Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost," since this took place after He was baptized, unless it were that he knew Him in respect of certain attributes, and in respect of others knew Him not? He knew Him, indeed, as the Son of God, the Bridegroom, of whose fullness all should receive; but whereas of His fullness he himself had so received the power of baptizing that it should be called the baptism of John, he did not know whether He would so give it to others also, or whether He would have His own baptism in such wise, that at whosesoever hands it was given, whether by a man that brought forth fruit a hundredfold, or sixtyfold, or thirtyfold, whether by the wheat or by the chaff, it should be known to be of Him alone; and this he learned through the Spirit descending like a dove, and abiding on Him.
Chap. 14. — 16. Accordingly we find the apostles using the expressions, " My glorying," "though it was certainly in the Lord; and " Mine ofitice.''® and " My knowledge,"' and " My gospel," " although it was confessedly bestowed and given by the Lord; but no one of them ever once said, " My baptism.'' For neither is the glorying of all of them equal, nor do they all minister with equal powers, nor are they all endowed with equal knowledge, and in preaching the gospel one works more forcibly than another, and so one may be said to be more learned than another in the doctrine of salvation itself; but one cannot be said to be more or less baptized than another, whether he be baptized by a greater or a less worthy minister. So when " the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousnness, idolatry, witclicraft, hatred, variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and •3 Num. xvii. 8.
8 Rom. XI. 13.
[Book V.
such like; "' if it be strange that it should be said, " Men were baptized after John, and are not baptized after heretics," why is it not equally strange that it should be said, " Men were baptized after John, and are not baptized after the envious,'' seeing that Cyprian himself bears witness in his epistle concerning envy and malignity that the covetous are of the party of the devil, and Cyprian himself makes it manifest from the words of the Apostle Paul, as we have shown above, that in the time of the apostles themselves there were envious persons in the Church of Christ among the very preachers of the name of Christ?
Chap. 15. — 17. That therefore the baptism of John was not the same as the baptism of Christ, has, I think, been shown with sufficient clearness; and therefore no argument can be drawn from it that baptism should be repeated after heretics because it was repeated after John: since John was not a heretic, and could have a baptism, which, though granted by Christ, was yet not the very baptism of Christ, seeing that he had the love of Christ; while a heretic can have at once the baptism of Christ and the perversity of the devil, as another within the Church may have at once the baptism of Christ and the envy of the devil.
18. But it will be urged that baptism after a heretic is much more required, because John was not a heretic, and yet baptism was repeated after him. On this principle, a man may say, much more must we rebaptize after a drunkard, because John was sober, and yet baptism was repeated after him. And we shall have no answer to make to such a man, save that the baptism of Christ was given to those who were baptized by John, because they had it not; but where men have the baptism of Christ, no iniquity on their part can possibly effect that the baptism of Christ should fail to be in them.
19. It is not therefore true that "by baptizing first, the heretic obtains the right of baptism;"^ but because he did not baptize with his own baptism, and though he did not possess the right of baptizing, yet that which he gave is Christ's, and he who received it is Christ's. For many things are given wrongfully, and yet they are not therefore said to be non-existent or not given at all. For neither does he who renounces the world m word only and not in deed receive baptism lawfully, and yet he does receive it. For both Cyprian records that there were such ' Gal. V. 19-21.
Cypr. Ep. Ixxiii. 25.
men in the Church in his day, and we ourselves experience and lament the fact.
20. But it is strange in what sense it can be said that " baptism and the Church cannot in any way be separated and detached from one another." ^ For if baptism remains inseparably in him who is baptized, how can it be that he can be separated from the i Church, and baptism cannot? But it is clear ' that baptism does remain inseparably in the! baptized person; because into whatever depth of evil, and into whatever fearful whirlpool of sin the baptized person may fall, even to the ruin of apostasy, he yet is not bereft of his baptism. And therefore, if through repentance he returns, it is not given again, because it is judged that he could not have been bereft of it. But who can ever doubt that a baptized person can be separated from the Church? For hence all the heresies have proceeded which deceive by the use of Christiaa terms.
