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| A Treatise on Re-Baptism by an Anonymous Writer.
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A Treatise on Re-Baptism by
an Anonymous Writer.
————————————
Argument.—That They Who Have Once Been Washed in the Name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Ought Not to Be Re-Baptized.
1. I observe that it
has been asked among the brethren what course ought specially to be
adopted towards the persons of those who, although baptized in heresy,
have yet been baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,5427
and
subsequently departing from their heresy, and fleeing as supplicants to
the Church of God, should repent with their whole hearts, and only now
perceiving the condemnation of their error, implore from the Church the
help of salvation. The point is whether, according to the
most ancient custom and ecclesiastical tradition, it would suffice,
after that baptism which they have received outside the Church
indeed, but still in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, that only hands
should be laid upon them by the bishop for their reception of the Holy
Spirit, and this imposition of hands would afford them the renewed and
perfected seal of faith; or whether, indeed, a repetition of baptism
would be necessary for them, as if they should receive nothing if they
had not obtained baptism afresh, just as if they were never baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ. And therefore some things were talked
about as having been written and replied on this new question, wherein
both sides endeavoured with the greatest eagerness to demolish what had
been written by their antagonists. In which kind of debate, as it
appears to me, no controversy or discussion could have arisen at all if
each one of us had been content with the venerable authority of all the
churches,5428
| 5428
[This was assumed by the Westerns to be the general rule,
whereas it was only local. See p. 408, note 7,
supra.] | and with
becoming humility had desired to innovate nothing, as observing no kind
of room for contradiction. For everything which is both doubtful
and ambiguous, and is established in opinions differing among
those of prudent and faithful men, if it is judged to be against
the ancient and memorable and most solemn observance of all those holy
and faithful men who have deserved well, ought assuredly to be
condemned; since in a matter once arranged and ordained, whatever that
is which is brought forward against the quiet and peace of the Church,
will result in nothing but discords, and strifes, and schisms.
And in this no other fruit can be found but this alone; that one man,
whoever he is, should be vain-gloriously declared among certain fickle
men to be of great prudence and constancy: and, being gifted with
the arrogance of heretics, whose only consolation in destruction is the
not appearing to sin alone, should be renowned among those that are
most similar and agreeable to himself, as having corrected the errors
and vices of all the churches. For this is the desire and purpose
of all heretics, to frame as many calumnies of this kind as possible
against our most holy mother the Church, and to deem it a great glory
to have discovered anything that can be imputed to her as a crime, or
even as a folly. And since it becomes no faithful man of sound
mind to dare to hold such a view, especially no one who is ordained in
any clerical office at all, and much more in the episcopal order, it is
like a prodigy for bishops themselves to devise such scandals, and not
to fear to unfold too irreverently against the precept of the law and
of all the Scriptures, with their own disgrace and risk, the disgrace
of their mother the Church—if they think that there is any
disgrace in this matter; although the Church has no disgrace in this
instance, save in the error of such men as these themselves.
Therefore it is the more grievous sin in men of this kind, if that
which is blamed by them in the most ancient observance, as if it were
not rightly done, is manifestly and forcibly shown as well to have been
rightly observed by those who were before us, as to be rightly observed
also by us; so that even if we should engage in the controversy with
equal arguments on both sides, yet, since that which was innovated
could not be established without dissension among the
brethren and mischief to the Church, assuredly it ought
not,—right or wrong, as they say, that is, contrary to what is
good and proper—rashly to be flung like a stain upon our mother
the Church; and the ignominy of this audacity and impiety ought with
reason to be attached to those who should attempt this. But since
it is not in our power, according to the apostle’s precept,
“to speak the same thing, that there be not schisms among
us;”5429
yet, as
far as we can, we strive to demonstrate the true condition of this
argument, and to persuade turbulent men, even now, to mind their own
business, as we shall even attain a great deal if they will at length
acquiesce in this sound advice.5430
And therefore we shall, as is
needful, collect into one mass whatever passages of the Holy Scriptures
are pertinent to this subject. And we shall manifestly harmonize,
as far as possible, those which seem to be differing or of various
meaning; and we shall to the extent of our poor ability examine both
the utility and advantage of each method, that we may recommend to all
the brethren, that the most wholesome form and peaceful custom be
adopted in the Church.
2. To such, then, as approach to a
discussion of saving and modern, that is, of spiritual and evangelical
baptism, there occurs first of all the announcement universally well
known, made and begun by John the Baptist, who, somewhat departing from
the law, that is, from the most ancient baptism of Moses, and preparing
the way of the new and true grace, both preoccupied the ears of the
Jews gradually by the baptism of water and of repentance which for the
time he practised, and took possession of them with the announcement of
a spiritual baptism that was to come, exhorting them, and saying,
“He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoe’s
latchet I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost, and with fire;”5431
and for this reason we also ought to
make a beginning of this discourse from this point. For in the
Acts of the Apostles, the Lord after His resurrection, confirming this
same word of John, “commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for that promise of the Father which, saith
He, ye have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but
ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence.”5432
And
Peter also related these same words of the Lord, when he gave an
account of himself to the apostles, saying: “And as I began
to speak, the Holy Ghost fell upon them as on us at the beginning; and
I remembered the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed
baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost. If, therefore, He gave them a like gift as to us, who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand the
Lord?”5433
And
again: “Men and brethren, ye know how from ancient days God
made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the
word of the Gospel, and believe. And God, who knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto
us.”5434
And
on this account we ought to consider what is the force and power of
this saying. For the Lord says to them who would have to be
subsequently baptized because they should believe, that they must be
baptized not in like manner as by Him in water, unto repentance, but in
the Holy Ghost. And of this announcement, as assuredly none of us
can doubt it, it is plain on what principle men were baptized in the
Holy Spirit. For it was peculiarly in the Holy Spirit Himself
alone that they who believed were baptized. For John
distinguished, and said that he indeed baptized in water, but that one
should come who would baptize in the Holy Ghost, by the grace and power
of God; and they are so by the Spirit’s bestowal and
operation of hidden results. Moreover, they are so no less in the
baptism of the Spirit and of water. They are so, besides, also in
the baptism of every one in his own proper blood.5435
| 5435
There is something needed to make the connection of this passage
complete. | Even as the Holy Scriptures
declare to us, from which we shall adduce evident proofs throughout
each individual instance of those things which we shall
narrate.
