Writings of Augustine. On Baptism, Against the Donatists
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The Seven Books of Augustin, Bishop of Hippo,
On Baptism, Against the Donatists
[de Baptisimo contra Donatistas.]
Circa A.D. 400.
Translated by the Rev. J. R. King, M.A.,
Vicar of St. Peter's in the East, Oxford; and late Fellow and Tutor of
Merton College, Oxford
Published in 1886 by Philip Schaff,
New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
.
Book III.
Augustin undertakes the refutation of the arguments which might be
derived from the epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus, to give color to the
view that the baptism of Christ could not be conferred by heretics.
Chapter 1.
--1. I think that it may now be considered clear to every
one, that the authority of the blessed Cyprian for the maintenance of
the bond of peace, and the avoiding of any violation of that most
wholesome charity which preserves unity in the Church, may be urged on
our side rather than on the side of the Donatists. For if they have
chosen to act upon his example in rebaptizing Catholics, because he
thought that heretics ought to be baptized on joining the Catholic
Church, shall not we rather follow his example, whereby he laid down a
manifest rule that one ought in no wise, by the establishment of a
separate communion, to secede from the Catholic communion, that is,
from the body of Christians dispersed throughout the world, even on
the admission of evil and sacrilegious men, since he was unwilling
even to remove from the right of communion those whom he considered to
have received sacrilegious men without baptism into the Catholic
communion, saying, "Judging no one, nor depriving any of the right of
communion if he differ from us?" [1264]
Footnotes
[1264] See above, II. ii. 3.
Chapter 2.
--2. Nevertheless, I see what may still be required of me,
viz., that I should answer those plausible arguments, by which, in
even earlier times, Agrippinus, or Cyprian himself, or those in Africa
who agreed with them, or any others in far distant lands beyond the
sea, were moved, not indeed by the authority of any plenary or even
regionary Council, but by a mere epistolary correspondence, to think
that they ought to adopt a custom which had no sanction from the
ancient custom of the Church, and which was expressly forbidden by the
most unanimous resolution of the Catholic world in order that an error
which had begun to creep into the minds of some men, through
discussions of this kind, might be cured by the more powerful truth
and universal healing power of unity coming on the side of safety.
And so they may see with what security I approach this discourse. If
I am unable to gain my point, and show how those arguments may be
refuted which they bring forward from the Council and the epistles of
Cyprian, to the effect that Christ's baptism may not be given by the
hands of heretics, I shall still remain safely in the Church, in whose
communion Cyprian himself remained with those who differed from him.
3. But if they say that the Catholic Church existed then, because
there were a few, or, if they prefer it, even a considerable number,
who denied the validity of any baptism conferred in an heretical body,
and baptized all who came from thence, what then? Did the Church not
exist at all before Agrippinus, with whom that new kind of system
began, at variance with all previous custom? Or how, again after the
time of Agrippinus, when, unless there had been a return to the
primitive custom, there would have been no need for Cyprian to set on
foot another Council? Was there no Church then, because such a custom
as this prevailed everywhere, that the baptism of Christ should be
considered nothing but the baptism of Christ, even though it were
proved to have been conferred in a body of heretics or schismatics?
But if the Church existed even then, and had not perished through a
breach of its continuity, but was, on the contrary, holding its
ground, and receiving increase in every nation, surely it is the
safest plan to abide by this same custom, which then embraced good and
bad alike in unity. But if there was then no Church in existence,
because sacrilegious heretics were received without baptism, and this
prevailed by universal custom, whence has Donatus made his
appearance? From what land did he spring? or from what sea did he
emerge? or from what sky did he fall? And so we, as I had begun to
say, are safe in the communion of that Church, throughout the whole
extent of which the custom now prevails, which prevailed in like
manner through its whole extent before the time of Agrippinus, and in
the interval between Agrippinus and Cyprian, and whose unity neither
Agrippinus nor Cyprian ever deserted, nor those who agreed with them,
although they entertained different views from the rest of their
brethren--all of them remaining in the same communion of unity with
the very men from whom they differed in opinion. But let the
Donatists themselves consider what their true position is, if they
neither can say whence they derived their origin, if the Church had
already been destroyed by the plague-spot of communion with heretics
and schismatics received into her bosom without baptism; nor again
agree with Cyprian himself, for he declared that he remained in
communion with those who received heretics and schismatics, and so
also with those who were received as well: while they have separated
themselves from the communion of the whole world, on account of the
charge of having delivered up the sacred books, which they brought
against the men whom they maligned in Africa, but failed to convict
when brought to trial beyond the sea; although, even had the crimes
which they alleged been true, they were much less heinous than the
sins of heresy and schism; and yet these could not defile Cyprian in
the persons of those who came from them without baptism, as he
conceived, and were admitted without baptism into the Catholic
communion. Nor, in the very point in which they say that they imitate
Cyprian, can they find any answer to make about acknowledging the
baptism of the followers of Maximianus, together with those whom,
though they belonged to the party that they had first condemned in
their own plenary Council, and then gone on to prosecute even at the
tribunal of the secular power, they yet received back into their
communion, in the episcopate of the very same bishop under whom they
had been condemned. Wherefore, if the communion of wicked men
destroyed the Church in the time of Cyprian, they have no source from
which they can derive their own communion; and if the Church was not
destroyed, they have no excuse for their separation from it.
Moreover, they are neither following the example of Cyprian, since
they have burst the bond of unity, nor abiding by their own Council,
since they have recognized the baptism of the followers of Maximianus.
Chapter 3.
--4. Let us therefore, seeing that we adhere to the example
of Cyprian, go on now to consider Cyprian's Council. What says
Cyprian? "Ye have heard," he says, "most beloved colleagues, what
Jubaianus our fellow-bishop has written to me, consulting my moderate
ability concerning the unlawful and profane baptism of heretics, and
what answer I gave him,--giving a judgment which we have once and
again and often given, that heretics coming to the Church ought to be
baptized and sanctified with the baptism of the Church. Another
letter of Jubaianus has likewise been read to you, in which, agreeably
to his sincere and religious devotion, in answer to our epistle, he
not only expressed his assent, but returned thanks also, acknowledging
that he had received instruction." [1265]In these words of the
blessed Cyprian, we find that he had been consulted by Jubaianus, and
what answer he had given to his questions, and how Jubaianus
acknowledged with gratitude that he had received instruction. Ought
we then to be thought unreasonably persistent if we desire to consider
this same epistle by which Jubaianus was convinced? For till such
time as we are also convinced (if there are any arguments of truth
whereby this can be done), Cyprian himself has established our
security by the right of Catholic communion.
5. For he goes on to say: "It remains that we severally declare our
opinion on this same subject, judging no one, nor depriving any one of
the right of communion if he differ from us." [1266]He allows me,
therefore, without losing the right of communion, not only to continue
inquiring into the truth, but even to hold opinions differing from his
own. "For no one of us," he says, "setteth himself up as a bishop of
bishops, or by tyrannical terror forces his colleagues to a necessity
of obeying." What could be more kind? what more humble? Surely there
is here no authority restraining us from inquiry into what is truth.
"Inasmuch as every bishop," he says, "in the free use of his liberty
and power, has the right of forming his own judgment, and can no more
be judged by another than he can himself judge another,"--that is, I
suppose, in those questions which have not yet been brought to perfect
clearness of solution; for he knew what a deep question about the
sacrament was then occupying the whole Church with every kind of
disputation, and gave free liberty of inquiry to every man, that the
truth might be made known by investigation. For he was surely not
uttering what was false, and trying to catch his simpler colleagues in
their speech, so that, when they should have betrayed that they held
opinions at variance with his, he might then propose, in violation of
his promise, that they should be excommunicated. Far be it from a
soul so holy to entertain such accursed treachery; indeed, they who
hold such a view about such a man, thinking that it conduces to his
praise, do but show that it would be in accordance with their own
nature. I for my part will in no wise believe that Cyprian, a
Catholic bishop, a Catholic martyr, whose greatness only made him
proportionately humble in all things, so as to find favor before the
Lord, [1267] should ever, especially in the sacred Council of his
colleagues, have uttered with his mouth what was not echoed in his
heart, especially as he further adds, "But we must all await the
judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has the power both of
setting us in the government of His Church, and of judging of our acts
therein." [1268]When, then, he called to their remembrance so
solemn a judgment, hoping to hear the truth from his colleagues, would
he first set them the example of lying? May God avert such madness
from every Christian man, and how much more from Cyprian! We have
therefore the free liberty of inquiry granted to us by the most
moderate and most truthful speech of Cyprian.
Footnotes
[1265] See above, II. ii. 3.
[1266] See above, II. ii. 3.
[1267] Ecclus. iii. 18.
[1268] See above, II. ii. 3.
Chapter 4.
--6. Next his colleagues proceed to deliver their several
opinions. But first they listened to the letter written to Jubaianus;
for it was read, as was mentioned in the preamble. Let it therefore
be read among ourselves also, that we too, with the help of God, may
discover from it what we ought to think. "What!" I think I hear some
one saying, "do you proceed to tell us what Cyprian wrote to
Jubaianus?" I have read the letter, I confess, and should certainly
have been a convert to his views, had I not been induced to consider
the matter more carefully by the vast weight of authority, originating
in those whom the Church, distributed throughout the world amid so
many nations, of Latins, Greeks, barbarians, not to mention the Jewish
race itself, has been able to produce,--that same Church which gave
birth to Cyprian himself,--men whom I could in no wise bring myself to
think had been unwilling without reason to hold this view,--not
because it was impossible that in so difficult a question the opinion
of one or of a few might not have been more near the truth than that
of more, but because one must not lightly, without full consideration
and investigation of the matter to the best of his abilities, decide
in favor of a single individual, or even of a few, against the
decision of so very many men of the same religion and communion, all
endowed with great talent and abundant learning. And so how much was
suggested to me on more diligent inquiry, even by the letter of
Cyprian himself, in favor of the view which is now held by the
Catholic Church, that the baptism of Christ is to be recognized and
approved, not by the standard of their merits by whom it is
administered, but by His alone of whom it is said, "The same is He
which baptizeth," [1269] will be shown naturally in the course of our
argument. Let us therefore suppose that the letter which was written
by Cyprian to Jubaianus has been read among us, as it was read in the
Council. [1270]And I would have every one read it who means to read
what I am going to say, lest he might possibly think that I have
suppressed some things of consequence. For it would take too much
time, and be irrelevant to the elucidation of the matter in hand, were
we at this moment to quote all the words of this epistle.
Footnotes
[1269] John i. 33.
[1270] The Council of Carthage.
Chapter 5.
--7. But if any one should ask what I hold in the meantime,
while discussing this question, I answer that, in the first place, the
letter of Cyprian suggested to me what I should hold till I should see
clearly the nature of the question which next begins to be discussed.
For Cyprian himself says: "But some will say, `What then will become
of those who in times past, coming to the Church from heresy, were
admitted without baptism?'" [1271]Whether they were really without
baptism, or whether they were admitted because those who admitted them
conceived that they had partaken of baptism, is a matter for our
future consideration. At any rate, Cyprian himself shows plainly
enough what was the ordinary custom of the Church, when he says that
in past time those who came to the Church from heresy were admitted
without baptism.
8. For in the Council itself Castus of Sicca says: "He who,
despising truth, presumes to follow custom, is either envious or
evil-disposed towards the brethren to whom the truth is revealed, or
is ungrateful towards God, by whose inspiration His Church is
instructed." [1272]Whether the truth had been revealed, we shall
investigate hereafter; at any rate, he acknowledges that the custom of
the Church was different.
Footnotes
[1271] Epist. lxxiii. 23, to Jubianus.
[1272] Seventh Conc. Carth. under Cyprian, the third which dealt with
baptism, A.D. 256, sec. 28. These opinions are quoted again in Books
VI. and VII.
Chapter 6.
--9. Libosus also of Vaga says: "The Lord says in the
gospel, `I am the Truth.' [1273]He does not say, `I am custom.'
Therefore, when the truth is made manifest, custom must give way to
truth." [1274]Clearly, no one could doubt that custom must give way
to truth where it is made manifest. But we shall see presently about
the manifestation of the truth. Meanwhile he also makes it clear that
custom was on the other side.
Footnotes
[1273] John xiv. 6.
[1274] Conc. Carth. sec. 30.
Chapter 7.
--10. Zosimus also of Tharassa said: "When a revelation of
the truth has been made, error must give way to truth; for even Peter,
who at the first circumcised, afterwards gave way to Paul when he
declared the truth." [1275]He indeed chose to say error, not
custom; but in saying "for even Peter, who at the first circumcised,
afterwards gave way to Paul when he declared the truth," he shows
plainly enough that there was a custom also on the subject of baptism
at variance with his views. At the same time, also, he warns us that
it was not impossible that Cyprian might have held an opinion about
baptism at variance with that required by the truth, as held by the
Church both before and after him, if even Peter could hold a view at
variance with the truth as taught us by the Apostle Paul. [1276]
Footnotes
[1275] Ib. sec. 56.
