How great is the greatness of the Christian faith, and what its confidence, we ought especially to learn from this: that, among the wondrous gifts of the heavenly promises, a longed-for joy arises for us from the death of the saints. For it is not the reasoning of our nature, but of religion, that the passing of a man, where God is the cause of his dying, saddens the minds of unbelievers and gladdens Christian hearts. For this reason, in short, the death of the slain martyrs is celebrated in the Church of God as a genuine birthday, because by a new order of being born they are born through a birth-giving death unto the new life of heaven.
For in a death of this kind, which comes for the sake of the truth of saving faith, because it is believed in the living and true God, with the hope of a better life driving off far the affection of the flesh, the father has no mourning, nor does the mother cry out, the son consoles his own sighs, the brother repels grief, the husband forswears sadness, and the wife tramples the affection of her beloved spouse. For the heat of earthly love gives way, gives way, when the flame of divine charity has kindled the mind of a Christian. Kindled truly by this fire, the most ardent Cyprian despised his priesthood and his life in his passion, so that now his passion rendered him a more glorious priest of Christ.
What is more magnificent than this man, whose death is no less to be admired than his life? For in him there was a confession faithful in speech, and a marvellous martyrdom in his confession. There was in him a simple accord and undivided fellowship of heart and tongue; for whatever the Spirit of his own heart had brought to his mouth, this his holy tongue dictated to all who heard, as the Saviour says: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things (Matthew 12:35). And who can have a good treasure in a mortal heart, save he whose breast Christ inhabits, as the most glorious Paul taught, saying: We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the sublimity of the power may be God's, and not from us (2 Corinthians 4:7).
This, brethren, is the treasure of a good heart, which makes the mouth of God's servants good and their tongue rich. This is the treasure by whose price every faithful soul purchases for himself the blessed dwelling of paradise and the everlasting kingdom. With this treasure the venerable Cyprian enriched every believer through the flowing bounty of his tongue, yet, though he is read by all, he himself felt no poverty in his riches. For so great is the abundance of this treasure that both the receiver obtains the whole, and he who has given loses nothing, after the manner of a burning lamp, which both furnishes its flame to the lamps brought near it, and nonetheless itself endures without loss of the light it has imparted. A new thing, brethren, a matter of new wonder it is, that you should have something to give, and by giving the same not lose it;
to pour out the whole, and to feel no diminishment. On this account the most blessed Cyprian is to be celebrated by the devotion of all the faithful, who, by bestowing on the people what he had, and by retaining what he had given, both raised up his praiseworthy life by his most illustrious preaching, and consecrated it by his most precious blood, so that the courage of the one who suffered might show forth to the whole world the faith of those who came after. Most rightly is that saying of David applied to him: His mouth shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment, and the law of his God is in his heart (Psalm 36). Assuredly, in the perfection of his priesthood there was a holy heart and a wise mouth;
terrible indeed was Cyprian's tongue, which pressed upon sinners both the integrity of his heart and those dread judgments of almighty God; who so poured out his whole self in holy discourse that he left absolutely nothing hidden within the secret of his breast. But every skilled man lies hidden within himself, lies hidden, unless a tongue learned in speech brings forth the wisdom of his heart. What was not preeminent in that man, what was not marvelous, in whose mouth was wisdom, on whose tongue was judgment, in whose heart abode the law of God, which is the mother of justice? Nor idly, most beloved, did the following order of that very psalm add the words: And his steps shall not be supplanted (Psalm 36).
Truly Cyprian's footsteps were not tripped up, because in his heart the law of God flourishes. He who in his mouth and on his tongue meditates on heavenly wisdom and divine judgment—his steps cannot feel a fall. Or what occasion of sin, what moment could a diabolical stealthy assault ever find in him, whose mouth, whose tongue throughout all the space of night and day both savors and speaks the will of God, according to that which was said by the prophet: And on his law he shall meditate day and night (Psalm 1)? Believe, brethren, that never amid the adversities of this world will his feet be moved, whose breast does not turn aside from the path of the true faith.
And because the most blessed Cyprian possessed every kind of virtue—as a priest, as a just man, as a wise man—standing on an unshaken foundation, he could not be moved in his passion. And hence it is that from one and the same man we hold both an unswerving rule of right living and a most valiant example of martyrdom. For he taught us not only by word to live for God and to die for God, but also confirmed it by his deed.