3. And to these things thou perchance, who
art bringing in some novelty, mayest immediately and impatiently reply,
as thou art wont, that the Lord said in the Gospel: “Except
a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of heaven.”5436
Whence it manifestly appears
that that baptism alone is profitable wherein also the Holy Spirit can
dwell; for that upon the Lord Himself, when He was baptized, the Holy
Spirit descended, and that His deed and word are quite in harmony, and
that such a mystery can consist with no other principle. To which
reply none of us is found either so senseless or so stubborn as to
dare, contrary to right or contrary to truth, to object, for instance,
so to the doing of things in their integrity, and by all means in the
Church, and the observation of them according to the order of
discipline perpetually by us. But if, in the same New Testament,
those things which in that matter we come upon as associated, be
sometimes found in some sort divided, and separated, and arranged, and
ordered just as if they were by themselves; let us see whether these
solitary instances by themselves may not sometimes be such as are not
imperfect, but, as it were, entire and complete. For when by
imposition of the bishop’s hands the Holy Spirit is given to
every one that believes, as in the case of the Samaritans, after
Philip’s baptism, the apostles did to them by laying on of hands;
in this manner also they conferred on them the Holy Spirit. And
that this might be the case, they themselves prayed for them, for as
yet the Holy Spirit had not descended upon any of them, but they had
only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Moreover, our
Lord after His resurrection, when He had breathed upon His apostles,
and had said to them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,”5437
thus and
thus only bestowed upon them the Spirit.
4. And this being found to be so, what
thinkest thou, my brother? If a man be not baptized by a bishop,
so as even at once to have the imposition of hands, and should yet die
before having received the Holy Spirit, should you judge him to have
received salvation or not? Because, indeed, both the apostles
themselves and the disciples, who also baptized others, and were
themselves baptized by the Lord, did not at once receive the Holy
Spirit, for He had not as yet been given, because that Jesus had not as
yet been glorified. And after His resurrection no small interval
of time elapsed before that took place,—even as also the
Samaritans, when they were baptized by Philip, did not receive the
gift until the apostles invited from Jerusalem to Samaria went down
to them to lay hands upon them, and conferred on them the Holy Spirit
by the imposition of hands. Because in that interval of time any
one of them who had not attained the Holy Spirit, might have been cut
off by death, and die defrauded of the grace of the Holy Spirit.
And it cannot be doubted also, that in the present day this sort of
thing is usual, and happens frequently, that many after baptism depart
from this life without imposition of the bishop’s hands, and yet
are esteemed perfected believers. Just as the Ethiopian eunuch,
when he was returning from Jerusalem and reading the prophet Isaiah,
and was in doubt, having at the Spirit’s suggestion heard the
truth from Philip the deacon, believed and was baptized; and when he
had gone up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip,
and the eunuch saw him no more. For he went on his way rejoicing,
although, as thou observest, hands were not laid on him by the bishop,
that he might receive the Holy Spirit. But if thou admittest
this, and believest it to be saving, and dost not gainsay the opinion
of all the faithful, thou must needs confess this, that even as this
principle proceeds to be more largely discussed, that other also can be
more broadly established; that is, that by the imposition of hands
alone of the bishop—because baptism in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ has gone before it—may the Holy Spirit also be given to
another man who repents and believes. Because the Holy Scripture
has affirmed that they who should believe in Christ, must needs be
baptized in the Spirit; so that these also may not seem to have
anything less than those who are perfectly Christians; lest it should
be needful to ask what sort of a thing was that baptism which they have
attained in the name of Jesus Christ. Unless, perchance, in that
former discussion also, about those who should only have been baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ, thou shouldst decide that they can be
saved even without the Holy Spirit, or that the Holy Spirit is not
accustomed to be bestowed in this manner only, but by the imposition of
the bishop’s hands; or even shouldst say that it is not the
bishop alone who can bestow the Holy Spirit.
5. And if this be so, and the occurrence of any of
these things cannot deprive a man who believes, of salvation, thou
thyself also affirmest that the fact of the mystery of the faith being
divided in a manner, and its not being, as thou contendest,
consummated, where necessity intervenes, cannot take away salvation
from a believing and penitent man. Or if thou sayest that a man of this
kind cannot be saved, we deprive all bishops of salvation, whom thou
thus engagest, under risks as assured as possible, to be bound
themselves to afford help to all those who live under their care, and
are in weak health, in their districts, scattered up and down, because
other men of less degree among the clerics who venture cannot confer
the same benefit; so that the blood of those who shall appear to have
departed from this life without the benefit would have, of necessity,
to be required at the hands of the bishops. And further, as you
are not ignorant, the Holy Spirit is found to have been given to men
who believe, by the Lord without baptism of water, as is contained in
the Acts of the Apostles after this manner: “While Peter
was still speaking these words, the Holy Ghost fell upon all them who
heard the word. And they who were of the circumcision which
believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on
the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. For
they heard them speak with their tongues, and they magnified God.
Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be
baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
And he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”5438
Even as Peter also
subsequently most abundantly taught us about the same Gentiles,
saying: “And He put no difference between us and them,
their hearts being purified by faith.”5439
And there will be no doubt
that men may be baptized with the Holy Ghost without water,—as
thou observest that these were baptized before they were baptized with
water; that the announcements of both John and of our Lord Himself were
satisfied,—forasmuch as they received the grace of the promise
both without the imposition of the apostle’s hands and without
the laver, which they attained afterwards. And their hearts being
purified, God bestowed upon them at the same time, in virtue of their
faith, remission of sins; so that the subsequent baptism conferred upon
them this benefit alone, that they received also the invocation of the
name of Jesus Christ, that nothing might appear to be wanting to the
integrity of their service and faith.5440
| 5440
[It was a notable compliance with the example of Christ, Matt. iii. 15. “They had received,”
etc., yet that was no reason why the ordinance of Christ should be
slighted.] |
6. And this also,—looking at it from
the opposite side of this discussion,—those disciples of our Lord
themselves attained, upon whom, being previously baptized, the Holy
Spirit at length came down on the day of Pentecost, descending from
heaven indeed by the will of God, not of His own accord, but effused
for this very office, and moreover upon each one of them.
Although these were already righteous, and, as we have said, had been
baptized by the Lord’s baptism even as the apostles themselves,
who nevertheless are found on the night on which He was apprehended to
have all deserted Him. And even Peter himself, who boasted that
he would persevere in his faith, and most obstinately resisted the
prediction of the Lord Himself, yet at last denied Him, that by this
means it might be shown to us, that whatever sins they had contracted
in the meantime and in any manner, these same sins, by the faith in
them subsequently attested as sincere, were without doubt put away by
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nor, as I think, was it for any
other reason that the apostles had charged those whom they addressed in
the Holy Spirit, that they should be baptized in the name of Christ
Jesus, except that the power of the name of Jesus invoked upon any man
by baptism might afford to him who should be baptized no slight
advantage for the attainment of salvation, as Peter relates in the Acts
of the Apostles, saying: “For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”5441
As also
the Apostle Paul unfolds, showing that God hath exalted our Lord Jesus,
and “given Him a name, that it may be above every name, that in
the name of Jesus all should bow the knee, of things heavenly and
earthly, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that
Jesus is Lord in the glory of God the Father.” And he on
whom, when he should be baptized, invocation should be made in the name
of Jesus, although he might obtain baptism under some error, still
would not be hindered from knowing the truth at some time or another,
and correcting his error, and coming to the Church and to the bishop,
and sincerely confessing our Jesus before men; so that then, when hands
were laid upon him by the bishop, he might also receive the Holy
Spirit, and he would not lose that former invocation of the name of
Jesus. Which none of us may disallow, although this invocation,
if it be standing bare and by itself, could not suffice for affording
salvation, lest on this principle we should believe that even Gentiles
and heretics, who abuse the name of Jesus, could attain unto salvation
without the true and entire thing. Yet it is extremely useful to
believe that this invocation of the name of Jesus, together with the
correction of error and the acknowledgment of the belief of the truth,
and with the putting away of all stain of past conversation, if rightly
performed with the mystery of God among men of this kind, obtains a
place which it would not have had, and finally, in the true faith and
for the maintenance of the integrity of the sign, is no hindrance, when
its supplement which had been wanting is added; and that it is
consistent with good reason, with the authority of so many years, and
so many churches and apostles and bishops; even as it is the very
greatest disadvantage and damage to our most holy mother Church, now
for the first time suddenly and without reason to rebel against former
decisions after so long a series of so many ages. For not for any
other reason Peter—who had already been baptized and had been
asked what he thought of the Lord by the Lord Himself, and the truth of
the revelation of the Father in heaven being bestowed on him had
confessed that Christ was not only our Lord, but was the Son of the
living God—was shown subsequently to have withstood the same
Christ when He made announcement of His passion, and therefore was set
forth as being called Satan. For no other reason except
because it would come to pass that some, although varying in their own
judgment, and somewhat halting in faith and doctrine, although they
were baptized in the name of Jesus, yet, if they had been able to
rescind their error in some interval of time, were not on that account
cut off from salvation; but at any time that they had come to the right
mind, obtained by repentance a sound hope of salvation,
especially when they
received the Holy Spirit, to be baptized by Whom is the duty of every
man, they would have intended some such thing. Even as we do not
apprehend that Peter in the Gospel suffered this alone, but all the
disciples, to whom, though already baptized, the Lord afterwards says,
that “all ye shall be offended in me,”5442
all of whom, as we observe, having
amended their faith, were baptized after the Lord’s resurrection
with the Holy Spirit. So that not without reason we also in the
present day may believe that men, amended from their former error, may
be baptized in the Holy Spirit, who, although they were baptized with
water in the name of the Lord, might have had a faith somewhat
imperfect. Because it is of great importance whether a man is not
baptized at all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, or indeed whether
in some respect he halts when he is baptized with the baptism of water,
which is of less account provided that afterwards a sincere faith in
the truth is evident in the baptism of the Spirit, which undoubtedly is
of greater account.