[1276] Gal. ii. 11-14.
Chapter 8.
--11. Likewise Felix of Buslacene said: "In admitting
heretics without the baptism of the Church, let no one prefer custom
to reason and truth; because reason and truth always prevail to the
exclusion of custom." [1277]Nothing could be better, if it be
reason, and if it be truth; but this we shall see presently.
Meanwhile, it is clear from the words of this man also that the custom
was the other way.
Footnotes
[1277] Conc. Carth. sec. 63.
Chapter 9.
--12. Likewise Honoratus of Tucca [1278] said: "Since
Christ is the Truth, we ought to follow truth rather than custom."
[1279]By all these declarations it is proved that we are not
excluded from the communion of the Church, till it shall have been
clearly shown what is the nature of the truth, which they say must be
preferred to our custom. But if the truth has made it clear that the
very regulation ought to be maintained which the said custom had
prescribed, then it is evident both that this custom was not
established or confirmed in vain, and also that, in consequence of the
discussions in question, the most wholesome observance of so great a
sacrament, which could never, indeed, have been changed in the
Catholic Church, was even more watchfully guarded with the most
scrupulous caution, when it had received the further corroboration of
Councils.
Footnotes
[1278] Thucca.
[1279] Conc. Carth. sec. 77.
Chapter 10.
--13. Therefore Cyprian writes to Jubaianus as follows,
"concerning the baptism of heretics, who, being placed without, and
set down out of the Church," seem to him to "claim to themselves a
matter over which they have neither right nor power. Which we," he
says, "cannot account valid or lawful, since it is clear that among
them it is unlawful." [1280]Neither, indeed, do we deny that a man
who is baptized among heretics, or in any schism outside the Church,
derives no profit from it so far as he is partner in the perverseness
of the heretics and schismatics; nor do we hold that those who
baptize, although they confer the real true sacrament of baptism, are
yet acting rightly, in gathering adherents outside the Church, and
entertaining opinions contrary to the Church. But it is one thing to
be without a sacrament, another thing to be in possession of it
wrongly, and to usurp it unlawfully. Therefore they do not cease to
be sacraments of Christ and the Church, merely because they are
unlawfully used, not only by heretics, but by all kinds of wicked and
impious persons. These, indeed, ought to be corrected and punished,
but the sacraments should be acknowledged and revered.
14. Cyprian, indeed, says that on this subject not one, but two or
more Councils were held; always, however, in Africa. For indeed in
one he mentions that seventy-one bishops had been assembled, [1281]
--to all whose authority we do not hesitate, with all due deference to
Cyprian, to prefer the authority, supported by many more bishops, of
the whole Church spread throughout the whole world, of which Cyprian
himself rejoiced that he was an inseparable member.
15. Nor is the water "profane and adulterous" [1282] over which the
name of God is invoked, even though it be invoked by profane and
adulterous persons; because neither the creature itself of water, nor
the name invoked, is adulterous. But the baptism of Christ,
consecrated by the words of the gospel, is necessarily holy, however
polluted and unclean its ministers may be; because its inherent
sanctity cannot be polluted, and the divine excellence abides in its
sacrament, whether to the salvation of those who use it aright, or to
the destruction of those who use it wrong. Would you indeed maintain
that, while the light of the sun or of a candle, diffused through
unclean places, contracts no foulness in itself therefrom, yet the
baptism of Christ can be defiled by the sins of any man, whatsoever he
may be? For if we turn our thoughts to the visible materials
themselves, which are to us the medium of the sacraments, every one
must know that they admit of corruption. But if we think on that
which they convey to us, who can fail to see that it is incorruptible,
however much the men through whose ministry it is conveyed are either
being rewarded or punished for the character of their lives?
Footnotes
[1280] Ctpr. Ep. lxxiii. 1.
[1281] Ctpr. Ep. lxxiii. 1.
[1282] Ctpr. Ep. lxxiii. 1.
Chapter 11.
--16. But Cyprian was right in not being moved by what
Jubaianus wrote, that "the followers of Novatian [1283] rebaptize
those who come to them from the Catholic Church." [1284]For, in the
first place, it does not follow that whatever heretics have done in a
perverse spirit of mimicry, Catholics are therefore to abstain from
doing, because the heretics do the same. And again, the reasons are
different for which heretics and the Catholic Church ought
respectively to abstain from rebaptizing. For it would not be right
for heretics to do so, even if it were fitting in the Catholic Church;
because their argument is, that among the Catholics is wanting that
which they themselves received whilst still within the pale, and took
away with them when they departed. Whereas the reason why the
Catholic Church should not administer again the baptism which was
given among heretics, is that it may not seem to decide that a power
which is Christ's alone belongs to its members, or to pronounce that
to be wanting in the heretics which they have received within her
pale, and certainly could not lose by straying outside. For thus much
Cyprian himself, with all the rest, established, that if any should
return from heresy to the Church, they should be received back, not by
baptism, but by the discipline of penitence; whence it is clear that
they cannot be held to lose by their secession what is not restored to
them when they return. Nor ought it for a moment to be said that, as
their heresy is their own, as their error is their own, as the
sacrilege of disunion is their own, so also the baptism is their own,
which is really Christ's. Accordingly, while the evils which are
their own are corrected when they return, so in that which is not
theirs His presence should be recognised, from whom it is.
Footnotes
[1283] The Novatian bishop, Acesius, was invited by Constantine to
attend the Council of Nicaea. Soc., H.E.I. 10.
[1284] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 2.
Chapter 12.
--17. But the blessed Cyprian shows that it was no new or
sudden thing that he decided, because the practice had already begun
under Agrippinus. "Many years," he says, "and much time has passed
away since, under Agrippinus of honored memory, a large assembly of
bishops determined this point." Accordingly, under Agrippinus, at any
rate, the thing was new. But I cannot understand what Cyprian means
by saying, "And thenceforward to the present day, so many thousand
heretics in our provinces, having been converted to our Church, showed
no hesitation or dislike, but rather with full consent of reason and
will, have embraced the opportunity of the grace of the laver of life
and the baptism unto salvation," [1285] unless indeed he says,
"thenceforward to the present day," because from the time when they
were baptized in the Church, in accordance with the Council of
Agrippinus, no question of excommunication had arisen in the case of
any of the rebaptized. Yet if the custom of baptizing those who came
over from heretics remained in force from the time of Agrippinus to
that of Cyprian, why should new Councils have been held by Cyprian on
this point? Why does he say to this same Jubaianus that he is not
doing anything new or sudden, but only what had been established by
Agrippinus? For why should Jubaianus be disturbed by the question of
novelty, so as to require to be satisfied by the authority of
Agrippinus, if this was the continuous practice of the Church from
Agrippinus till Cyprian? Why, lastly, did so many of his colleagues
urge that reason and truth must be preferred to custom, instead of
saying that those who wished to act otherwise were acting contrary to
truth and custom alike?
Footnotes
[1285] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 3.
Chapter 13.
--18. But as regards the remission of sins, whether it is
granted through baptism at the hands of the heretics, I have already
expressed my opinion on this point in a former book; [1286] but I will
shortly recapitulate it here. If remission of sins is there conferred
by the sacredness of baptism, the sins return again through obstinate
perseverance in heresy or schism; and therefore such men must needs
return to the peace of the Catholic Church, that they may cease to be
heretics and schismatics, and deserve that those sins which had
returned on them should be cleansed away by love working in the bond
of unity. But if, although among heretics and schismatics it be still
the same baptism of Christ, it yet cannot work remission of sins owing
to this same foulness of discord and wickedness of dissent, then the
same baptism begins to be of avail for the remission of sins when they
come to the peace of the Church,--[not] [1287] that what has been
already truly remitted should not be retained; nor that heretical
baptism should be repudiated as belonging to a different religion, or
as being different from our own, so that a second baptism should be
administered; but that the very same baptism, which was working death
by reason of discord outside the Church, may work salvation by reason
of the peace within. It was, in fact, the same savor of which the
apostle says, "We are a sweet savor of Christ in every place;" and
yet, says he, "both in them that are saved and in them that perish.
To the one we are the savor of life unto life; and to the other the
savor of death unto death." [1288]And although he used these words
with reference to another subject, I have applied them to this, that
men may understand that what is good may not only work life to those
who use it aright, but also death to those who use it wrong.
Footnotes
[1286] Above, Book I. c. xi. sqq.
[1287] Non ut jam vere dimissa non retineantur. One of the negatives
here appears to be superfluous, and the former is omitted in
Amerbach's edition, and in many of the Mss., which continue the
sentence, "non ut ille baptismus," instead of "neque ut ille," etc.
If the latter negative were omitted, the sense would be improved, and
"neque" would appropriately remain.
[1288] 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16.
Chapter 14.
--19. Nor is it material, when we are considering the
question of the genuineness and holiness of the sacrament, "what the
recipient of the sacrament believes, and with what faith he is
imbued." It is of the very highest consequence as regards the
entrance into salvation, but is wholly immaterial as regards the
question of the sacrament. For it is quite possible that a man may be
possessed of the genuine sacrament and a corrupted faith, as it is
possible that he may hold the words of the creed in their integrity,
and yet entertain an erroneous belief about the Trinity, or the
resurrection, or any other point. For it is no slight matter, even
within the Catholic Church itself, to hold a faith entirely consistent
with the truth about even God Himself, to say nothing of any of His
creatures. Is it then to be maintained, that if any one who has been
baptized within the Catholic Church itself should afterwards, in the
course of reading, or by listening to instruction, or by quiet
argument, find out, through God's own revelation, that he had before
believed otherwise than he ought, it is requisite that he should
therefore be baptized afresh? But what carnal and natural man is
there who does not stray through the vain conceits [1289] of his own
heart, and picture God's nature to himself to be such as he has
imagined out of his carnal sense, and differ from the true conception
of God as far as vanity from truth? Most truly, indeed, speaks the
apostle, filled with the light of truth: "The natural man," says he,
"receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." [1290]And yet
herein he was speaking of men whom he himself shows to have been
baptized. For he says to them, "Was Paul crucified for you? or were
ye baptized in the name of Paul?" [1291]These men had therefore the
sacrament of baptism; and yet, inasmuch as their wisdom was of the
flesh, what could they believe about God otherwise than according to
the perception of their flesh, according to which "the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God?" To such he says: "I
could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even
as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with
meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are
ye able. For ye are yet carnal." [1292]For such are carried about
with every wind of doctrine, of which kind he says, "That we be no
more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of
doctrine." [1293]It is then true that, if these men shall have
advanced even to the spiritual age of the inner man, and in the
integrity of understanding shall have learned how far different from
the requirements of the truth has been the belief which they have been
led by the fallacious character of their conceits to entertain of God,
they are therefore to be baptized again? For, on this principle, it
would be possible for a Catholic catechumen to light upon the writings
of some heretic, and, not having the knowledge requisite for
discerning truth from error, he might entertain some belief contrary
to the Catholic faith, yet not condemned by the words of the creed,
just as, under color of the same words, innumerable heretical errors
have sprung up. Supposing, then, that the catechumen was under the
impression that he was studying the work of some great and learned
Catholic, and was baptized with that belief in the Catholic Church,
and by subsequent research should discover what he ought to believe,
so that, embracing the Catholic faith, he should reject his former
error, ought he, on confessing this, to be baptized again? Or
supposing that, before learning and confessing this for himself, he
should be found to entertain such an opinion, and should be taught
what he ought to reject and what he should believe, and it were to
become clear that he had held this false belief when he was baptized,
ought he therefore to be baptized again? Why should we maintain the
contrary? Because the sanctity of the sacrament, consecrated in the
words of the gospel, remains upon him in its integrity, just as he
received it from the hands of the minister, although he, being firmly
rooted in the vanity of his carnal mind entertained a belief other
than was right at the time when he was baptized. Wherefore it is
manifest that it is possible that, with defective faith, the sacrament
of baptism may yet remain without defect in any man; and therefore all
that is said about the diversity of the several heretics is beside the
question. For in each person that is to be corrected which is found
to be amiss by the man who undertakes his correction. That is to be
made whole which is unsound; that is to be given which is wanting,
and, above all, the peace of Christian charity, without which the rest
is profitless. Yet, as the rest is there, we must not administer it
as though it were wanting, only take care that its possession be to
the profit, not the hurt of him who has it, through the very bond of
peace and excellence of charity.
Footnotes
[1289] Phantasmata.
[1290] 1 Cor ii. 14.
