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Cyprian - Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus
6. That, being redeemed and quickened by the blood of Christ, we ought to prefer nothing to Christ. [3734]
In the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says: "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that taketh not his cross and followeth me, is not worthy of me." [3735] So also it is written in Deuteronomy: "They who say to their father and their mother, I have not known thee, and have not acknowledged their own children, these have kept Thy precepts, and have observed Thy covenant." [3736] Moreover, the Apostle Paul says: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, Because for Thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we overcome on account of Him who hath loved us." [3737] And again: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." [3738] And again: "Christ died for all, that both they which live may not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." [3739]