7. Neither must you esteem what our Lord
said as being contrary to this treatment: “Go ye, teach the
nations; baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost.”5443
Because, although this is true
and right, and to be observed by all means in the Church, and moreover
has been used to be observed, yet it behoves us to consider that
invocation of the name of Jesus ought not to be thought futile by us on
account of the veneration and power of that very name, in which name
all kinds of power are accustomed to be exercised, and occasionally
some even by men outside the Church. But to what effect are those
words of Christ, who said that He would deny, and not know, those who
should say to Him in the day of judgment, “Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy
name done many wonderful works,” when He answered them, even with
emphasis,5444
“I
never knew you; depart from me, ye who work iniquity,”5445
unless that
it should be shown to us, that even by those who work iniquity might
these good works also be done, by the superfluous5446
| 5446
[Query, superabounding?] | energy of the name of Christ?
Therefore ought this invocation of the name of Jesus to be received as
a certain beginning of the mystery of the Lord common to us and to all
others, which may afterwards be filled up with the remaining
things. Otherwise such an invocation would not avail if it should
remain alone, because after the death of a man in this position there
cannot be added to him anything at all, nor supplemented, nor can, in
anything, avail him in the day of judgment, when they shall begin to be
reproached by our Lord with those things which we have above mentioned,
none of whom notwithstanding in this present time may by any man be so
hardly and cruelly prohibited from aiding themselves in those ways
which we have above shown.
8. But these things thou wilt, as thou art wont,
contradict, by objecting to us, that when they baptized, the disciples
were baptized perfectly, and rightly, and not as these heretics; and
this thou must needs assume from their condition, and His who baptized
them. And therefore we reply to this proposition of thine, not as
accusers of the Lord’s disciples, but as we are constrained,
because it is necessary that we should investigate by reasons where and
when, and in what measure, salvation has been bestowed on each of
us. For that our Lord was born, and that He was the Christ,
appeared by many reasons to be believed, not unjustly, by His
disciples, because He had been born of the tribe of Judah, of the
family of David, and in the city of Bethlehem; and because He had been
announced to the shepherds by the angels at the same moment that there
was born to them a Saviour; because His star being seen in the east, He
had been most anxiously sought for and adored by the Magi, and honoured
with illustrious presents and distinguished offerings; because while
still a youth, sitting in the temple with the doctors of the law, He
wisely, and with the admiration of all, had disputed; because when He
was baptized He had been glorified, as had happened to none others, by
the descent of the Holy Spirit from the opened heavens, and by its
abode upon Him; and moreover by the testimony of His Father, and also
of John the Baptist; because, beyond the inferior capacity of man, He
understood the hearts and thoughts of all men; because He cured and
healed weaknesses, and vices, and diseases, with very great power;
because He bestowed remissions of sins, with manifest attestation;
because He expelled demons at His bidding; because He purified lepers
with a word; because, by converting water into wine, He enlarged the
nuptial festivity with marvellous joyfulness; because He restored or
granted sight to the blind; because He maintained the doctrine of the
Father with all confidence; because in a desert place He satisfied five
thousand men with five loaves; because the remains and the fragments
filled more than twelve baskets; because He everywhere raised up the
dead, according to His mercy; because He commanded the winds and the
sea to be still; because He walked with His feet upon the sea; because
He absolutely performed all miracles.
9. By
which things, and by many deeds of this kind tending to His glory, it
appeared to follow as a consequence, that in whatever manner the Jews
think about Christ, and although they do not believe concerning Jesus
Christ our Lord, that even they themselves thought that such and so
great a one would without any death endure to eternity, and would
possess the kingdom of Israel, and of the whole world for ever; and
that it should not be destroyed. Whence, moreover, the Jews dared
to seize Him by force, and anoint Him for the kingdom, which indeed He
was compelled to evade; and therefore His disciples thought that in no
other way would He bestow upon them eternal life, except He Himself had
first continued this temporal life into that eternal one in His own
experience. In fine, when they were passing through Galilee,
Jesus said to them, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the
hands of men, and they will kill Him; and after three days He shall
rise again.”5447
and they were greatly grieved,
because, as we have said, they had formed a very different notion
previously in their minds and hearts. And again, this also was
the speech of the Jews, in contradiction against Him, when He taught
them of Himself, and announced future things to them, and they said,
“We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever:
and how sayest thou that the Son of man must be lifted
up?”5448
And
so there was this same presumption concerning Christ in the mind of the
disciples, even as Peter himself, the leader and chief of the apostles,
broke forth into that expression of his own incredulity. For when
he, together with the others, had been asked by the Lord what he
thought about Him, that is, whom he thought Him to be, and had first of
all confessed the truth, saying that He was the Christ the Son of the
living God, and therefore was judged blessed by Him because he had
arrived at this truth, not after the flesh, but by the revelation of
the heavenly Father; yet this same Peter, when Jesus began to
show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things
from the elders, and priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after the
third day rise again from the dead; nevertheless that true confessor of
Christ, after a few days, taking Him aside, began to rebuke Him,
saying, “Be propitious to Thyself: this shall not
be;”5449
so that on
that account he deserved to hear from the Lord, “Get thee behind
me, Satan;5450
| 5450
[Isa. xiv. 12. The sin of Lucifer had, very
possibly, been this of rebelling against the Incarnation and the
introduction thereby of an order of beings higher than himself.