[1291] 1 Cor. i. 13.
[1292] 1 Cor iii. 1-3.
[1293] Eph. iv. 14.
Chapter 15.
--20. Accordingly, if Marcion consecrated the sacrament of
baptism with the words of the gospel, "In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," [1294] the sacrament was complete,
although his faith expressed under the same words, seeing that he held
opinions not taught by the Catholic truth, was not complete, but
stained with the falsity of fables. [1295]For under these same
words, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost," not Marcion only, or Valentinus, or Arius, or Eunomius, but
the carnal babes of the Church themselves (to whom the apostle said,
"I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal"),
if they could be individually asked for an accurate exposition of
their opinions, would probably show a diversity of opinions as
numerous as the persons who held them, "for the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God." Can it, however, be said on
this account that they do not receive the complete sacrament? or that,
if they shall advance, and correct the vanity of their carnal
opinions, they must seek again what they had received? Each man
receives after the fashion of his own faith; yet how much does he
obtain under the guidance of that mercy of God, in the confident
assurance of which the same apostle says, "If in anything ye be
otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you"? [1296]Yet
the snares of heretics and schismatics prove for this reason only too
pernicious to the carnally-minded, because their very progress is
intercepted when their vain opinions are confirmed in opposition to
the Catholic truth, and the perversity of their dissension is
strengthened against the Catholic peace. Yet if the sacraments are
the same, they are everywhere complete, even when they are wrongly
understood, and perverted to be instruments of discord, just as the
very writings of the gospel, if they are only the same, are everywhere
complete, even though quoted with a boundless variety of false
opinions. For as to what Jeremiah says:--"Why do those who grieve me
prevail against me? My wound is stubborn, whence shall I be healed?
In its origin it became unto me as lying water, having no certainty,"
[1297] --if the term "water" were never used figuratively and in the
allegorical language of prophecy except to signify baptism, we should
have trouble in discovering what these words of Jeremiah meant; but as
it is, when "waters" are expressly used in the Apocalypse [1298] to
signify "peoples," I do not see why, by "lying water having no
certainty," I should not understand, a "lying people, whom I cannot
trust."
Footnotes
[1294] Matt. xxviii. 19.
[1295] Cp. Concilium Arelatense, A.D. 314, can. 8. "De Afris, quod
propria lege utuntur ut rebaptizent; placuit ut si ad ecclesiam
aliquis de hæresi venerit, interrogent eum symbolum; et si perviderint
eum in Patre, et Filio, et Spiritu sancto esse baptizatum, manus ei
tantum imponatur, ut accipiat Spiritum sanctum. Quod si interrogatus
non responderit hanc Trinitatem, baptizetur."
[1296] Phil. iii. 15.
[1297] Jer. xv. 18, cp. LXX.
[1298] Rev. xvii. 15.
Chapter 16.
--21. But when it is said that "the Holy Spirit is given
by the imposition of hands in the Catholic Church only, I suppose that
our ancestors meant that we should understand thereby what the apostle
says, "Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost which is given unto us." [1299]For this is that very
love which is wanting in all who are cut off from the communion of the
Catholic Church; and for lack of this, "though they speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, though they understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and though they have the gift of prophecy, and all
faith, so that they could remove mountains, and though they bestow all
their goods to feed the poor, and though they give their bodies to be
burned, it profiteth them nothing." [1300]But those are wanting in
God's love who do not care for the unity of the Church; and
consequently we are right in understanding that the Holy Spirit may be
said not to be received except in the Catholic Church. For the Holy
Spirit is not only given by the laying on of hands amid the testimony
of temporal sensible miracles, as He was given in former days to be
the credentials of a rudimentary faith, and for the extension of the
first beginnings of the Church. For who expects in these days that
those on whom hands are laid that they may receive the Holy Spirit
should forthwith begin to speak with tongues? but it is understood
that invisibly and imperceptibly, on account of the bond of peace,
divine love is breathed into their hearts, so that they may be able to
say, "Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us." But there are many operations of the
Holy Spirit, which the same apostle commemorates in a certain passage
at such length as he thinks sufficient, and then concludes: "But all
these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as He will." [1301]Since, then, the sacrament is one
thing, which even Simon Magus could have; [1302] and the operation of
the Spirit is another thing, which is even often found in wicked men,
as Saul had the gift of prophecy; [1303] and that operation of the
same Spirit is a third thing, which only the good can have, as "the
end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good
conscience, and of faith unfeigned:" [1304]whatever, therefore, may
be received by heretics and schismatics, the charity which covereth
the multitude of sins is the especial gift of Catholic unity and
peace; nor is it found in all that are within that bond, since not all
that are within it are of it, as we shall see in the proper place. At
any rate, outside the bond that love cannot exist, without which all
the other requisites, even if they can be recognized and approved,
cannot profit or release from sin. But the laying on of hands in
reconciliation to the Church is not, like baptism, incapable of
repetition; for what is it more than a prayer offered over a man?
[1305]
Footnotes
[1299] Rom. v. 5.
[1300] 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.
[1301] 1 Cor. xii. 11.
[1302] Acts viii. 13.
[1303] 1 Sam. x. 6, 10.
[1304] 1 Tim. i. 5.
[1305] He refers to laying on of hands such as he mentions below, Book
V. c. xxiii.: "If the laying on of hands were not applied to one
coming from heresy, he would be, as it were, judged to be wholly
blameless."
Chapter 17.
--22. "For as regards the fact that to preserve the figure
of unity the Lord gave the power to Peter that whatsoever he should
loose on earth should be loosed," [1306] it is clear that that unity
is also described as one dove without fault. [1307]Can it be said,
then, that to this same dove belong all those greedy ones, whose
existence in the same Catholic Church Cyprian himself so grievously
bewailed? For birds of prey, I believe, cannot be called doves, but
rather hawks. How then did they baptize those who used to plunder
estates by treacherous deceit, and increase their profits by compound
usury, [1308] if baptism is only given by that indivisible and chaste
and perfect dove, that unity which can only be understood as existing
among the good? Is it possible that, by the prayers of the saints who
are spiritual within the Church, as though by the frequent
lamentations of the dove, a great sacrament is dispensed, with a
secret administration of the mercy of God, so that their sins also are
loosed who are baptized, not by the dove but by the hawk, if they come
to that sacrament in the peace of Catholic unity? But if this be so,
why should it not also be the case that, as each man comes from heresy
or schism to the Catholic peace, his sins should be loosed through
their prayers? But the integrity of the sacrament is everywhere
recognized, though it will not avail for the irrevocable remission of
sins outside the unity of the Church. Nor will the prayers of the
saints, or, in other words, the groanings of that one dove, be able to
help one who is set in heresy or schism; just as they are not able to
help one who is placed within the Church, if by a wicked life he
himself retain the debts of his sins against himself, and that though
he be baptized, not by this hawk, but by the pious ministry of the
dove herself.
Footnotes
[1306] Matt. xvi. 19.
[1307] Song of Sol. vi. 9.
[1308] Cypr. de Lapsis c vi.
Chapter 18
--23. "As my Father hath sent me," says our Lord, "even so
send I you. And what He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are
retained." [1309]Therefore, if they represented the Church, and
this was said to them as to the Church herself, it follows that the
peace of the Church looses sins, and estrangement from the Church
retains them, not according to the will of men, but according to the
will of God and the prayers of the saints who are spiritual, who
"judge all things, but themselves are judged of no man." [1310]For
the rock retains, the rock remits; the dove retains, the dove remits;
unity retains, unity remits. But the peace of this unity exists only
in the good, in those who are either already spiritual, or are
advancing by the obedience of concord to spiritual things; it exists
not in the bad, whether they make disturbances abroad, or are endured
within the Church with lamentations, baptizing and being baptized.
But just as those who are tolerated with groanings within the Church,
although they do not belong to the same unity of the dove, and to that
"glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing,"
[1311] yet if they are corrected, and confess that they approached to
baptism most unworthily, are not baptized again, but begin to belong
to the dove, through whose groans those sins are remitted which were
retained in them who were estranged from her peace; so those also who
are more openly without the Church, if they have received the same
sacraments, are not freed from their sins on coming, after correction,
to the unity of the Church, by a repetition of baptism, but by the
same law of charity and bond of unity. For if "those only may baptize
who are set over the Church, and established by the law of the gospel
and ordination as appointed by the Lord," were they in any wise of
this kind who seized on estates by treacherous frauds, and increased
their gains by compound interest? I trow not, since those are
established by ordination as appointed of the Lord, of whom the
apostle, in giving them a standard, says, "Not greedy, not given to
filthy lucre." [1312]Yet men of this kind used to baptize in the
time of Cyprian himself; and he confesses with many lamentations that
they were his fellow-bishops, and endures them with the great reward
of tolerance. Yet did they not confer remission of sins, which is
granted through the prayers of the saints, that is, the groans of the
dove, whoever it be that baptizes, if those to whom it is given belong
to her peace. For the Lord would not say to robbers and usurers,
"Whose soever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted to him; and whose
soever sins ye retain, they shall be retained." "Outside the Church,
indeed, nothing can be either bound or loosed, since there there is no
one who can either bind or loose;" but he is loosed who has made peace
with the dove, and he is bound who is not at peace with the dove,
whether he is openly without, or appears to be within.
24. But we know that Dathan, Korah, and Abiram, [1313] who tried to
usurp to themselves the right of sacrificing, contrary to the unity of
the people of God, and also the sons of Aaron who offered strange fire
upon the altar, [1314] did not escape punishment. Nor do we say that
such offenses remain unpunished, unless those guilty of them correct
themselves, if the patience of God leading them to repentance [1315]
give them time for correction.
Footnotes
[1309] John xx. 21-23.
[1310] 1 Cor. ii. 15.
[1311] Eph. v. 27. Cp. Retract. ii. 18, quoted above on I. xvii.
[1312] Tit. i. 7.
[1313] Num. xvi.
[1314] Lev. x. 1, 2.
[1315] Rom. ii. 4.
Chapter 19.
--25. They indeed who say that baptism is not to be
repeated, because only hands were laid on those whom Philip the deacon
had baptized, [1316] are saying what is quite beside the point; and
far be it from us, in seeking the truth, to use such arguments as
this. Wherefore we are all the further from "yielding to heretics,"
[1317] if we deny that what they possess of Christ's Church is their
own property, and do not refuse to acknowledge the standard of our
General because of the crimes of deserters; nay, all the more because
"the Lord our God is a jealous God," [1318] let us refuse, whenever we
see anything of His with an alien, to allow him to consider it his
own. For of a truth the jealous God Himself rebukes the woman who
commits fornication against Him, as the type of an erring people, and
says that she gave to her lovers what belonged to Him, and again
received from them what was not theirs but His. In the hands of the
adulterous woman and the adulterous lovers, God in His wrath, as a
jealous God, recognizes His gifts; and do we say that baptism,
consecrated in the words of the gospel, belongs to heretics? and are
we willing, from consideration of their deeds, to attribute to them
even what belongs to God, as though they had the power to pollute it,
or as though they could make what is God's to be their own, because
they themselves have refused to belong to God?
26. Who is that adulterous woman whom the prophet Hosea points out,
who said, "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my
water, my wool and my flax, and everything that befits me?" [1319]
Let us grant that we may understand this also of the people of the
Jews that went astray; yet whom else are the false Christians (such as
are all heretics and schismatics) wont to imitate, except false
Israelites? For there were also true Israelites, as the Lord Himself
bears witness to Nathanael, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no
guile." [1320]But who are true Christians, save those of whom the
same Lord said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it
is that loveth me?" [1321]But what is it to keep His commandments,
except to abide in love? Whence also He says, "A new commandment I
give unto you, that ye love one another;" and again, "By this shall
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another." [1322]But who can doubt that this was spoken not only to
those who heard His words with their fleshly ears when He was present
with them, but also to those who learn His words through the gospel,
when He is sitting on His throne in heaven? For He came not to
destroy the law, but to fulfill. [1323]But the fulfilling of the
law is love. [1324]And in this Cyprian abounded greatly, insomuch
that though he held a different view concerning baptism, he yet did
not forsake the unity of the Church, and was in the Lord's vine a
branch firmly rooted, bearing fruit, which the heavenly Husbandman
purged with the knife of suffering, that it should bear more fruit.
[1325]But the enemies of this brotherly love, whether they are
openly without, or appear to be within, are false Christians, and
antichrists. For when they have found an opportunity, they go out, as
it is written: "A man wishing to separate himself from his friends,
seeketh opportunities." [1326]But even if occasions are wanting,
while they seem to be within, they are severed from that invisible
bond of love. Whence St. John says, "They went out from us, but they
were not of us; for had they been of us, they would no doubt have
continued with us." [1327]He does not say that they ceased to be of
us by going out, but that they went out because they were not of us.