Ch.4p, 16. — Wherefore, since it is manifest that the baptism remains in the baptized person when he is separated from the Church, the baptism which is in him is certainly separated with him. And therefore not all who retain the baptism retain the Church, just as not all who retain the Church retain eternal life. Or if we say that only those retain the Church who observe the commandments of God, we at once concede that there are many who retain baptism, and do not retain the Church.
21. Therefore the heretic is not "the first to seize baptism," since he has received it from the Church. Nor, though he seceded, could baptism have been lost by him whom we assert no longer to retain the Church, and yet allow to retain baptism. Nor does any one " yield his birthright, and give it to a heretic," ■* because he says that he took away with him what he could not give lawfully, but what would yet be according to law when given; or that he no longer has lawfully what yet is in accordance with law in his possession. But the birthright rests only in a holy conversation and good life, to which all belong of whom that bride consists as her members which has no spot or wrinkle, ^ or that dove that groans amid the wickedness of the many crows, — unless it be that, while Esau lost his birthright from his lust after a mess of pottage,* we are yet to hold that it is retained by defrauders, robbers, usurers, envious persons, drunkards and the like, over whose Chap. XVIL] 4/1 existence in the Church of his time Cyprian groaned in his epistles. Wherefore, either it is not the same thing to retain the Church and to retain the birthright in divine things, or, if every one who retains the Church also retains the birthright, then all those wicked ones do not retain the Church who yet both seem and are allowed by every one of us to give baptism within the Church; for no one, save the man who is wholly ignorant of sacred things, would say that they retain the birthright in sacred things Chap. 17. — 22. But, having considered and handled all these points, we have now come to that peaceful utterance of Cyprian at the end of the epistle, with which I am never sated, though I read and re-read it again and again, — so great is the pleasantness of brotherly love which breathes forth from it, so great the sweetness of charity in which it abounds. "These things," he says, "we have written unto you, dearest brother, shortly, according to our poor ability, prescribing to or prejudging no one, lest each bishop should not do what he thinks right, in the free exercise of his own will. We, so far as in us lies, do not contend on the subject of heretics with our colleagues and fellowbishops, with whom we maintain concord and peace in the Lord; especially as the apostle also says, ' If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.' ' We observe patiently and gently charity of spirit, the honor of our brotherhood, the bond of faith, the harmony of thie priesthood. For this reason also, to the best of our poor ability, by the permission and the inspiration of God we have written this treatise on 'The Good of Patience,* which we have sent to you in consideration of our mutual love." ^ 23. There are many things to be considered in these words, wherein the brightness of Christian charity shines forth in this man, who "loved the beauty of the Lord's.house, and the place of the tabernacle of His habitation. "^ First, that he did not conceal what he felt; then, that he set it forth so gently and peacefully, in that he maintained the peace of the Church with those who thought otherwise, because he understood how great healthfulness was bound up in the bond of peace, loving it so much, and maintaining it with sobriety, seeing and feeling that even men who think differently may entertain their several sentiments with saving charity. For he would not say that he could maintain 3Ps.