Hence our Lord recognised in Peter’s words the voice of the old
adversary, and called him “Satan.” A premonition of
his lapse.] | thou art an
offence unto me, because he savoured not the things which are of God,
but those things which are of men.” Which rebuke against
Peter became more and more apparent when the Lord was apprehended, and,
frightened by the damsel, he said, “I know not what thou sayest,
neither know I thee;”5451
and again when, using an oath, he said
this same thing; and for the third time, cursing and swearing, he
affirmed that he knew not the man, and not once, but frequently, denied
Him.5452
And this
disposition, because it was to continue to him even to the Lord’s
passion, was long before made manifest by the Lord, that we also might
not be ignorant of it. Again, after the Lord’s
resurrection, one of His disciples, Cleopas, when he was, according to
the error of all his fellow-disciples, sorrowfully telling what had
happened to the Lord Himself, as if to some unknown person, spoke thus,
saying of Jesus the Nazarene, “who was a prophet mighty in deed
and in word before God and all the people; how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and fastened Him to
the cross. But we trusted that it had been He which should have
redeemed Israel.”5453
And in addition to these things,
all the disciples also judged the declaration of the women who had seen
the Lord after the resurrection to be idle tales; and some of
themselves, when they had seen Him, believed not, but doubted; and they
who were not then present believed not at all until they had been
subsequently by the Lord Himself in all ways rebuked and reproached;
because His death had so offended them that they thought that He had
not risen again, who they had believed ought not to have died, because
contrary to their belief He had died once. And thus, as far as
concerns the disciples themselves, they are found to have had a faith
neither sound nor perfect in such matters as we have referred to; and
what is much more serious, they moreover baptized others, as it is
written in the Gospel according to John.
10. Besides, what wilt thou say of those who are
in many cases baptized by bishops of very bad character, who yet at
length, when God so wills it, convicted of their crimes, are even
deprived of their office itself, or absolutely of communion? Or
what wilt thou decide of those who may have been baptized by bishops,
whose opinions are unsound, or who are very ignorant—when they
may not have spoken clearly and honestly, or even have spoken otherwise
than is fit in the tradition of the sacrament, or at least may have
asked anything, or asking, have heard from those who answered what
ought by no means to be so
asked or answered? And still this does not greatly injure that
true faith of ours, although, moreover, these more simple men may
deliver the mystery of the faith without the elegance and order that
thou wouldst use. And thou wilt assuredly say, with that
marvellous carefulness of thine, that these too should be baptized
again, since this is especially the thing which is wanting to them, or
hinders their being able to receive, uncorrupted, that divine and
inviolable mystery of the faith. And yet, O excellent man, let us
attribute and allow to the heavenly agencies their power, and let us
concede to the condescension of the divine majesty its appropriate
operations; and understanding how great is the advantage therein, let
us gladly acquiesce in it. And thus, as our salvation is founded
in the baptism of the Spirit, which for the most part is associated
with the baptism of water, if indeed baptism shall be given by us, let
it be conferred in its integrity and with solemnity, and with all those
means which are written; and let it be administered without any
disconnection of anything. Or if, by the necessity of the case,
it should be administered by an inferior cleric, let us wait for the
result, that it may either be supplied by us,5454
| 5454
Scil. the bishop. [The plural of
“solidarity.” See p. 128, note 5, supra, and
Elucidation XI. p. 159.] | or reserved to be supplied by the
Lord. If, however, it should have been administered by strangers,
let this matter be amended as it can and as it allows. Because
outside the Church there is no Holy Spirit, sound faith moreover cannot
exist, not alone among heretics, but even among those who are
established in schism. And for that reason, they who repent and
are amended by the doctrine of the truth, and by their own faith, which
subsequently has been improved by the purification of their heart,
ought to be aided only by spiritual baptism, that is, by the imposition
of the bishop’s hands, and by the ministration of the Holy
Spirit. Moreover, the perfect seal of faith has been rightly
accustomed to be given in this manner and on this principle in the
Church. So that the invocation of the name of Jesus, which cannot
be done away, may not seem to be held in disesteem by us; which
assuredly is not fitting; although such an invocation, if none of those
things of which we have spoken should follow it, may fail and be
deprived of the effect of salvation. For when the apostle said
that there was “one baptism,”5455
it must needs have been by the
continued effect of the invocation of the name of Jesus, because, once
invoked, it cannot be taken away by any man, even although we might
venture, against the decision of the apostles, to repeat it by giving
too much, yea, by the desire of superadding baptism. If he who
returns to the Church be unwilling again to be baptized, the result
will be that we may defraud him of the baptism of the Spirit, whom we
think we must not defraud of the baptism of water.
11. And what wilt thou determine against the
person of him who hears the word,5456
| 5456
By him who hears the word is meant a catechumen
(Rigaltius). [Bunsen, vol. ii. p. 317. He quotes the
Apostolical Constitutions (Alexandria), “Let the
catechumens be three years hearing the word,” etc.] | and haply taken up in the name of
Christ, has at once confessed, and has been punished before it has been
granted him to be baptized with water? Wilt thou declare him to
have perished because he has not been baptized with water? Or,
indeed, wilt thou think that there may be something from without that
helps him to salvation, although he is not baptized with water?
Thy thinking him to have perished will be opposed by the sentence of
the Lord, who says, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him
will I also confess before my Father which is in
heaven;”5457
because it
is no matter whether he who confesses for the Lord is a hearer of the
word or a believer, so long as he confesses that same Christ whom he
ought to confess; because the Lord, by confessing him, in turn Himself
graces His confessor before his Father with the glory of his martyrdom,
as He promised. But this assuredly ought not to be taken too
liberally, as if it could be stretched to such a point as that any
heretic can confess the name of Christ who notwithstanding denies
Christ Himself; that he believes on another Christ, when Christ avows
that it cannot avail him at all; forasmuch as the Lord said that
He5458
| 5458
The original interpolates “non.” | must needs
be brought to confession by us before men, which cannot be done without
Him, and without veneration of His name. And therefore
both5459
ought to
stand by the confessor, sound, and sincere, and uncontaminated, and
inviolated, without any choice being made of the confessor himself,
whether he is righteous or a sinner, and a perfect Christian or an
imperfect one, who has not feared to confess the Lord at his own
greatest peril. And this is not contrary to the former
discussion, because there is left therein time for the correction of
many things which are bad, and because certain things are conceded to
the very name only of our Lord; while martyrdom cannot be consummated
except in the Lord and by the Lord Himself, and therefore nobody can
confess Christ without His name, nor can the name of Christ avail any
one for confession without Christ Himself.