The Apostle Paul also speaks of certain men who had erred concerning
the truth, and were overthrowing the faith of some; whose word was
eating as a canker. Yet in saying that they should be avoided, he
nevertheless intimates that they were all in one great house, but as
vessels to dishonor,--I suppose because they had not as yet gone out.
Or if they had already gone out, how can he say that they were in the
same great house with the honorable vessels, unless it was in virtue
of the sacraments themselves, which even in the severed meetings of
heretics are not changed, that he speaks of all as belonging to the
same great house, though in different degrees of esteem, some to honor
and some to dishonor? For thus he speaks in his Epistle to Timothy:
"But shun profane and vain babblings; for they will increase unto more
ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker; of whom is
Hymenæus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying
that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of
some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth firm, having this
seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that
nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house
there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and
of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore
purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,
and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."
[1328]But what is it to purge oneself from such as these, except
what he said just before, "Let every one that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity." And lest any one should think that, as
being in one great house with them, he might perish with such as
these, he has most carefully forewarned them, "The Lord knoweth them
that are His,"--those, namely, who, by departing from iniquity, purge
themselves from the vessels made to dishonor, lest they should perish
with them whom they are compelled to tolerate in the great house.
27. They, therefore, who are wicked, evildoers, carnal, fleshly,
devilish, think that they receive at the hands of their seducers what
are the gifts of God alone, whether sacraments, or any spiritual
workings about present salvation. But these men have not love towards
God, but are busied about those by whose pride they are led astray,
and are compared to the adulterous woman, whom the prophet introduces
as saying, "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my
water, my wool and my flax, and my oil, and everything that befits
me." For thus arise heresies and schisms, when the fleshly people
which is not founded on the love of God says, "I will go after my
lovers," with whom, either by corruption of her faith, or by the
puffing up of her pride, she shamefully commits adultery. But for the
sake of those who, having undergone the difficulties, and straits, and
barriers of the empty reasoning of those by whom they are led astray,
afterwards feel the prickings of fear, and return to the way of peace,
to seeking God in all sincerity,--for their sake He goes on to say,
"Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a
wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after
her lovers, but she shall not overtake them: and she shall seek them,
but she shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return
to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now." Then,
that they may not attribute to their seducers what they have that is
sound, and derived from the doctrine of truth, by which they lead them
astray to the falseness of their own dogmas and dissensions; that they
may not think that what is sound in them belongs to them, he
immediately added, "And she did not know that I gave her corn, and
wine, and oil, and multiplied her money; but she made vessels of gold
and silver for Baal." [1329]For she had said above, "I will go
after my lovers, that give me my bread," etc., not at all
understanding that all this, which was held soundly and lawfully by
her seducers, was of God, and not of men. Nor would even they
themselves claim these things for themselves, and as it were assert a
right in them, had not they in turn been led astray by a people which
had gone astray, when faith is reposed in them, and such honors are
paid to them, that they should be enabled thereby to say such things,
and claim such things for themselves, that their error should be
called truth, and their iniquity be thought righteousness, in virtue
of the sacraments and Scriptures, which they hold, not for salvation,
but only in appearance. Accordingly, the same adulterous woman is
addressed by the mouth of Ezekiel: "Thou hast also taken thy fair
jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest
to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them; and
tookest my [1330] broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou
hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. My meat also which I
gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou
hast even set it before thine idols for a sweet savor: and this thou
hast done." [1331]For she turns all the sacraments, and the words
of the sacred books, to the images of her own idols, with which her
carnal mind delights to wallow. Nor yet, because those images are
false, and the doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, [1332]
are those sacraments and divine utterances therefore so to lose their
due honor, as to be thought to belong to such as these; seeing that
the Lord says," Of my gold, and my silver, and my broidered garments,
and mine oil, and mine incense, and my meat," and so forth. Ought we,
because those erring ones think that these things belong to their
seducers, therefore not to recognize whose they really are, when He
Himself says, "And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine,
and oil, and multiplied her money"? For He did not say that she did
not have these things because she was an adulteress; but she is said
to have had them, and that not as belonging to herself or her lovers,
but to God, whose alone they are. Although, therefore, she had her
fornication, yet those things wherewith she adorned it, whether as
seduced or in her turn seducing, belonged not to her, but to God. If
these things were spoken in a figure of the Jewish nation, when the
scribes and Pharisees were rejecting the commandment of God in order
to set up their own traditions, so that they were in a manner
committing whoredom with a people which was abandoning their God; and
yet for all that, whoredom at that time among the people, such as the
Lord brought to light by convicting it, did not cause that the
mysteries should belong to them, which were not theirs but God's, who,
in speaking to the adulteress, says that all these things were His;
whence the Lord Himself also sent those whom He cleansed from leprosy
to the same mysteries, that they should offer sacrifice for themselves
before the priests, because that sacrifice had not become efficacious
for them, which He Himself afterwards wished to be commemorated in the
Church for all of them, because He Himself proclaimed the tidings to
them all;--if this be so, how much the more ought we, when we find the
sacraments of the New Testament among certain heretics or schismatics,
not to attribute them to these men, nor to condemn them, as though we
could not recognize them? We ought to recognize the gifts of the true
husband, though in the possession of an adulteress, and to amend, by
the word of truth, that whoredom which is the true possession of the
unchaste woman, instead of finding fault with the gifts, which belong
entirely to the pitying Lord.
28. From these considerations, and such as these, our forefathers,
not only before the time of Cyprian and Agrippinus, but even
afterwards, maintained a most wholesome custom, that whenever they
found anything divine and lawful remaining in its integrity even in
the midst of any heresy or schism, they approved rather than
repudiated it; but whatever they found that was alien, and peculiar to
that false doctrine or division, this they convicted in the light of
the truth, and healed. The points, however, which remain to be
considered in the letter written by Jubaianus, must, I think, when
looking at the size of this book, be taken in hand and treated with a
fresh beginning.
Footnotes
[1316] Acts viii. 5-17.
[1317] Because Cyprian, in his letter to Jubaianus (Ep. lxxiii. 10),
had urged as following from this, that "there is no reason, dearest
brother, why we should think it right to yield to heretics that
baptism which was granted to the one and only Church."
[1318] Deut. iv. 24.
[1319] Hos. ii. 5, cp. LXX.
[1320] John i. 47.
[1321] John xiv. 21.
[1322] John xiii. 34, 35.
[1323] Matt. v. 17.
[1324] Rom. xiii. 10.
[1325] John xv. 1-5.
[1326] Prov. xviii. 1, cp. Hieron, and LXX.
[1327] 1 John ii. 19.
[1328] 2 Tim. ii. 16-21.
[1329] Hos. ii. 5-8, cp. LXX.
[1330] In Hieron, and LXX., as well as in the English version, this is
in the second person, vestimenta tua multicolaria; ton himatismon ton
poikilon sou.
[1331] Ezek. xvi. 17-19.
[1332] 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2.
.
Book IV.
In which he treats of what follows in the same epistle of Cyprian to
Jubaianus.
Chapter 1.
--1. The comparison of the Church with Paradise [1333]
shows us that men may indeed receive her baptism outside her pale, but
that no one outside can either receive or retain the salvation of
eternal happiness. For, as the words of Scripture testify, the
streams from the fountain of Paradise flowed copiously even beyond its
bounds. Record indeed is made of their names; and through what
countries they flow, and that they are situated beyond the limits of
Paradise, is known to all; [1334] and yet in Mesopotamia, and in
Egypt, to which countries those rivers extended, there is not found
that blessedness of life which is recorded in Paradise. Accordingly,
though the waters of Paradise are found beyond its boundaries, yet its
happiness is in Paradise alone. So, therefore, the baptism of the
Church may exist outside, but the gift of the life of happiness is
found alone within the Church, which has been founded on a rock, which
has received the keys of binding and loosing. [1335]"She it is
alone who holds as her privilege the whole power of her Bridegroom and
Lord;" [1336] by virtue of which power as bride, she can bring forth
sons even of handmaids. And these, if they be not high-minded, shall
be called into the lot of the inheritance; but if they be high-minded,
they shall remain outside.
Footnotes
[1333] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. ad Jubaian. 10.
[1334] Gen. ii. 8-14.
[1335] Matt. xvi. 18, 19.
[1336] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 11.
Chapter 2.
--2. All the more, then, because "we are fighting [1337]
for the honor and unity" of the Church, let us beware of giving to
heretics the credit of whatever we acknowledged among them as
belonging to the Church; but let us teach them by argument, that what
they possess that is derived from unity is of no efficacy to their
salvation, unless they shall return to that same unity. For "the
water of the Church is full of faith, and salvation, and holiness"
[1338] to those who use it rightly. No one, however, can use it well
outside the Church. But to those who use it perversely, whether
within or without the Church, it is employed to work punishment, and
does not conduce to their reward. And so baptism "cannot be corrupted
and polluted," though it be handled by the corrupt or by adulterers,
just as also "the Church herself is uncorrupt, and pure, and chaste."
[1339]And so no share in it belongs to the avaricious, or thieves,
or usurers,--many of whom, by the testimony of Cyprian himself in many
places of his letters, exist not only without, but actually within the
Church,--and yet they both are baptized and do baptize, with no change
in their hearts.
3. For this, too, he says, in one of his epistles [1340] to the
clergy on the subject of prayer toGod, in which, after the fashion of
the holy Daniel, he represents the sins of his people as falling upon
himself. For among many other evils of which he makes mention, he
speaks of them also as "renouncing the world in words only and not in
deeds;" as the apostle says of certain men, "They profess that they
know God, but in works they deny Him." [1341]These, therefore, the
blessed Cyprian shows to be contained within the Church herself, who
are baptized without their hearts being changed for the better, seeing
that they renounce the world in words and not in deeds, as the Apostle
Peter says, "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save
us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience)," [1342] which certainly they had not of whom it is
said that they "renounced the world in words only, and not in deeds;"
and yet he does his utmost, by chiding and convincing them, to make
them at length walk in the way of Christ, and be His friends rather
than friends of the world.
Footnotes
[1337] Ib.
[1338] Ib.
[1339] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 11.
[1340] Cypr. Ep. xi. 1.
[1341] Tit. i. 16.
[1342] 1 Pet. iii. 21.
Chapter 3.
--4. And if they would have obeyed him, and begun to live
rightly, not as false but as true Christians, would he have ordered
them to be baptized anew? Surely not; but their true conversion would
have gained this for them, that the sacrament which availed for their
destruction while they were yet unchanged, should begin when they
changed to avail for their salvation.
5. For neither are they "devoted to the Church" [1343] who seem to be
within and live contrary to Christ, that is, act against His
commandments; nor can they be considered in any way to belong to that
Church, which He so purifies by the washing of water, "that He may
present to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or
any such thing." [1344]But if they are not in that Church to whose
members they do not belong, they are not in the Church of which it is
said, "My dove is but one; she is the only one of her mother;" [1345]
for she herself is without spot or wrinkle. Or else let him who can
assert that those are members of this dove who renounce the world in
words but not in deeds. Meantime there is one thing which we see,
from which I think it was said, "He that regardeth the day, regardeth
it unto the Lord," [1346] for God judgeth every day. For, according
to His foreknowledge, who knows whom He has foreordained before the
foundation of the world to be made like to the image of His Son, many
who are even openly outside, and are called heretics, are better than
many good Catholics. For we see what they are to-day, what they shall
be to-morrow we know not. And with God, with whom the future is
already present, they already are what they shall hereafter be. But
we, according to what each man is at present, inquire whether they are
to be to-day reckoned among the members of the Church which is called
the one dove, and the Bride of Christ without a spot or wrinkle,
[1347] of whom Cyprian says in the letter which I have quoted above,
that "they did not keep in the way of the Lord, nor observe the
commandments given unto them for their salvation; that they did not
fulfill the will of their Lord, being eager about their property and
gains, following the dictates of pride, giving way to envy and
dissension, careless about single-mindedness and faith, renouncing the
world in words only and not in deeds, pleasing each himself, and
displeasing all men." [1348]But if the dove does not acknowledge
them among her members, and if the Lord shall say to them, supposing
that they continue in the same perversity, "I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity;" [1349] then they seem indeed to be in
the Church, but are not; "nay, they even act against the Church. How
then can they baptize with the baptism of the Church," [1350] which is
of avail neither to themselves, nor to those who receive it from them,
unless they are changed in heart with a true conversion, so that the
sacrament itself, which did not avail them when they received it
whilst they were renouncing the world in words and not in deeds, may
begin to profit them when they shall begin to renounce it in deeds
also? And so too in the case of those whose separation from the
Church is open; for neither these nor those are as yet among the
members of the dove, but some of them perhaps will be at some future
time.
