Confession is only the beginning of glory, not its completion
Cyprian is addressing the faithful about confessors, warning that confession is only the start of the path to glory and that a confessor must remain humble and faithful or face greater punishment.
Confession is the beginning of glory, not already the merit of the crown; it does not complete the praise but initiates the dignity. And since it is written, “Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22; 24:13; Mark 13:13), whatever comes before the end is a step by which one ascends to the summit of salvation, not the endpoint where the height of the summit is already held. He is a confessor, but after confession the danger is greater, because the adversary has been provoked more. He is a confessor, and for this reason he ought to stand all the more with the Lord’s gospel, since through the gospel he has obtained glory from the Lord. To whom much is given, much is required from him (Luke 12:48), and to whom more of dignity is ascribed, more of service is demanded from him. Let no one perish through the example of a confessor; let no one learn injustice, insolence, or faithlessness from the conduct of a confessor. He is a confessor: let him be humble and quiet, let him be modest in his behavior with discipline, so that the one who is called a confessor of Christ may imitate the Christ he confesses. For since he says, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12), and since he himself was exalted by the Father because the word and power and wisdom of God the Father humbled himself on earth, how can he love arrogance who both commanded humility to us by his law and himself received from the Father the most exalted name as the reward of humility? He is a confessor of Christ, but only if the majesty and dignity of Christ is not afterward blasphemed through him. Let the tongue that has confessed Christ not be abusive, not turbulent, not heard clamoring with insults and quarrels, not hurling the poisons of the serpent against brothers and God’s priests after words of praise. But if he afterward becomes blameworthy and detestable, if he squanders his confession by evil conduct, if he stains his life with shameful filth, if he finally abandons the Church where he became a confessor, tears apart the harmony of unity, and changes his first faith by later faithlessness, he cannot flatter himself through his confession as though he were chosen for the reward of glory, when from this very thing the merits of his punishment have grown all the more.
Latin
Confessio exordium gloriae est, non meritum iam coronae, nec perficit laudem sed initiat dignitatem, cumque scriptum sit: qui perseuerauerit usque in finem hic saluus erit, quicquid ante finem fuerit gradus est quo ad fastigium salutis ascenditur, non terminus quo iam culminis summa teneatur. confessor est: sed post confessionem periculum maius est, quia plus aduersarius prouocatus est. confessor est: hoc magis stare debet cum Domini euangelio per euangelium gloriam consecutus a Domino. cui multum datur, multum quaeritur ab eo: et cui plus dignitatis adscribitur, plus de illo exigitur seruitutis. nemo per confessoris exemplum pereat, nemo iniustitiam, nemo insolentiam, nemo perfidiam de confessoris moribus discat. confessor est: sit humilis et quietus, sit in actu suo cum disciplina modestus, ut qui Christi confessor dicitur Christum quem confitetur imitetur. nam cum dicat ille: qui se extollit humiliabitur, et qui humiliat se exaltabitur, et ipse a patre exaltatus sit, quia se in terris sermo et uirtus et sapientia Dei patris humiliauit, quomodo potest extollentiam diligere qui et nobis humilitatem sua lege mandauit et ipse a patre amplissimum nomen praemio humilitatis accepit? confessor est Christi: sed si non postea blasphemetur per ipsum maiestas et dignitas Christi. lingua Christum confessa non sit maledica, non turbulenta, non conuiciis et litibus perstrepens audiatur, non contra fratres et Dei sacerdotes post uerba laudis serpentis uenena iaculetur. ceterum si culpabilis et detestabilis postmodum fuerit, si confessionem suam mala conuersatione prodegerit, si uitam suam turpi foeditate maculauerit, si ecclesiam denique ubi confessor factus est derelinquens et unitatis concordiam scindens fidem primam perfidia posteriore mutauerit, blandiri sibi per confessionem non potest quasi electus ad gloriae praemium, quando ex hoc ipso magis creuerint merita poenarum.