12. Wherefore the whole of this discussion must be
considered, that it may be made clearer. For the invocation of
the name of Jesus can only be an advantage if it shall be subsequently
properly supplemented, because both prophets and apostles have so declared. For
James says in the Acts of the Apostles: “Men and brethren,
hearken: Simon hath declared how God at the first visited the
Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this
agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will
return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen
down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will raise it up
anew; that the residue of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles,
upon whom my name is called upon them, saith the Lord, who doeth these
things.”5460
Therefore also the residue of men, that is, some of the Jews and all
the Gentiles upon whom the name of the Lord is called, may and of
necessity must seek the Lord, because that very invocation of the name
affords them the opportunity, or even imposes on them the necessity, of
seeking the Lord. And with these they prescribe the Holy
Scriptures—whether all or only some of them—to discuss
still more boldly concerning the truth than with the Gentiles upon whom
the name of the Lord Jesus, the Son of the living God, has not been
invoked, as it likewise has not upon the Jews who only receive the Old
Testament Scriptures. And thus men of both of these kinds, that
is, Jews and Gentiles, fully believing as they ought, are in like
manner baptized. But heretics who are already baptized in water
in the name of Jesus Christ must only be baptized with the Holy Spirit;
and in Jesus, which is “the only name given under heaven whereby
we must be saved,” death is reasonably despised, although, if
they continue as they are, they cannot be saved, because they have not
sought the Lord after the invocation of His name upon them,—even
as those who, on account of false Christs, perchance have refused to
believe, of whom the Lord says, “Take heed that no man lead you
into error. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ,
and shall lead many into error.”5461
And again He says:
“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ, or lo
there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it
were possible, even the very elect shall be deceived.”5462
And
these miracles, without doubt, they shall then do under the name of
Christ; in which name some even now appear to do certain miracles, and
to prophesy falsely. But it is certain that those, because they
are themselves not of Christ, therefore do not belong to Christ, in
like manner as if one should depart from Christ, abiding only in His
name, he would not be much advantaged; nay, rather, he is even burdened
by that name, although he may have been previously very faithful, or
very righteous, or honoured with some clerical office, or endowed with
the dignity of confession. For all those, by denying the true
Christ, and by introducing or following another—although there is
no other at all—leave themselves no hope or salvation; not
otherwise than they who have denied Christ before men, who must needs
be denied by Christ; no consideration for them being made from their
previous conversation, or feeling, or dignity, equally as they
themselves have dared to do away with Christ, that is, their own
salvation, they are condemned by the short sentence of this kind,
because it was manifestly said by the Lord, “Whosoever shall deny
me before men, I also will deny him before my Father which is in
heaven.” As this word “whosoever,” also in the
sentence of confession, most fully shows us that no condition of the
confessor himself can stand in the way, although he may have been
before a denier, or a heretic, or a hearer, or one who is beginning to
hear, who has not yet been baptized or converted from heresy to the
truth of the faith, or one who has departed from the Church and has
afterwards returned, and then when he returned, before the
bishop’s hands could be laid upon him, being apprehended, should
be compelled to confess Christ before men; even as to one who again
denies Christ, no special ancient dignity can be effectual to him for
salvation.
13. For any one of us will hold it
necessary, that whatever is the last thing to be found in a man in this
respect, is that whereby he must be judged, all those things which he
has previously done being wiped away and obliterated.5463
And therefore, although in
martyrdom there is so great a change of things in a moment of time,
that in a very rapid case all things may be changed; let nobody flatter
himself who has lost the occasion of a glorious salvation, if by chance
he has excluded himself therefrom by his own fault; even as that wife
of Lot,5464
| 5464
[Vol. i. p. 505, note 12, this series.] | who in a
similar manner in time of trouble only, contrary to the angel’s
command, looked behind her, and she became a pillar of salt. On
which principle also, that heretic who, by confessing Christ’s
name, is put to death, can subsequently correct nothing, if he should
have thought anything erroneously of God or of Christ, although by
believing on another God or on another Christ he has deceived
himself: he is not a confessor of Christ, but in the name only of
Christ; since also the apostle goes on to say, “And if I shall
give up my body so that I may be burnt up with fire, but have not love,
I profit nothing.”5465
Because by this deed he profits
nothing who has not the love of that God and Christ who is announced by
the law and the prophets and in the Gospel in this manner:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with
all thy mind, and with all thy thought; and thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. For on these two commandments hang all the
law and the prophets;”5466
—even as John the evangelist
said, “And every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God;
for God is love;”5467
even as God also says, “For God
so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that every one
that believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life,”5468
—as it
manifestly appears that he who has not in him this love, of loving us
and of being loved by us, profits nothing by an empty confession and
passion, except that thereby it appears and is plain that he is a
heretic who believes on another God, or receives another Christ than
Him whom the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament manifestly
declare, which announce without any obscurity the Father omnipotent,
Creator of all things, and His Son. For it shall happen to them
as to one who expects salvation from another God. Then, finally,
contrary to their notion, they are condemned to eternal punishment by
Christ, the Son of God the Father omnipotent, the Creator whom they
have blasphemed, when God shall begin to judge the hidden things of men
according to the Gospel by Christ Jesus, because they did not believe
in Him, although they were washed in His name.