Footnotes
[1343] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 11.
[1344] Eph. v. 26, 27.
[1345] Song of Sol. vi. 9.
[1346] Rom. xiv. 6.
[1347] Retract. ii. 18, quoted on I. 17.
[1348] Cypr. Ep. xi. I, first part loosely quoted.
[1349] Matt. vii. 23.
[1350] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 11.
Chapter 4.
--6. We do not, therefore, "acknowledge the baptism of
heretics," [1351] when we refuse to baptize after them; but because we
acknowledge the ordinance to be of Christ even among evil men, whether
openly separated from us, or secretly severed whilst within our body,
we receive it with due respect, having corrected those who were wrong
in the points wherein they went astray. However as I seem to be hard
pressed when it is said to me, "Does then a heretic confer remission
of sins?" so I in turn press hard when I say, Does then he who
violates the commands of Heaven, the avaricious man, the robber, the
usurer, the envious man, does he who renounces the world in words and
not in deeds, confer such remission? If you mean by the force of
God's sacrament, then both the one and the other; if by his own merit,
neither of them. For that sacrament, even in the hands of wicked men,
is known to be of Christ; but neither the one nor the other of these
men is found in the body of the one uncorrupt, holy, chaste dove,
which has neither spot nor wrinkle. And just as baptism is of no
profit to the man who renounces the world in words and not in deeds,
so it is of no profit to him who is baptized in heresy or schism; but
each of them, when he amends his ways, begins to receive profit from
that which before was not profitable, but was yet already in him.
7. "He therefore that is baptized in heresy does not become the
temple of God; [1352] but does it therefore follow that he is not to
be considered as baptized? For neither does the avaricious man,
baptized within the Church, become the temple of God unless he depart
from his avarice; for they who become the temple of God certainly
inherit the kingdom of God. But the apostle says, among many other
things, "Neither the covetous, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God." [1353]For in another place the same apostle
compares covetousness to the worship of idols: "Nor covetous man," he
says, "who is an idolater;" [1354] which meaning the same Cyprian has
so far extended in a letter to Antonianus, that he did not hesitate to
compare the sin of covetousness with that of men who in time of
persecution had declared in writing that they would offer incense.
[1355]The man, then, who is baptized in heresy in the name of the
Holy Trinity, yet does not become the temple of God unless he abandons
his heresy, just as the covetous man who has been baptized in the same
name does not become the temple of God unless he abandons his
covetousness, which is idolatry. For this, too, the same apostle
says: "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" [1356]
Let it not, then, be asked of us "of what God he is made the temple"
[1357] when we say that he is not made the temple of God at all. Yet
he is not therefore unbaptized, nor does his foul error cause that
what he has received, consecrated in the words of the gospel, should
not be the holy sacrament; just as the other man's covetousness (which
is idolatry) and great uncleanness cannot prevent what he receives
from being holy baptism, even though he be baptized with the same
words of the gospel by another man covetous like himself.
Footnotes
[1351] Ib., lxiii. 12, quando a nobis baptisma eorum in acceptum
refertur.
[1352] Cypr. Ep. lxxvii. 12.
[1353] 1 Cor. vi. 10.
[1354] Eph. v. 5.
[1355] Cypr. Ep. lv. 26.
[1356] 2 Cor. vi. 16.
[1357] Cypr. Ep. lxxvii. 12.
Chapter 5.
--8. "Further," Cyprian goes on to say, "in vain do some,
who are overcome by reason, oppose to us custom, as though custom were
superior to truth, or that were not to be followed in spiritual things
which has been revealed by the Holy Spirit, as the better way." [1358]
This is clearly true, since reason and truth are to be preferred to
custom. But when truth supports custom, nothing should be more
strongly maintained. Then he proceeds as follows: "For one may
pardon a man who merely errs, as the Apostle Paul says of himself,
`Who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious; but I
obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly;' [1359] but he who, after
inspiration and revelation given, perseveres advisedly and knowingly
in his former error, sins without hope of pardon on the ground of
ignorance. For he rests on a kind of presumption and obstinacy, when
he is overcome by reason." This is most true, that his sin is much
more grievous who has sinned wittingly than his who has sinned through
ignorance. And so in the case of the holy Cyprian, who was not only
learned, but also patient of instruction, which he so fully himself
understood to be a part of the praise of the bishop whom the apostle
describes, [1360] that he said, "This also should be approved in a
bishop, that he not only teach with knowledge, but also learn with
patience." [1361]I do not doubt that if he had had the opportunity
of discussing this question, which has been so long and so much
disputed in the Church, with the pious and learned men to whom we owe
it that subsequently that ancient custom was confirmed by the
authority of a plenary Council, he would have shown, without
hesitation, not only how learned he was in those things which he had
grasped with all the security of truth, but also how ready he was to
receive instruction in what he had failed to perceive. And yet, since
it is so clear that it is much more grievous to sin wittingly than in
ignorance, I should be glad if any one would tell me which is the
worse,--the man who falls into heresy, not knowing how great a sin it
is, or the man who refuses to abandon his covetousness, knowing its
enormity? I might even put the question thus: If one man unwittingly
fall into heresy, and another knowingly refuse to depart from
idolatry, since the apostle himself says, "The covetous man, which is
an idolater;" and Cyprian too understood the same passage in just the
same way, when he says, in his letter to Antonianus, "Nor let the new
heretics flatter themselves in this, that they say they do not
communicate with idolaters, whereas there are amongst them both
adulterers and covetous persons, who are held guilty of the sin of
idolatry; `for know this, and understand, that no whoremonger, nor
unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God;' [1362] and again,
`Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry.'" [1363]I ask, therefore, which
sins more deeply,--he who ignorantly has fallen into heresy, or he who
wittingly has refused to abandon covetousness, that is idolatry?
According to that rule by which the sins of those who sin wittingly
are placed before those of the ignorant, the man who is covetous with
knowledge takes the first place in sin. But as it is possible that
the greatness of the actual sin should produce the same effect in the
case of heresy that the witting commission of the sin produces in that
of covetousness, let us suppose the ignorant heretic to be on a par in
guilt with the consciously covetous man, although the evidence which
Cyprian himself has advanced from the apostle does not seem to prove
this. For what is it that we abominate in heretics except their
blasphemies? But when he wished to show that ignorance of the sin may
conduce to ease in obtaining pardon, he advanced a proof from the case
of the apostle, when he says, "Who was before a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy, because I did it
ignorantly." [1364]But if possible, as I said before, let the sins
of the two men--the blasphemy of the unconscious, and the idolatry of
the conscious sinner--be esteemed of equal weight; and let them be
judged by the same sentence,--he who, in seeking for Christ, falls
into a truth-like setting forth of what is false, and he who wittingly
resists Christ speaking through His apostle, "seeing that no
whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, which is an
idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God,"
[1365] --and then I would ask why baptism and the words of the gospel
are held as naught in the former case, and accounted valid in the
latter, when each is alike found to be estranged from the members of
the dove. Is it because the former is an open combatant outside, that
he should not be admitted, the latter a cunning assenter within the
fold, that he may not be expelled?
Footnotes
[1358] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 13.
[1359] 1 Tim. i. 13.
[1360] 2 Tim. ii. 24.
[1361] Cypr. Ep. lxxiv. 10.
[1362] Eph. v. 5.
[1363] Col. iii. 5. Cypr. Ep. lv. 27.
[1364] 1 Tim. i. 13.
[1365] Eph. v. 5.
Chapter 6.
--9. But as regards his saying, "Nor let any one affirm
that what they have received from the apostles, that they follow; for
the apostles handed down only one Church and one baptism, and that
appointed only in the same Church:" [1366]this does not so much
move me to venture to condemn the baptism of Christ when found amongst
heretics (just as it is necessary to recognize the gospel itself when
I find it with them, though I abominate their error), as it warns me
that there were some even in the times of the holy Cyprian who traced
to the authority of the apostles that custom against which the African
Councils were held, and in respect of which he himself said a little
above, "In vain do those who are beaten by reason oppose to us the
authority of custom." Nor do I find the reason why the same Cyprian
found this very custom, which after his time was confirmed by nothing
less than a plenary Council of the whole world, already so strong
before his time, that when with all his learning he sought an
authority worth following for changing it, he found nothing but a
Council of Agrippinus held in Africa a very few years before his own
time. And seeing that this was not enough for him, as against the
custom of the whole world, he laid hold on these reasons which we just
now, considering them with great care, and being confirmed by the
antiquity of the custom itself, and by the subsequent authority of a
plenary Council, found to be truth-like rather than true; which,
however, seemed to him true, as he toiled in a question of the
greatest obscurity, and was in doubt about the remission of
sins,--whether it could fail to be given in the baptism of Christ, and
whether it could be given among heretics. In which matter, if an
imperfect revelation of the truth was given to Cyprian, that the
greatness of his love in not deserting the unity of the Church might
be made manifest, there is yet not any reason why any one should
venture to claim superiority over the strong defenses and excellence
of his virtues, and the abundance of graces which were found in him,
merely because, with the instruction derived from the strength of a
general Council, he sees something which Cyprian did not see, because
the Church had not yet held a plenary Council on the matter. Just as
no one is so insane as to set himself up as surpassing the merits of
the Apostle Peter, because, taught by the epistles of the Apostle
Paul, and confirmed by the custom of the Church herself, he does not
compel the Gentiles to judaize, as Peter once had done. [1367]
10. We do not then "find that any one, after being baptized among
heretics, was afterwards admitted by the apostles with the same
baptism, and communicated;" [1368] but neither do we find this, that
any one coming from the society of heretics, who had been baptized
among them, was baptized anew by the apostles. But this custom, which
even then those who looked back to past ages could not find to have
been invented by men of a later time, is rightly believed to have been
handed down from the apostles. And there are many other things of the
same kind, which it would be tedious to recount. Wherefore, if they
had something to say for themselves to whom Cyprian, wishing to
persuade them of the truth of his own view, says, "Let no one say,
What we have received from the apostles, that we follow," with how
much more force we now say, What the custom of the Church has always
held, what this argument has failed to prove false, and what a plenary
Council has confirmed, this we follow! To this we may add that it may
also be said, after a careful inquiry into the reasoning on both sides
of the discussion, and into the evidence of Scripture, What truth has
declared, that we follow.
Footnotes
[1366] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 13.
[1367] Gal. ii. 14.
[1368] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 13.
Chapter 7.
--11. For in fact, as to what some opposed to the reasoning
of Cyprian, that the apostle says, "Notwithstanding every way, whether
in pretence or in truth, let Christ be preached;" [1369] Cyprian
rightly exposed their error, showing that it has nothing to do with
the case of heretics, since the apostle was speaking of those who were
acting within the Church, with malicious envy seeking their own
profit. They announced Christ, indeed, according to the truth whereby
we believe in Christ, but not in the spirit in which He was announced
by the good evangelists to the sons of the dove. "For Paul," he says,
"in his epistle was not speaking of heretics, or of their baptism, so
that it could be shown that he had laid down anything concerning this
matter. He was speaking of brethren, whether as walking disorderly
and contrary to the discipline of the Church, or as keeping the
discipline of the Church in the fear of God. And he declared that
some of them spoke the word of God steadfastly and fearlessly, but
that some were acting in envy and strife; that some had kept
themselves encompassed with kindly Christian love, but that others
entertained malice and strife: but yet that he patiently endured all
things, with the view that, whether in truth or in pretence, the name
of Christ, which Paul preached, might come to the knowledge of the
greatest number, and that the sowing of the word, which was as yet a
new and unaccustomed work, might spread more widely by the preaching
of those that spoke. Furthermore, it is one thing for those who are
within the Church to speak in the name of Christ, another thing for
those who are without, acting against the Church, to baptize in the
name of Christ." [1370]These words of Cyprian seem to warn us that
we must distinguish between those who are bad outside, and those who
are bad within the Church. And those whom he says that the apostle
represents as preaching the gospel impurely and of envy, he says truly
were within. This much, however, I think I may say without rashness,
if no one outside can have anything which is of Christ, neither can
any one within have anything which is of the devil. For if that
closed garden can contain the thorns of the devil, why cannot the
fountain of Christ equally flow beyond the garden's bounds? But if it
cannot contain them, whence, even in the time of the Apostle Paul
himself, did there arise amongst those who were within so great an
evil of envy and malicious strife? For these are the words of
Cyprian. Can it be that envy and malicious strife are a small evil?