divine concord or the peace of the Lord with evil men; for the good man can observe peace towards wicked men, but he cannot be united with them in the peace which they have not. Lastly, that prescribing to no one, and prejudging no one, lest each bishop should not do what he thinks right in the free exercise of his own will, he has left for us also, whatsoever we may be, a place for treating peacefully of those things with him. For he is present, not only in his letters, but by that very charity which existed in so extraordinary a degree in him, and which can never die. Longing, therefore, with the aid of his prayers, to cling to and be in union with him, if I be not hindered by the unmeetnessof my sins, I will learn if I can through his letters with how great peace and comfort the Lord administered His Church through him; and, putting on the bowels of humility through the moving influence of his discourse, if, in common with the Church at large, I entertain any doctrine more true than his, I will not prefer my heart to his, even in the point in which he, though holding different views, was yet not severed from the Church throughout the world. For in that, when that question was yet undecided for want of full discussion, though liis sentiments differed from those of many of his colleagues, yet he observed so great moderation, that he would not mutilate the sacred fellowship of the Church of God by any stain of schism, a greater strength of excellence appeared in him than would have been shown if, without that virtue, he had held views on every point not only true, but coinciding with their own. Nor should I be acting as he would wish, if I were to pretend to prefer his talent and his fluency of discourse and copiousness of learning to the holy Council of all nations, whereat he was assuredly present through the unity of his spirit, especially as he is now placed in such full light of truth as to see with perfect certainty what he was here seeking in the spirit of perfect peace. For out of that rich abundance he smiles at all that here seems eloquence in us, as though it were the first essay of infancy; there he sees by what rule of piety he acted here, that nothing should be dearer in the Church to him than unity. There, too, with unspeakable delight he beholds with what prescient and most merciful providence the Lord, that He might heal our swellings, "chose the foolish thingsof the world to confound the wise," * and, in the ordering of the members of His Church, placed all things in such a healthful way, that men should not say 4 I Cor. i. 27.
[Book Y that they were chosen to the help of the gospel for their own talent or learning, of whose source they yet were ignorant, and so be puffed up with deadly pride. Oh, how Cyprian rejoices! With how much more perfect calmness does he behold how greatly it conduces to the health of the human race, that in the writings even of Christian and pious orators there should be found what merits blame, and in the writings of the fishermen there should nothing of the sort be found! And so I, being fully assured of this joy of that holy soul, neither in any way venture to think or say that my writings are free from every kind of error, nor, in opposing that opinion of his, wherein it seemed to him that those who came from among heretics were to be received otherwise than either they had been in former days, as he himself bears witness, or are now received, as is the reasonable custom, confirmed by a plenary Council of the whole Christian world, do I set against him my own view, but that of the holy Catholic Church, which he so loved and loves, in which he brought forth such abundant fruit with tolerance, whose entirety he himself was not, but in whose entirety he remained; whose root he never left, but, though he already brought forth fruit from its root, he was purged by the heavenly Husbandman that he should bring forth more fruit; ' for whose peace and safety, that the wheat might not be rooted out together with the tares, he both reproved with the freedom of truth, and endured with the grace of charity, so many evils on the part of men who were placed in unity with himself.
Chap. i8. — 24. Whence Cyprian himself^ again admonishes us with the greatest fullness, that many who were dead in their trespasses and sins, although they did not belong to the body of Christ, and the members of that innocent and guileless dove (so that if she alone baptized, they certainly could not baptize), yet to all appearance seemed both to be baptized and to baptize withm the Church. And among them, however dead they are, their baptism nevertheless lives, which is not dead, and death shall have no more dominion over it. Since, therefore, there be dead men within the Church, nor are they concealed, for else Cyprian would not have spoken of them so much, who either do not belong at all to that living dove, or at least do not as yet belong to her; and since there be dead men without, who yet more clearly do not • John XV. 2.
- In this and the following chapter, Augustin is examining the seventy-first epistle of Cypnan to his brother Quintus, bishop in Mauritania. Here LXXI. i.
belong to her at all, or not as yet; and since it is true that " another man cannot be quickened by one who himself liveth not," — it is therefore clear that those who within are baptized by such persons, if they approach the sacrament with true conversion of heart, are quickened by Him whose baptism it is. But if they renounce the world in word and not in deed, as Cyprian declares to be the case with some who are within, it is then manifest that they are not themselves quickened unless they be converted, and yet that they have true baptism even though they be not converted. Whence also it is likewise clear that those who are dead without, although they neither " live themselves, nor quicken others," yet have the living baptism, which would profit them unto life so soon as they should be converted unto peace.