14. And even to this point the whole of that
heretical baptism may be amended, after the intervention of some space
of time, if a man should survive and amend his faith, as our God, in
the Gospel according to Luke, spoke to His disciples, saying,
“But I have another baptism to be baptized with.”5469
Also
according to Mark He said, with the same purpose, to the sons of
Zebedee: “Are ye able to drink of the cup which I drink of,
or to be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am
baptized?”5470
Because He knew that those men had to be baptized not only with water,
but also in their own blood; so that, as well baptized in this baptism
only, they might attain the sound faith and the simple love of the
laver, and, baptized in both ways, they might in like manner to the
same extent attain the baptism of salvation and glory. For what
was said by the Lord, “I have another baptism to be baptized
with,” signifies in this place not a second baptism, as if there
were two baptisms, but demonstrates that there is moreover a baptism of
another kind given to us, concurring to the same salvation. And
it was fitting that both these kinds should first of all be initiated
and sanctified by our Lord Himself, so that either one of the two or
both kinds might afford to us this one twofold saving and glorifying
baptism; and certain ways of the one baptism might so be laid open to
us, that at times some one of them might be wanting without mischief,
even as in the case of martyrs that hear the word, the baptism of water
is wanting without evil; and yet we are certain that these, if they had
any indulgence, would also be used to be baptized with water. And
also to those who are made lawful believers, the baptism of their own
blood is wanting without mischief, because, being baptized in the name
of Christ, they have been redeemed with the most precious blood of the
Lord; since both of these rivers of the baptism of the Lord proceed out
of one and the same fountain, that every one who thirsts may come and
drink, as says the Scripture, “From his belly flowed rivers of
living water;”5471
which rivers were manifested first of
all in the Lord’s passion, when from His side, pierced by the
soldier’s spear, flowed blood and water, so that the one side of
the same person emitted two rivers of a different kind, that whosoever
should believe and drink of both rivers might be filled with the Holy
Spirit. For, speaking of these rivers, the Lord set this forth,
signifying the Holy Spirit whom they should receive who should believe
on Him: “But the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified.”5472
And when He thus said how
baptism might be produced, which the apostle declares to be one, it is
assuredly manifest on that principle that there are different kinds of
one and the same baptism that flow from one wound into water and blood;
since there are there two baptisms of water of which we have spoken,
that is, of one and the same kind,5473
| 5473
Unius atque ejusdem species. | although the baptism of each kind
ought to be one, as we have more fully spoken.
15. And since we seem to have divided all
spiritual baptism in a threefold manner, let us come also to the proof
of the statement proposed, that we may not appear to have done this of
our own judgment, and with rashness. For John says of our Lord in
his epistle, teaching us: “This is He who came by water and
blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood:
and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is
truth. For three bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the
blood: and these three
are one;”5474
—that we may gather from these
words both that water is wont to confer the Spirit, and that
men’s own blood is wont to confer the Spirit, and that the Spirit
Himself also is wont to confer the Spirit. For since water is
poured forth even as blood, the Spirit also was poured out by the Lord
upon all who believed. Assuredly both in water, and none the less
in their own blood, and then especially in the Holy Spirit, men may be
baptized. For Peter says: “But this is that which was
spoken by the prophet; It shall come to pass in the last days, saith
the Lord, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and their
sons and their daughters shall prophesy, and their young men shall see
visions, and their old men shall dream dreams: and upon my
servants, and upon my handmaidens, will I pour out of my
Spirit;”5475
—which Spirit we discover to
have been communicated in the Old Testament, not indeed everywhere nor
at large, but with other gifts; or, moreover, to have sprung of His own
will into certain men, or to have invested them, or to have been upon
them, even as we observe that it was said by the Lord to Moses, about
the seventy elders, “And I will take of the Spirit which is upon
thee, and will put it upon them.”5476
For which reason also,
according to His promise, God put upon them from another of the Spirit
which had been upon Moses, and they prophesied in the camp. And
Moses, as a spiritual man, rejoiced that this had so happened, although
he was unwillingly persuaded by Jesus the son of Nave to oppose this
thing, and was not thereby induced. Further, also in the book of
Judges, and in the books of Kings too, we observe that upon several,
there either was the Spirit of the Lord, or that He came unto them, as
upon Gothoniel, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Saul, David, and many
others. Which comes to this result, that the Lord has taught us
most plainly by them the liberty and power of the Holy Spirit,
approaching of His own will, saying, “The Spirit breathes where
He will; and thou hearest His voice, and knowest not whence He cometh
or whither He goeth.”5477
So that the same Spirit is,
moreover, sometimes found to be upon those who are unworthy of Him; not
certainly in vain or without reason, but for the sake of some needful
operation; as He was upon Saul, upon whom came the Spirit of God, and
he prophesied. However, in later days, after the Spirit of the
Lord departed from him, and after a malign spirit from the Lord vexed
him, because then he had come, after the messengers whom he had
previously sent before with care, with intent to kill David; and they
therefore fell into the chorus of the prophets, and they prophesied, so
that they neither were able nor willing to do what they had been
bidden. And we believe that the Spirit which was upon them all
effected this with an admirable wisdom, by the will of God. Which
Spirit also filled John the Baptist even from his mother’s womb;
and it fell upon those who were with Cornelius the centurion before
they were baptized with water. Thus, cleaving to the baptism of
men, the Holy Spirit either goes before or follows it; or failing the
baptism of water, it falls upon those who believe. We are
counselled that either we ought duly to maintain the integrity of
baptism, or if by chance baptism is given by any one in the name of
Jesus Christ, we ought to supplement it, guarding the most holy
invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, as we have most abundantly set
forth; guarding, moreover, the custom and authority which so much claim
our veneration for so long a time and for such great men.