How then were those in unity who were not at peace? For it is not my
voice, nor that of any man, but of the Lord Himself; nor did the sound
go forth from men, but from angels, at the birth of Christ, "Glory to
God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." [1371]
And this certainly would not have been proclaimed by the voice of
angels when Christ was born upon the earth, unless God wished this to
be understood, that those are in the unity of the body of Christ who
are united in the peace of Christ, and those are in the peace of
Christ who are of good will. Furthermore, as good will is shown in
kindliness, so is bad will shown in malice.
Footnotes
[1369] Phil. i. 18. Hieron. "annuntietur."
[1370] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 14.
[1371] Luke ii. 14. "Hominibus bonæ voluntatis;" and so the Vulgate,
following the reading en anthropois eudokias.
Chapter 8.
--12. In short, we may see how great an evil in itself is
envy, which cannot be other than malicious. Let us not look for other
testimony. Cyprian himself is sufficient for us, through whose mouth
the Lord poured forth so many thunders in most perfect truth, and
uttered so many useful precepts about envy and malignity. Let us
therefore read the letter of Cyprian about envy and malignity, and see
how great an evil it is to envy those better than ourselves,--an evil
whose origin he shows in memorable words to have sprung from the devil
himself. "To feel jealousy," he says, "of what you regard as good,
and to envy those who are better than yourselves, to some, dearest
brethren, seems a light and minute offense." [1372]And again a
little later, when he was inquiring into the source and origin of the
evil, he says, "From this the devil, in the very beginning of the
world, perished first himself, and led others to destruction." [1373]
And further on in the same chapter: "What an evil, dearest
brethren, is that by which an angel fell! by which that exalted and
illustrious loftiness was able to be deceived and overthrown! by which
he was deceived who was the deceiver! From that time envy stalks upon
the earth, when man, about to perish through malignity, submits
himself to the teacher of perdition,--when he who envies imitates the
devil, as it is written, `Through envy of the devil came death into
the world, and they that do hold of his side do find it.'" [1374]
How true, how forcible are these words of Cyprian, in an epistle known
throughout the world, we cannot fail to recognize. It was truly
fitting for Cyprian to argue and warn most forcibly about envy and
malignity, from which most deadly evil he proved his own heart to be
so far removed by the abundance of his Christian love; by carefully
guarding which he remained in the unity of communion with his
colleagues, who without ill-feeling entertained different views about
baptism, whilst he himself differed in opinion from them, not through
any contention of ill will, but through human infirmity, erring in a
point which God, in His own good time, would reveal to him by reason
of his perseverance in love. For he says openly, "Judging no one, nor
depriving any of the right of communion if he differ from us. For no
one of us setteth himself up as a bishop of bishops, or by tyrannical
terror forces his colleagues to a necessity of obeying." [1375]And
in the end of the epistle before us he says, "These things I have
written to you briefly, dearest brother, according to my poor ability,
prescribing to or prejudging no one, so as to prevent each bishop from
doing what he thinks right in the free exercise of his own judgment.
We, so far as in us lies, do not strive on behalf of heretics with our
colleges and fellow-bishops, with whom we hold the harmony that God
enjoins, and the peace of our Lord, especially as the apostle says,
`If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither
the churches of God.' [1376]Christian love in our souls, the honor
of our fraternity, the bond of faith, the harmony of the priesthood,
all these are maintained by us with patience and gentleness. For this
cause we have also, so far as our poor ability admitted, by the
permission and inspiration of the Lord, written now a treatise on the
benefit of patience, [1377] which we have sent to you in consideration
of our mutual affection." [1378]
Footnotes
[1372] Cypr. de Zel. et Liv. c. 1.
[1373] Ib. c. 4.
[1374] Wisd. ii. 24, 25.
[1375] Conc. Carth. sub in.
[1376] 1 Cor. xi. 16.
[1377] This treatise is still extant. See Trans. in Ante-Nicene
Fathers, vol. V. 484-490.
[1378] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 26.
Chapter 9.
--13. By this patience of Christian love he not only
endured the difference of opinion manifested in all kindliness by his
good colleagues on an obscure point, as he also himself received
toleration, till, in process of time, when it so pleased God, what had
always been a most wholesome custom was further confirmed by a
declaration of the truth in a plenary Council, but he even put up with
those who were manifestly bad, as was very well known to himself, who
did not entertain a different view in consequence of the obscurity of
the question, but acted contrary to their preaching in the evil
practices of an abandoned life, as the apostle says of them, "Thou
that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?" [1379]For
Cyprian says in his letter of such bishops of his own time, his own
colleagues, and remaining in communion with him, "While they had
brethren starving in the Church, they tried to amass large sums of
money, they took possession of estates by fraudulent proceedings, they
multiplied their gains by accumulated usuries." [1380]For here
there is no obscure question. Scripture declares openly, "Neither
covetous nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God;" [1381]
and "He that putteth out his money to usury," [1382] and "No
whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater,
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." [1383]He
therefore certainly would not, without knowledge, have brought
accusations of such covetousness, that men not only greedily treasured
up their own goods, but also fraudulently appropriated the goods of
others, or of idolatry existing in such enormity as he understands and
proves it to exist; nor assuredly would he bear false witness against
his fellow-bishops. And yet with the bowels of fatherly and motherly
love he endured them, lest that, by rooting out the tares before their
time, the wheat should also have been rooted up, [1384] imitating
assuredly the Apostle Paul, who, with the same love towards the
Church, endured those who were ill-disposed and envious towards him.
[1385]
14. But yet because "by the envy of the devil death entered into the
world, and they that do hold of his side do find it," [1386] not
because they are created by God, but because they go astray of
themselves, as Cyprian also says himself, seeing that the devil,
before he was a devil, was an angel, and good, how can it be that they
who are of the devil's side are in the unity of Christ? Beyond all
doubt, as the Lord Himself says, "an enemy hath done this," who "sowed
tares among the wheat." [1387]As therefore what is of the devil
within the fold must be convicted, so what is of Christ without must
be recognized. Has the devil what is his within the unity of the
Church, and shall Christ not have what is His without? This, perhaps,
might be said of individual men, that as the devil has none that are
his among the holy angels, so God has none that are His outside the
communion of the Church. But though it may be allowed to the devil to
mingle tares, that is, wicked men, with this Church which still wears
the mortal nature of flesh, so long as it is wandering far from God,
he being allowed this just because of the pilgrimage of the Church
herself, that men may desire more ardently the rest of that country
which the angels enjoy, yet this cannot be said of the sacraments.
For, as the tares within the Church can have and handle them, though
not for salvation, but for the destruction to which they are destined
in the fire, so also can the tares without, which received them from
seceders from within; for they did not lose them by seceding. This,
indeed, is made plain from the fact that baptism is not conferred
again on their return, when any of the very men who seceded happen to
come back again. And let not any one say, Why, what fruit hath the
tares? For if this be so, their condition is the same, so far as this
goes, both inside and without. For it surely cannot be that grains of
corn are found in the tares inside, and not in those without. But
when the question is of the sacrament, we do not consider whether the
tares bear any fruit, but whether they have any share of heaven; for
the tares, both within and without, share the rain with the wheat
itself, which rain is in itself heavenly and sweet, even though under
its influence the tares grow up in barrenness. And so the sacrament,
according to the gospel of Christ, is divine and pleasant; nor is it
to be esteemed as naught because of the barrenness of those on whom
its dew falls even without.
Footnotes
[1379] Rom. ii. 21.
[1380] Cypr. de Lapsis. c. vi.
[1381] 1 Cor. vi. 10.
[1382] Ps. xv. 5.
[1383] Eph. v. 5.
[1384] Matt. xiii. 29.
[1385] Phil. i. 15-18.
[1386] Wisd. ii. 24, 25.
[1387] Matt. xiii. 28, 25.
Chapter 10.
--15. But some one may say that the tares within may more
easily be converted into wheat. I grant that it is so; but what has
this to do with the question of repeating baptism? You surely do not
maintain that if a man converted from heresy, through the occasion and
opportunity given by his conversion, should bear fruit before another
who, being within the Church, is more slow to be washed from his
iniquity, and so corrected and changed, the former therefore needs not
to be baptized again, but the churchman to be baptized again, who was
outstripped by him who came from the heretics, because of the greater
slowness of his amendment. It has nothing, therefore, to do with the
question now at issue who is later or slower in being converted from
his especial waywardness to the straight path of faith, or hope, or
charity. For although the bad within the fold are more easily made
good yet it will sometimes happen that certain of the number of those
outside will outstrip in their conversion certain of those within; and
while these remain in barrenness, the former, being restored to unity
and communion, will bear fruit with patience, thirty-fold, or
sixty-fold, or a hundred-fold. [1388]Or if those only are to be
called tares who remain in perverse error to the end, there are many
ears of corn outside, and many tares within.
16. But it will be urged that the bad outside are worse than those
within. It is indeed a weighty question, whether Nicolaus, being
already severed from the Church, [1389] or Simon, who was still within
it, [1390] was the worse,--the one being a heretic, the other a
sorcerer. But if the mere fact of division, as being the clearest
token of violated charity, is held to be the worse evil, I grant that
it is so. Yet many, though they have lost all feelings of charity,
yet do not secede from considerations of worldly profit; and as they
seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's, [1391] what
they are unwilling to secede from is not the unity of Christ, but
their own temporal advantage. Whence it is said in praise of charity,
that she "seeketh not her own." [1392]
17. Now, therefore, the question is, how could men of the party of
the devil belong to the Church, which has no spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing, [1393] of which also it is said, "My dove is one?" [1394]
But if they cannot, it is clear that she groans among those who are
not of her, some treacherously laying wait within, some barking at her
gate without. Such men, however, even within, both receive baptism,
and possess it, and transmit it holy in itself; nor is it in any way
defiled by their wickedness, in which they persevere even to the end.
Wherefore the same blessed Cyprian teaches us that baptism is to be
considered as consecrated in itself by the words of the gospel, as the
Church has received, without joining to it or mingling with it any
consideration of waywardness and wickedness on the part of either
minister or recipients; since he himself points out to us both
truths,--both that there have been some within the Church who did not
cherish kindly Christian love, but practised envy and unkind
dissension, of whom the Apostle Paul spoke; and also that the envious
belong to the devil's party, as he testifies in the most open way in
the epistle which he wrote about envy and malignity. Wherefore, since
it is clearly possible that in those who belong to the devil's party,
Christ's sacrament may yet be holy,--not, indeed, to their salvation,
but to their condemnation, and that not only if they are led astray
after they have been baptized, but even if they were such in heart
when they received the sacrament, renouncing the world (as the same
Cyprian shows) in words only and not in deeds; [1395] and since even
if afterwards they be brought into the right way, the sacrament is not
to be again administered which they received when they were astray; so
far as I can see, the case is already clear and evident, that in the
question of baptism we have to consider, not who gives, but what he
gives; not who receives, but what he receives; not who has, but what
he has. For if men of the party of the devil, and therefore in no way
belonging to the one dove, can yet receive, and have, and give baptism
in all its holiness, in no way defiled by their waywardness, as we are
taught by the letters of Cyprian himself, how are we ascribing to
heretics what does not belong to them? how are we saying that what is
really Christ's is theirs, and not rather recognizing in them the
signs of our Sovereign, and correcting the deeds of deserters from
Him? Wherefore it is one thing, as the holy Cyprian says, "for those
within in the Church, to speak in the name of Christ, another thing
for those without, who are acting against the Church, to baptize in
His name." [1396]But both many who are within act against the
Church by evil living, and by enticing weak souls to copy their lives;
and some who are without speak in Christ's name, and are not forbidden
to work the works of Christ, but only to be without, since for the
healing of their souls we grasp at them, or reason with them, or
exhort them. For he, too, was without who did not follow Christ with
His disciples, and yet in Christ's name was casting out devils, which
the Lord enjoined that he should not be prevented from doing; [1397]
although, certainly, in the point where he was imperfect he was to be
made whole, in accordance with the words of the Lord, in which He
says, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not
with me scattereth abroad." [1398]Therefore both some things are
done outside in the name of Christ not against the Church, and some
things are done inside on the devil's part which are against the
Church.
Footnotes
[1388] Matt. xiii. 23; Luke viii. 15.
[1389] Rev. ii. 6.
[1390] Acts viii. 9-24.
[1391] Phil. ii. 21.
[1392] 1 Cor. xiii. 5.
[1393] Eph. v. 27; Retract. ii. 18.
[1394] Song of Sol. vi. 9.
[1395] Cypr. Ep. xi. i.
[1396] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 14.
[1397] Luke ix. 49, 50.
[1398] Matt. xii. 30.
Chapter 11.
