Complete Works of Saint Cyprian

I was complying with the vices clinging to me, and out of despair of better things, I was even favoring my evils as if they were already my own and home-grown. But after the stain of my former life was washed away by the aid of the water of birth baptism, and a light from above was poured into my expiated and purified heart, after the second birth repaired me into a new man through the Spirit drawn from heaven, things that were doubtful began to confirm themselves in a wonderful way, things that were closed began to open, things that were dark began to shine; it gave the ability to do what previously seemed difficult, to be able to accomplish what was thought impossible; so that it was possible to acknowledge that what had previously been born carnally and lived subject to sins was earthly, but that which the Holy Spirit now animated had begun to be of God. You know, indeed, and you recognize with me equally, what this death of crimes has taken away from us, and what life of virtues it has conferred. You yourself know it, and I do not proclaim it. Boasting about one's own praises is odious; although it cannot be called boasting, but rather gratitude, whatever is not ascribed to the virtue of man, but is proclaimed as a gift of God, so that now not to sin has begun to be a matter of faith, whereas what was previously sin was a matter of human error. It is God's, I say, everything is God's that we can do. Thence we live, thence we have power, and thence, having taken and conceived vigor, we, still placed here, foresee the tokens of things to come: let only fear be the guardian of innocence, so that the Lord, who has mercifully flowed into our minds by the approach of heavenly indulgence, may...

Critical apparatus notes: Describes the end of the first transcript M1 and the introduction of a fictional letter "Donatus to Cyprian" in certain manuscripts. Notes textual variants concerning spiritu, inluxit, and editorial corrections by Pamelius, Morellius, and Baluzius.