenches fire, so almsgiving quenches sin.” Also in Proverbs: “[Do not say:] ‘Go and come back; tomorrow I will give,’ when you could do good at once. For you do not know what will happen the next day.” Also there: “He who stops his ear so as not to hear the weak will himself call upon God, and there will be no one to hear him.” Also there: “He who lives blamelessly in righteousness will leave blessed children.” Also in Ecclesiasticus: “Son, if you have, do good with it, and you will offer offerings worthy of God; remember that death does not delay.” Also there: “Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and it will plead for you against every evil.” Also in Psalm 36 [37], that mercy benefits even one's descendants: “I have been young and have grown old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All day long he is merciful and lends, and his seed will be in blessing.” Also in Psalm 40 [41]: “Blessed is he who considers the needy and the poor; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him.” Also in Psalm 111 [112]: “He has scattered, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains for ever and ever.” Also in Hosea: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Also there: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Also there: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not dig through. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Also there: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls; when he has found a precious pearl, he goes and sells all that he had and buys it.” That even a small work is of benefit. Also there: “And whoever gives one of these least a cup of cold water to drink only in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, his reward will not perish.” That alms are to be refused to no one. Also there: “Give to everyone who asks you, and do not turn away from him who wishes to borrow from you.” Also there: “‘If you wish to come into life, keep the commandments.’ He says: ‘Which?’ Jesus said to him: ‘You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not bear false witness; honor father and mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man says to him: ‘All these I have kept; what do I still lack?’ Jesus says to him: ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your goods and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” Also there: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all the nations will be gathered before him. And he will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and he will set the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand: ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you covered me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ And the King will answer and say to them: ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of these least of my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those on the left: ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in, I was naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not come to me.’ Then they too will answer, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ And he will answer them: ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.’ And these will go into eternal burning, but the righteous into eternal life.” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “Sell what you possess and give alms.” Also there: “He who made what is inside also made what is outside. But give alms, and see, all things are clean for you.” Also there: “‘See, I give half of my substance to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Jesus said: ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he too is a son of Abraham.’” Also the apostle Paul in Second Corinthians: “Let your abundance supply their want, so that their abundance may also be a supply for your want, and there may be equality, as it is written: He who had much did not have too much, and he who had little did not lack.” Also there: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows in blessing will also reap of blessing. But let each give as he has purposed in his heart, not as from sorrow or from necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Also there: “As it is written: He has scattered, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains for ever.” Also there: “He who supplies seed to the sower will both supply bread for eating and multiply your sowing and increase the growth of the fruits of your righteousness, so that you may be enriched in all things.” Also there: “The ministration of this service will not only supply what the saints lack but will overflow through much thanksgiving to God.” Also in the Epistle of John: “Whoever has this world's substance and sees his brother in need and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God remain in him?” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “When you give a lunch or a supper, do not invite your friends or brothers or neighbors or the rich, lest they too invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a lunch or a supper, invite beggars, the crippled, the blind, the lame, and you will be blessed, because they have nothing with which to repay you; but you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

That in works and almsgiving, even if less is done because of slender means, the will itself is enough. In Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians: “If the will is ready, it is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what one does not have; nor is it meant that others should have relief and you distress.”

That love and brotherly affection are to be practised devoutly and steadfastly. In Malachi: “Did not one God create us? Is there not one Father of us all? Why then has each of you forsaken his brother?” Also in the Gospel according to John: “My peace I give you, my peace I leave you.” Also there: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love than this no one has, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Also there: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Also there: “I say to you that if two of you agree on earth, whatever you ask concerning anything will be done for you by my Father who is in heaven. For wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them.” Also in First Corinthians: “And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to fleshly people, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able, and even now you are not able, for you are still fleshly. For where there is jealousy and strife and dissension among you, are you not fleshly and walking according to man?” Also there: “And if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I distribute all I have in food, and if I hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is great-souled, love is kind, love is not jealous, love does not act wrongly, is not puffed up, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice over injustice, but rejoices with the truth. It loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, bears all things. Love never fails.” Also to the Galatians: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and accuse one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” Also in the Epistle of John: “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: everyone who is not righteous is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” Also there: “He who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has life abiding in him.” Also there: “If anyone says that he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he sees cannot love God whom he does not see.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “And the multitude of those who had believed acted with one soul and mind, and there was no distinction among them, nor did they regard anything of the goods they had as their own, but all things were common to them.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “If you offer your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift at the altar.” Also the apostle John: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Also there: “He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even until now.”