--18. What shall we say of what is also wonderful, that he
who carefully observes may find that it is possible that certain
persons, without violating Christian charity, may yet teach what is
useless, as Peter wished to compel the Gentiles to observe Jewish
customs, [1399] as Cyprian himself would force heretics to be baptized
anew? whence the apostle says to such good members, who are rooted in
charity, and yet walk not rightly in some points, "If in anything ye
be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you;" [1400] and
that some again, though devoid of charity, may teach something
wholesome? of whom the Lord says, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit
in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that
observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say and do
not." [1401]Whence the apostle also says of those envious and
malicious ones who yet preach salvation through Christ, "Whether in
pretense, or in truth, let Christ be preached." [1402]Wherefore,
both within and without, the waywardness of man is to be corrected,
but the divine sacraments and utterances are not to be attributed to
men. He is not, therefore, a "patron of heretics" who refuses to
attribute to them what he knows not to belong to them, even though it
be found among them. We do not grant baptism to be theirs; but we
recognize His baptism of whom it is said, "The same is He which
baptizeth," [1403] wheresoever we find it. But if "the treacherous
and blasphemous man" continue in his treachery and blasphemy, he
receives no "remission of sins either without" or within the Church;
or if, by the power of the sacrament, he receives it for the moment,
the same force operates both without and within, as the power of the
name of Christ used to work the expulsion of devils even without the
Church.
Footnotes
[1399] Gal. ii. 14.
[1400] Phil. iii. 15.
[1401] Matt. xxiii. 2, 3.
[1402] Phil. i. 18; see on ch. 7. 10.
[1403] John i. 33.
Chapter 12.
--19. But he urges that "we find that the apostles, in all
their epistles, execrated and abhorred the sacrilegious wickedness of
heretics, so as to say that `their word does spread as a canker.'"
[1404]What then? Does not Paul also show that those who said, "Let
us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," were corrupters of good
manners by their evil communications, adding immediately afterwards,
"Evil communications corrupt good manners;" and yet he intimated that
these were within the Church when he says, "How say some among you
that there is no resurrection of the dead?" [1405]But when does he
fail to express his abhorrence of the covetous? Or could anything be
said in stronger terms, than that covetousness should be called
idolatry, as the same apostle declared? [1406]Nor did Cyprian
understand his language otherwise, inserting it when need required in
his letters; though he confesses that in his time there were in the
Church not covetous men of an ordinary type, but robbers and usurers,
and these found not among the masses, but among the bishops. And yet
I should be willing to understand that those of whom the apostle says,
"Their word does spread as a canker," were without the Church, but
Cyprian himself will not allow me. For, when showing, in his letter
to Antonianus, [1407] that no man ought to sever himself from the
unity of the Church before the time of the final separation of the
just and unjust, merely because of the admixture of evil men in the
Church, when he makes it manifest how holy he was, and deserving of
the illustrious martyrdom which he won, he says, "What swelling of
arrogance it is, what forgetfulness of humility and gentleness, that
any one should dare or believe that he can do what the Lord did not
grant even to the apostles,--to think that he can distinguish the
tares from the wheat, or, as if it were granted to him to carry the
fan and purge the floor, to endeavor to separate the chaff from the
grain! And whereas the apostle says, `But in a great house there are
not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of
earth,' [1408] that he should seem to choose those of gold and of
silver, and despise and cast away and condemn those of wood and of
earth, when really the vessels of wood are only to be burned in the
day of the Lord by the burning of the divine conflagration, and those
of earth are to be broken by Him to whom the `rod of iron [1409] has
been given.'" [1410]By this argument, therefore, against those who,
under the pretext of avoiding the society of wicked men, had severed
themselves from the unity of the Church, Cyprian shows that by the
great house of which the apostle spoke, in which there were not only
vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, he
understood nothing else but the Church, in which there should be good
and bad, till at the last day it should be cleansed as a
threshing-floor by the winnowing-fan. And if this be so, in the
Church herself, that is, in the great house itself, there were vessels
to dishonor, whose word did spread like a canker. For the apostle,
speaking of them, taught as follows: "And their word," he says, "will
spread as doth a canker; of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; who
concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past
already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are
His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and
of silver, but also of wood and of earth." [1411]If, therefore,
they whose words did spread as doth a canker were as it were vessels
to dishonor in the great house, and by that "great house" Cyprian
understands the unity of the Church itself, surely it cannot be that
their canker polluted the baptism of Christ. Accordingly, neither
without, any more than within, can any one who is of the devil's
party, either in himself or in any other person, stain the sacrament
which is of Christ. It is not, therefore, the case that "the word
which spreads as a canker to the ears of those who hear it gives
remission of sins;" [1412] but when baptism is given in the words of
the gospel, however great be the perverseness of understanding on the
part either of him through whom, or of him to whom it is given, the
sacrament itself is holy in itself on account of Him whose sacrament
it is. And if any one, receiving it at the hands of a misguided man,
yet does not receive the perversity of the minister, but only the
holiness of the mystery, being closely bound to the unity of the
Church in good faith and hope and charity, he receives remission of
his sins,--not by the words which do eat as doth a canker, but by the
sacraments of the gospel flowing from a heavenly source. But if the
recipient himself be misguided, on the one hand, what is given is of
no avail for the salvation of the misguided man; and yet, on the other
hand, that which is received remains holy in the recipient, and is not
renewed to him if he be brought to the right way.
Footnotes
[1404] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 15; 2 Tim. ii. 17.
[1405] 1 Cor. xv. 32, 33, 12.
[1406] Eph. v. 5.
[1407] Antonianus, a bishop of Numidia, wrote 252 A.D., to Cyprian,
favoring his milder view in opposition to the purism of Novatian:
subsequently Novatian wrote to him, advocating the purist movement and
impugning the laxity of Cornelius, bp. of Rome. To overthrow the
effect upon A. of this letter, Cyprian wrote Epistle LV. In Ep LXX.,
A. is of the number of those Numidian bishops whom Cyprian addresses.
[1408] 2 Tim. ii. 20.
[1409] Ps. ii. 9.
[1410] Cypr. Ep. lv. 25.
[1411] 2 Tim. ii. 17-20.
[1412] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 15.
Chapter 13.
--20. There is therefore "no fellowship between
righteousness and unrighteousness," [1413] not only without, but also
within the Church; for "the Lord knoweth them that are His," and "Let
every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." There
is also "no communion between light and darkness," [1414] not only
without, but also within the Church; for "he that hateth his brother
is still in darkness." [1415]And they at any rate hated Paul, who,
preaching Christ of envy and malicious strife, supposed that they
added affliction to his bonds; [1416] and yet the same Cyprian
understands these still to have been within the Church. Since,
therefore, "neither darkness can enlighten, nor unrighteousness
justify," [1417] as Cyprian again says, I ask, how could those men
baptize within the very Church herself? I ask, how could those
vessels which the large house contains not to honor, but to dishonor,
administer what is holy for the sanctifying of men within the great
house itself, unless because that holiness of the sacrament cannot be
polluted even by the unclean, either when it is given at their hands,
or when it is received by those who in heart and life are not changed
for the better? of whom, as situated within the Church, Cyprian
himself says, "Renouncing the world in word only, and not in deed."
[1418]
21. There are therefore also within the Church "enemies of God, whose
hearts the spirit of Antichrist has possessed;" and yet they, "deal
with spiritual and divine things," [1419] which cannot profit for
their salvation so long as they remain such as they are; and yet
neither can they pollute them by their own uncleanness. With regard
to what he says, therefore, "that they have no part given them in the
saving grace of the Church, who, scattering and fighting against the
Church of Christ, are called adversaries by Christ Himself, and
antichrists by His apostles, [1420] this must be received under the
consideration that there are men of this kind both within and
without. But the separation of those that are within from the
perfection and unity of the dove is not only known in the case of some
men to God, but even in the case of some to their fellow-men; for, by
regarding their openly abandoned life and confirmed wickedness, and
comparing it with the rules of God's commandments, they understand to
what a multitude of tares and chaff, situated now some within and some
without, but destined to be most manifestly separated at the last day,
the Lord will then say, "Depart from me, ye that work iniquity,"
[1421] and "Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels." [1422]
Footnotes
[1413] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 15; 2 Cor. vi. 14.
[1414] Ib.
[1415] 1 John ii. 9.
[1416] Phil. i. 15, 16.
[1417] Cypr l.c.
[1418] Cypr Ep. xi. 1.
[1419] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 15.
[1420] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 15.
[1421] Matt. vii. 23.
[1422] Matt. xxv. 41.
Chapter 14.
--22. But we must not despair of the conversion of any
man, whether situated within or without, so long as "the goodness of
God leadeth him to repentance," [1423] and "visits their
transgressions with the rod, and their inquiry with stripes." For in
this way "He does not utterly take from them His loving-kindness,"
[1424] if they will themselves sometimes "love their own soul,
pleasing God." [1425]But as the good man "that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved," [1426] so the bad man, whether
within or without, who shall persevere in his wickedness to the end,
shall not be saved. Nor do we say that "all, wheresoever and
howsoever baptized, obtain the grace of baptism," [1427] if by the
grace of baptism is understood the actual salvation which is conferred
by the celebration of the sacrament; but many fail to obtain this
salvation even within the Church, although it is clear that they
possess the sacrament, which is holy in itself. Well, therefore, does
the Lord warn us in the gospel that we should not company with
ill-advisers, [1428] who walk under the pretence of Christ's name; but
these are found both within and without, as, in fact, they do not
proceed without unless they have first been ill-disposed within. And
we know that the apostle said of the vessels placed in the great
house, "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a
vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and
prepared unto every good work." [1429]But in what manner each man
ought to purge himself from these he shows a little above, saying,
"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity,"
[1430] that he may not in the last day, with the chaff, whether with
that which has already been driven from the threshing-floor, or with
that which is to be separated at the last, hear the command, "Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity." [1431]Whence it appears, indeed,
as Cyprian says, that "we are not at once to admit and adopt
whatsoever is professed in the name of Christ, but only what is done
in the truth of Christ." [1432]But it is not an action done in the
truth of Christ that men should "seize on estates by fraudulent
pretenses, and increase their gains by accumulated usury," [1433] or
that they should "renounce the world in word only;" [1434] and yet,
that all this is done within the Church, Cyprian himself bears
sufficient testimony.
Footnotes
[1423] Rom. ii. 4.
[1424] Ps. lxxxix. 32, 33.
[1425] Ecclus. xxx. 23. The words, "placentes Deo" are derived from
the Latin version only.
[1426] Matt. xxiv. 13.
[1427] From a letter of Pope Stephen's, quoted Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 16.
[1428] Mark xiii. 21.
[1429] 2 Tim. ii. 21.
[1430] 2 Tim. ii. 19.
[1431] Matt. vii. 23.
[1432] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 16.
[1433] Ib. de Laps. c. vi.
[1434] Ib. Ep. xi. 1.
Chapter 15.
--23. To go on to the point which he pursues at great
length, that "they who blaspheme the Father of Christ cannot be
baptized in Christ," [1435] since it is clear that they blaspheme
through error (for he who comes to the baptism of Christ will not
openly blaspheme the Father of Christ, but he is led to blaspheme by
holding a view contrary to the teaching of the truth about the Father
of Christ), we have already shown at sufficient length that baptism,
consecrated in the words of the gospel, is not affected by the error
of any man, whether ministrant or recipient, whether he hold views
contrary to the revelation of divine teaching on the subject of the
Father, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost. For many carnal and natural
men are baptized even within the Church, as the apostle expressly
says: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God;" [1436] and after they had received baptism, he says that they
"are yet carnal." [1437]But according to it carnal sense, a soul
given up to fleshly appetites cannot entertain but fleshly wisdom
about God. Wherefore many, progressing after baptism, and especially
those who have been baptized in infancy or early youth, in proportion
as their intellect becomes clearer and brighter, while "the inward man
is renewed day by day," [1438] throw away their former opinions which
they held about God while they were mocked with vain imaginings, with
scorn and horror and confession of their mistake. And yet they are
not therefore considered not to have received baptism, or to have
received baptism of a kind corresponding to their error; but in them
both the perfection of the sacrament is honored and the delusion of
their mind is corrected, even though it had become inveterate through
long confirmation, or been, perhaps, maintained in many
controversies. Wherefore even the heretic, who is manifestly without,
if he has there received baptism as ordained in the gospel, has
certainly not received baptism of a kind corresponding to the error
which blinds him. And therefore, in returning into the way of wisdom
he perceives that he ought to relinquish what he has held amiss, he
must not at the same time give up the good which he had received; nor
because his error is to be condemned, is the baptism of Christ in him
to be therefore extinguished. For it is already sufficiently clear,
from the case of those who happen to be baptized within the Church
with false views about God, that the truth of the sacrament is to be
distinguished from the error of him who believes amiss, although both
may be found in the same man. And therefore, when any one grounded in
any error, even outside the Church, has yet been baptized with the
true sacrament, when he is restored to the unity of the Church, a true
baptism cannot take the place of a true baptism, as a true faith takes
the place of a false one, because a thing cannot take the place of
itself, since neither can it give place. Heretics therefore join the
Catholic Church to this end, that what they have evil of themselves
may be corrected, not that what they have good of God should be
repeated.