Chap. 19. — 25. Wherefore, as regards those who received the persons who came from heresy in the same baptism of Christ witli which they had been baptized outside the Church, and said " that they followed ancient custom," as indeed the Church now receives such, it is in vain urged against them "that among the ancients there were as yet only the first beginning of heresy and schisms, ^ so that those were involved in them who were seceders from the Church, and had originally been baptized within the Church, so that it was not necessary that they should be baptized again when they returned and did penance." For so soon as each several heresy existed, and departed from the communion of the Catholic Church, it was possible that, I will not even say the next day, but even on that very day, its votaries might have baptized some who flocked to them. And therefore if this was the old custom, that they should be so received into the Church (as could not be denied even by those who maintained the contrary part in the discussion), there can be no doubt in the mind of any one who pays careful attention to the matter, that those also were so received who had been baptized without in heresy.
26. But I cannot see what show of reason there is in this, that the name of " erring sheep " " should be denied to one whose lot it has been that, while seeking the salvation which is in Christ, he has fallen into the error of heretics, and been baptized in their body; while he is held to have become a sheep al- 3 A/'ud veteres h/ereses et schisviata ^rima adhuc fuisse initia; that among the ancients heresies and schisms were yet in their very infancy. Benedictines suggest: 'Witri-t-sis et schisinatiiiH." Hartel reads: apud vetcr^s hisreseos et sc/iismatuin privta adhuc fiierint initia.
% Chap. XXI.]
ready within tlie body of the CathoHc Church lierself, who has renounced the world in words and not in deeds, and has received baptism in such falseness of heart as this. Or if such an one also does not become a sheep unless after turning to God with a true heart, then, as he is not baptized at the time when he becomes a sheep, if he had been already baptized, but was not yet a sheep; so he too, who comes from the heretics that he may become a sheep, is not then to be baptized if he had been already baptized with the same baptism, though he was not yet a sheep. Wherefore, since even all the bad that are within — the covetous, the envious, the drunkards, and those that live contrary to the discipline of Christ — may be deservedly called liars, and in darkness, and dead, and antichrists, do they yet therefore not baptize, on the ground that " there can be nothing common between truth and falsehood, between light and darkness, between death and immortality, between Antichrist and Christ? " ' 27. He makes an assumption, then, not "of mere custom," but "of the reason of I truth itself," = when he says that the sacrament of God cannot be turned to error by the error of any men, since it is declared to exist even in those who have erred. Assuredly the Apostle John says most plainly, " He that hateth his brother is in darkness d\^en until now; "3 and again, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; "" and why, therefore, do they baptize those within the Church whom Cyprian himself declares to be in the envy of malice?s Chap. 20. How does a murderer cleanse and sanctify the water?® How can darkness Mess the oil? But if God is present in His sacraments to confirm His words by whomsoever the sacraments may be administered, then both the sacraments of God are everywhere valid, and evil men whom they profit not are everywhere per^^erse.
28. But what kind of argument is this, that ''a heretic must be considered not to have baptism, because he has not the Church?" And it must be acknowledged that "when he ;s baptized, he is questioned about the Church." 7 Just as though the same question about the Church were not put in baptism to him who within the Church renounces the world in word and not in deed. As there- ' Cypr. Ep. Ixxi. 2. = Cypr. Ef>. Ixxi. 3.
* In this and the next two chapters Auijustin is examinins: the ventieth epistle of Cyprian, from himself and thirty other bish-:'S (text of Hartel), to Januarius, Saturninus, Maximus, and lif-'•n others.