That we are to boast in nothing, since nothing is our own. In the Gospel according to John: “No one can receive anything unless it has been given him from heaven.” Also in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians: “For what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Also in the first book of Kingdoms: “Do not boast or speak lofty things, and let no arrogant talk come out of your mouth, for God is the Lord of knowledge.” Also there: “The bow of the mighty has been made weak, and the feeble have been girded with strength.” Also in Maccabees: “It is right to be subject to God, and for a mortal not to think himself equal to God.” Also there: “And do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his glory will become dung and worms. Today he will be exalted, and tomorrow he will not be found, because he has returned to his earth, and his thought will perish.”

That humility and quietness are to be kept in all things. In Isaiah the Lord God says thus: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, or what is the place of my rest? For my hand made all these things, and all these things are mine. And upon whom shall I look, but upon the humble and quiet man who trembles at my words?” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Also according to Luke: “He who is least among you all, he will be great.” Also there: “He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Also to the Romans: “Do not be high-minded, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you either.” Also in Psalm 33 [34]: “And he will save the humble in spirit.” Also to the Romans: “Render to all what is due: tribute to whom tribute, tax to whom tax, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “They love the first place at dinners and the first seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace, and to be called Rabbi by men. But you, do not be called Rabbi, for you have one teacher.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “A servant is not greater than his master, nor an apostle greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed will you be if you do them.” Also in Psalm 81 [82]: “Do justice to the humble and the poor.”

That all the good and righteous labor more, but must endure, because they are being tested. In Solomon: “The furnace tests the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation tests righteous men.” Also in Psalm 50 [51]: “A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise.” Also in Psalm 33 [34]: “The Lord is near to all who are troubled in heart, and he will save the humble in spirit.” Also there: “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them from them all.” Also in Job: “Naked I came out of my mother's womb, naked also I shall go into the earth. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all these things that befell him Job did not sin with his lips in the sight of the Lord. Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Also according to John: “These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace; but in the world you will have distress. But take courage, for I have overcome the world.” Also the apostle in Second Corinthians: “There was given me a goad in my flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me, so that I might not be exalted. For this reason I asked the Lord three times that it might depart from me, and he said to me: My grace is sufficient for you, for strength is made perfect in weakness.” Also to the Romans: “We boast in the hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we also boast in distresses, knowing that distress produces endurance, and endurance proof, and proof hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “How wide and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who go in by it! How narrow and strait is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it!” Also in Tobit: “Where are your righteous deeds? See what you are suffering.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “In the places of the ungodly the righteous groan, but at their destruction the righteous will abound.”

That the Holy Spirit whom we have received is not to be grieved. The apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and clamor and blasphemy be taken away from you.”

That anger must be overcome, lest it drive us to sin. In Solomon, in Proverbs: “A patient man is better than a strong one; for he who restrains his anger is better than he who takes a city.” Also there: “The foolish man shows his anger the same day, but the shrewd man hides the insult done to him.” Also the apostle to the Ephesians: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun set upon your anger.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “You have heard that it was said to those of old: You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgment.”

That brothers ought to bear with one another. The apostle Paul to the Galatians: “Considering yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

That we are to trust in God alone and boast in him. In Jeremiah: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man boast in his strength, nor the rich man boast in his riches; but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows that I am the Lord, who practise mercy and judgment and righteousness on the earth; for in these things is my will, says the Lord.” Also in Psalm 55 [56]: “In the Lord I will hope; I will not fear what man may do to me.” Also in Psalm 61 [62]: “My soul is subject to none but God alone.” Also in Psalm 117 [118]: “I will not fear what man may do to me; the Lord is my helper.” Also there: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man; it is better to hope in the Lord than to hope in princes.” Also in Daniel: “And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to King Nebuchadnezzar: O king, we have no need to answer you in this matter. For there is a God whom we serve, able to rescue us from the furnace of burning fire, and he will deliver us from your hands, O king. And if not, let it be known to you that we do not serve your gods, and we do not worship the golden image that you have set up.” Also in Jeremiah: “Cursed is the man who puts his hope in man; and blessed is the man who trusts in God, and the Lord will be his hope.” Also in Deuteronomy: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Also the apostle to the Romans: “And they worshipped and served the creature, forsaking the Creator. Therefore God also handed them over to shameful passions.” Also in John: “Greater is he who is in you than he who is in this world.”