Footnotes
[1435] Ib. Ep. lxxiii. 17.
[1436] 1 Cor. ii. 14.
[1437] 1 Cor. iii. 3.
[1438] 2 Cor. iv. 16.
Chapter 16.
--24. Some one says, Does it then make no difference, if
two men, rooted in like error and wickedness, be baptized without
change of life or heart, one without, the other within the Church? I
acknowledge that there is a difference. For he is worse who is
baptized without, in addition to his other sin,--not because of his
baptism, however, but because he is without; for the evil of division
is in itself far from insignificant or trivial. Yet the difference
exists only if he who is baptized within has desired to be within not
for the sake of any earthly or temporal advantage, but because he has
preferred the unity of the Church spread throughout the world to the
divisions of schism; otherwise he too must be considered among those
who are without. Let us therefore put the two cases in this way. Let
us suppose that the one, for the sake of argument, held the same
opinions as Photinus [1439] about Christ, and was baptized in his
heresy outside the communion of the Catholic Church; and that another
held the same opinion but was baptized in the Catholic Church,
believing that his view was really the Catholic faith. I consider him
as not yet a heretic, unless, when the doctrine of the Catholic faith
is made clear to him, he chooses to resist it, and prefers that which
he already holds; and till this is the case, it is clear that he who
was baptized outside is the worse. And so in the one case erroneous
opinion alone, in the other the sin of schism also, requires
correction; but in neither of them is the truth of the sacrament to be
repeated. But if any one holds the same view as the first, and knows
that it is only in heresy severed from the Church that such a view is
taught or learned, but yet for the sake of some temporal emolument has
desired to be baptized in the Catholic unity, or, having been already
baptized in it, is unwilling on account of the said emolument to
secede from it, he is not only to be considered as seceding, but his
offense is aggravated, in so far as to the error of heresy and the
division of unity he adds the deceit of hypocrisy. Wherefore the
depravity of each man, in proportion as it is more dangerous and
wanting in straightforwardness, must be corrected with the more
earnestness and energy; and yet, if he has anything that is good in
him, especially if it be not of himself, but from God, we ought not to
think it of no value because of his depravity, or to be blamed like
it, or to be ascribed to it, rather than to His bountiful goodness,
who even to a soul that plays the harlot, and goes after her lovers,
yet gives His bread, and His wine, and His oil, and other food or
ornaments, which are neither from herself nor from her lovers, but
from Him who in compassion for her is even desirous to warn her to
whom she should return. [1440]
Footnotes
[1439] Various Synods from 345 on anathematized Photinus, the bishop
of Sirmium. The two of Sirmium, 351 and 357, accused him of
constituting two Gods.
[1440] Hos. ii. 5-8.
Chapter 17.
--25. "Can the power of baptism," says Cyprian, "be
greater or better than confession? than martyrdom? that a man should
confess Christ before men, and be baptized in his own blood? And
yet," he goes on to say, "neither does this baptism profit the
heretic, even though for confessing Christ he be put to death outside
the Church." [1441]This is most true; for, by being put to death
outside the Church, he is proved not to have had charity, of which the
apostle says, "Though I give my body to be burned, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing." [1442]But if martyrdom is of no
avail for this reason, because it has not charity, neither does it
profit those who, as Paul says, and Cyprian further sets forth, are
living within the Church without charity in envy and malice; and yet
they can both receive and transmit true baptism. "Salvation," he
says, "is not without the Church." [1443]Who says that it is? And
therefore, whatever men have that belongs to the Church, it profits
them nothing towards salvation outside the Church. But it is one
thing not to have, another to have so as to be of no use. He who has
not must be baptized that he may have; but he who has to no avail must
be corrected, that what he has may profit him. Nor is the water in
the baptism of heretics "adulterous," [1444] because neither is the
creature itself which God made evil, nor is fault to be found with the
words of the gospel in the mouths of any who are astray; but the fault
is theirs in whom there is an adulterous spirit, even though it may
receive the adornment of the sacrament from a lawful spouse. Baptism
therefore can "be common to us, and the heretics," [1445] just as the
gospel can be common to us, whatever difference there may be between
our faith and their error,--whether they think otherwise than the
truth about the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit; or, being cut
away from unity, do not gather with Christ, but scatter abroad, [1446]
--seeing that the sacrament of baptism can be common to us, if we are
the wheat of the Lord, with the covetous within the Church, and with
robbers, and drunkards, and other pestilent persons of the same sort,
of whom it is said, "They shall not inherit the kingdom of God,"
[1447] and yet the vices by which they are separated from the kingdom
of God are not shared by us.
Footnotes
[1441] Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 21.
[1442] 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
[1443] Cyp. l.c.
[1444] Cyp. l.c.
[1445] Cyp. l.c.
[1446] Matt. xii. 30.
[1447] 1 Cor. vi. 10.
Chapter 18.
--26. Nor indeed, is it of heresies alone that the apostle
says "that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God." But it may be worth while to look for a moment at the things
which he groups together. "The works of the flesh," he says "are
manifest, which are these; fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and
such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in
time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God." [1448]Let us suppose some one, therefore, chaste,
continent, free from covetousness, no idolater, hospitable, charitable
to the needy, no man's enemy, not contentious, patient, quiet, jealous
of none, envying none, sober, frugal, but a heretic; it is of course
clear to all that for this one fault only, that he is a heretic, he
will fail to inherit the kingdom of God. Let us suppose another, a
fornicator, unclean, lascivious, covetous, or even more openly given
to idolatry, a student of witchcraft, a lover of strife and
contention, envious, hot-tempered, seditious, jealous, drunken, and a
reveller, but a Catholic; can it be that for this sole merit, that he
is a Catholic, he will inherit the kingdom of God, though his deeds
are of the kind of which the apostle thus concludes: "Of the which I
tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" If we say this,
we lead ourselves astray. For the word of God does not lead us
astray, which is neither silent, nor lenient, nor deceptive through
any flattery. Indeed, it speaks to the same effect elsewhere: "For
this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man, which is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words." [1449]
We have no reason, therefore, to complain of the word of God. It
certainly says, and says openly and freely, that those who live a
wicked life have no part in the kingdom of God.
Footnotes
[1448] Gal. v. 19-21.
[1449] Eph. v. 5, 6.
Chapter 19.
--27. Let us therefore not flatter the Catholic who is
hemmed in with all these vices, nor venture, merely because he is a
Catholic Christian, to promise him the impunity which holy Scripture
does not promise him; nor, if he has any one of the faults above
mentioned, ought we to promise him a partnership in that heavenly
land. For, in writing to the Corinthians, the apostle enumerates the
several sins, under each of which it is implicitly understood that it
shall not inherit the kingdom of God: "Be not deceived," he says:
"neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom
of God." [1450]He does not say, those who possess all these vices
together shall not inherit the kingdom of God; but neither these nor
those: so that, as each is named, you may understand that no one of
them shall inherit the kingdom of God. As, therefore, heretics shall
not possess the kingdom of God, so the covetous shall not inherit the
kingdom of God. Nor can we indeed doubt that the punishments
themselves, with which they shall be tortured who do not inherit the
kingdom of God, will vary in proportion to the difference of their
offences, and that some will be more severe than others; so that in
the eternal fire itself there will be different tortures in the
punishments, corresponding to the different weights of guilt. For
indeed it was not idly that the Lord said, "It shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee." [1451]
But yet, so far as failing to inherit the kingdom of God is concerned,
it is just as certain, if you choose any one of the less heinous of
these vices, as if you choose more than one, or some one which you saw
was more atrocious; and because those will inherit the kingdom of God
whom the Judge shall set on His right hand, and for those who shall
not be found worthy to be set at the right hand nothing will remain
but to be at the left, no other announcement is left for them to hear
like goats from the mouth of the Shepherd, except, "Depart into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels;" [1452]
though in that fire, as I said before, it may be that different
punishments will be awarded corresponding to the difference of the
sins.
Footnotes
[1450] 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.
[1451] Matt. xi. 24.
[1452] Matt. xxv. 41.
Chapter 20.
--28. But on the question whether we ought to prefer a
Catholic of the most abandoned character to a heretic in whose life,
except that he is a heretic, men can find nothing to blame, I do not
venture to give a hasty judgment. But if any one says, because he is
a heretic, he cannot be this only without other vices also
following,--for he is carnal and natural, and therefore must be also
envious, and hot-tempered, and jealous, and hostile to truth itself,
and utterly estranged from it,--let him fairly understand, that of
those other faults of which he is supposed to have chosen some one
less flagrant, a single one cannot exist by itself in any man, because
he in turn is carnal and natural; as, to take the case of drunkenness,
which people have now become accustomed to talk of not only without
horror, but with some degree of merriment, can it possibly exist alone
in any one in whom it is found? For what drunkard is not also
contentious, and hot-tempered, and jealous, and at variance with all
soundness of counsel, and at grievous enmity with those who rebuke
him? Further, it is not easy for him to avoid being a fornicator and
adulterer, though he may be no heretic; just as a heretic may be no
drunkard, nor adulterer, nor fornicator, nor lascivious, nor a lover
of money, or given to witchcraft, and cannot well be all these
together. Nor indeed is any one vice followed by all the rest.
Supposing, therefore, two men,--one a Catholic with all these vices,
the other a heretic free from all from which a heretic can be
free,--although they do not both contend against the faith, and yet
each lives contrary to the faith, and each is deceived by a vain hope,
and each is far removed from charity of spirit, and therefore each is
severed from connection with the body of the one dove; why do we
recognise in one of them the sacrament of Christ, and not in the
other, as though it belonged to this or that man, whilst really it is
the same in both, and belongs to God alone, and is good even in the
worst of men? And if of the men who have it, one is worse than
another, it does not follow that the sacrament which they have is
worse in the one than in the other, seeing that neither in the case of
two bad Catholics, if one be worse than the other, does he possess a
worse baptism, nor, if one of them be good and another bad, is baptism
bad in the bad one and good in the good one; but it is good in both.
Just as the light of the sun, or even of a lamp, is certainly not less
brilliant when displayed to bad eyes than when seen by better ones;
but it is the same in the case of both, although it either cheers or
hurts them differently according to the difference of their powers.
Chapter 21.
--29. With regard to the objection brought against
Cyprian, that the catechumens who were seized in martyrdom, and slain
for Christ's name's sake, received a crown even without baptism, I do
not quite see what it has to do with the matter, unless, indeed, they
urged that heretics could much more be admitted with baptism to
Christ's kingdom, to which catechumens were admitted without it, since
He Himself has said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." [1453]Now, in this matter
I do not hesitate for a moment to place the Catholic catechumen, who
is burning with love for God, before the baptized heretic; nor yet do
we thereby do dishonor to the sacrament of baptism which the latter
has already received, the former not as yet; nor do we consider that
the sacrament of the catechumen [1454] is to be preferred to the
sacrament of baptism, when we acknowledge that some catechumens are
better and more faithful than some baptized persons. For the
centurion Cornelius, before baptism, was better than Simon, who had
been baptized. For Cornelius, even before his baptism, was filled
with the Holy Spirit; [1455] Simon, even after baptism, was puffed up
with an unclean spirit. [1456]Cornelius, however, would have been
convicted of contempt for so holy a sacrament, if, even after he had
received the Holy Ghost, he had refused to be baptized. But when he
was baptized, he received in no wise a better sacrament than Simon;
but the different merits of the men were made manifest under the equal
holiness of the same sacrament--so true is it that the good or ill
deserving of the recipient does not increase or diminish the holiness
of baptism. But as baptism is wanting to a good catechumen to his
receiving the kingdom of heaven, so true conversion is wanting to a
bad man though baptized. For He who said, "Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,"
said also Himself, "except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven." [1457]For that the righteousness of
the catechumens might not feel secure, it is written, "Except a man be
born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God." And again, that the unrighteousness of the baptized
might not feel secure because they had received baptism, it is
written, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven." The one were too little without the other; the two make
perfect the heir of that inheritance. As, then, we ought not to
depreciate a man's righteousness, which begins to exist before he is
joined to the Church, as the righteousness of Cornelius began to exist
before he was in the body of Christian men,--which righteousness was
not thought worthless, or the angel would not have said to him, "Thy
prayers and thine alms are come up as a memorial before God;" nor did
it yet suffice for his obtaining the kingdom of heaven, or he would
not have been told to send to Peter, [1458] --so neither ought we to
depreciate the sacrament of baptism, even though it has been received
outside the Church. But si