" in the question, " Dost thou believe in eternal life and remis- 11 of sins through the holy Church?" Cyp. I.e. 2.
fore his false answer does not prevent what he receives from being baptism, so also tiie false reply of the other al;out the holy Church does not prevent what he receives from being baptism; and as the former, if he afterwards fulfill with truth what he promised in falsehood, does not receive a second baptisjn, but only an amended life, so also in the case of the latter, if he come afterwards to the Church about which he gave a false answer to the question put to him, thinking that he had it when he had it not, the Church herself which he did not possess is given him, but what he had received is not repeated. But I cannot tell why it should be, that while God can " sanctify the oil " in answer to the words which proceed out of the mouth of a murderer, " He yet cannot sanctify it on the altar reared by a heretic," unless it be that He who is not hindered by the false conversion of the heart of man within the Church is hindered by the false erection of some wood without from deigning to be present in His sacraments, though no falseness on the part of men can hinder Him. If, therefore, what is said in the gospel, that " God heareth not sinners,"® extends so far that the sacraments cannot be celebrated by a sinner, how then does He hear a murderer praying, eitlier over the water of baptism, or over the oil, or over the eucharist, or over the heads of those on whom his hand is laid? All which things are nevertheless done, and are valid, even at the hands of murderers, that is, at the hands of those who hate their brethren, even within, in the Church itself. Since " no one can give what he does not possess himself," ' how does a murderer give the Holy Spirit? And yet such an one even baptizeth within the Church.
It is God, therefore, that gives the Holy Spirit even when a man of this kind is baptizing.
Chap. 21. — 29. But as to what he says, that " he who comes to the Church is to be baptized and renewed, that within he may be hallowed through the holy,"' what will he do, if within also he meets with those who are not holy? Or can it be that the murderer is holy? And if the reason for his being baptized in the Church is that "he should put off this very thing also that he, being a man that sought to come to God, fell, through the deceit of error, on one profane," » where is he afterwards to put off this, that he may chance, while seeking a man of God within the Church itself, to have fallen, through the deceit of error, on a murderer? If "there cannot be in a man something that is void John ix. 31.
[Book V.
and something that is valid," ' why is it possible that in a murderer the sacrament should be holy and his heart unholy? If "whosoever cannot give the Holy Spirit cannot baptize," ' why does the murderer baptize within the Church? Or how has the murderer the Holy Spirit, when every one that has the Holy Spirit is filled with light, but " he who hates his brother is still in darkness?"^ If because "there is one baptism, and one Spirit," ' therefore they cannot have the one baptism who have not the one Spirit, why do the innocent man and the murderer within the Church have the one baptism and not have the one Spirit? So therefore the heretic and the Catholic may have the one baptism, and yet not have the one Church, as in the Catholic Qhurch the innocent man and the murderer may have the one baptism, though they have not the one Spirit; for as there is one baptism, so there is one Spirit and one Church. And so the result is, that in each person we must acknowledge what he already has, and to each person we must give what he has not. If "nothing can be confirmed and ratified with God which has been done by those whom God calls His enemies and foes,"^ why is the baptism confirmed which is given by murderers? Are we not to call murderers t'ae enemies and foes of the Lord? But " he that hateth his brother is a murderer." How then did they baptize who hated Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, and thereby hated Jesus Himself, since He Himself said to Saul, " Why persecutest thou me?"'' when he was persecuting His servants, and since at the last He Himself shall say, " Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these that are mine, ye did it not to me? " ^ Wherefore all who go out from us are not of us, but not all who are with us are of us; just as when men thresh, all that flies from the threshino-. floor IS shown not to be corn, but not all that remains there is therefore corn. And so John too says, " They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us."* Wherefore God gives the sacrament of grace even through the hands of wicked men, but the grace itself only by Himself or through His saints. And therefore He gives remission of sins either of Himself, or through the members of that dove to whom He says, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained. '' ' But since no one can doubt that baptism, which is the sacrament of the remission of sins, is possessed even by murderers, who are yet in darkness because the hatred of their brethren is not excluded from their hearts, therefore either no remission of sins is given to them if their baptism is accompanied by no change of heart for the better, or if the sins are remitted, they at once return on them again. And we learn that the baptism is holy in itself, because it is of God; and whether it be given or whether it be received by men of such like character, it cannot be polluted by any perversity of theirs, either within, or yet outside the Church.