16. But since the first part of this
argument seems to be unfolded, we ought to touch on its subsequent
part, on account of the heretics; because it is very necessary not to
pass over that discussion which once falls into our hands, lest
perchance some heretic should dare, of his subtlety, to assail those of
our brethren who are more simple. For because John said that we
must be baptized in the Holy Ghost and in fire, from the fact that he
went on to say and fire, some desperate men have dared to such
an extent to carry their depravity, and therefore very crafty men seek
how they can thus corrupt and violate, and even neutralize the baptism
of holiness. Who derive the origin of their notion from Simon
Magus, practising it with manifold perversity through various errors;
to whom Simon Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, said, “Thy
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the grace of God
could be possessed by money; thou hast neither part nor lot in this
work; for thy heart is not right with God.”5478
And such men as these do all
these things in the desire to deceive those who are more simple or more
inquisitive. And some of them try to argue that they only
administer a sound and perfect, not as we, a mutilated and curtailed
baptism, which they are in such wise said to designate, that
immediately they have descended into the water, fire at once appears
upon the water. Which if it can be effected by any trick, as
several tricks of this kind are affirmed to be—of
Anaxilaus—whether it is anything natural, by means of which this
may happen, or whether they think that they behold this, or whether the
work and magical poison of
some malignant being can force fire from the water; still they declare
such a deceit and artifice to be a perfect baptism, which if faithful
men have been forced to receive, there will assuredly be no doubt but
that they have lost that which they had. Just as, if a soldier
after taking an oath should desert his camp, and in the very different
camp of the enemy should wish to take an oath of a far other kind, it
is plain that in this way he is discharged from his old oath.
17. Moreover, if a man of this sort should
again return to thee, thou wilt assuredly hesitate whether he may have
baptism or no; and yet it will behove thee, in whatever way thou canst,
to aid even this man if he repent. For of this adulterous, yea,
murderous baptism, if there is any other author, it is then certainly a
book devised by these same heretics on behalf of this same error, which
is inscribed The Preaching of Paul;5479
| 5479 Rigaltius says that Jerome
mentions this document, and regards it as apocryphal. And
Eusebius refers to the Περίοδοι
Πέτρου, which, according to the
common reading of Peter for Paul in the text, may point to the same
document. [Vol. ii. 341, note 10; and vol. iv. p. 246.] | in which book, contrary to all
Scriptures, thou wilt find both Christ confessing His own
sin—although He alone did no sin at all—and almost
compelled by His mother Mary unwillingly to receive John’s
baptism. Also, that when He was baptized, fire was seen to be
upon the water, which is written in neither of the Gospels. And
that after such long time, Peter and Paul, after the collation of the
Gospel in Jerusalem, and the mutual consideration and altercation and
arrangement of things to be done finally, were known to one another, as
if then for the first time; and certain other things devised of this
kind disgracefully and absurdly;—all which things thou wilt find
gathered together into that book. But they who are not ignorant
of the nature of the Holy Spirit, understand that what is said of fire
is said of the Spirit Himself. For in the Acts of the Apostles,
according to that same promise of our Lord, on the very day of
Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had descended upon the disciples, that
they might be baptized in Him, there were seen sitting upon each one
tongues as if of fire, that it might be manifest that they were
baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire—that is, with that
Spirit which was, whether fire, or as fire, such as was the fire which
burned in the bush, and did not consume the bush; and such as is that
fire which is the Spirit of the Angel, as saith the Scripture,
“Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning
fire;”5480
whom if
thou shouldst resemble, or be a companion or sharer with, thou shalt be
able to dread no fire, not even that which, going before the Lord in
the day of judgment, shall burn up the whole world, save those who are
baptized in the Holy Spirit and in fire.
18. And the Spirit, indeed, continues to
this day invisible to men, as the Lord says, “The Spirit breathes
where He will; and thou knowest not whence He cometh, or whither He
goeth.”5481
But in
the beginning of the mystery of the faith and of spiritual baptism, the
same Spirit was manifestly seen to have sat upon the disciples as it
had been fire. Moreover, the heavens being opened, to have
descended upon the Lord like a dove; because many things, yea, almost
all things which were to be, are manifest—which, however, were
only invisible nevertheless,—now also are shown to the eyes and
to the incredulity of men, either partially, or at times, or in figure,
for the strengthening and confirming of our faith. But neither
should I omit that which the Gospel well announces. For our Lord
says to the paralytic man, “Be of good cheer, my son, thy sins
are forgiven thee,”5482
that He might show that hearts were
purified by faith for the forgiveness of sins that should follow.
And this remission of sins that woman also which was a sinner in the
city obtained, to whom the Lord said, “Thy sins are forgiven
thee.”5483
And
when they who were reclining around began to say among themselves,
“Who is this that forgiveth sins?”5484
—because concerning the
paralytic the scribes and Pharisees had murmured crossly—the Lord
says to the woman, “Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in
peace.”5485
From
all which things it is shown that hearts are purified by faith, but
that souls are washed by the Spirit; further, also, that bodies are
washed by water, and moreover that by blood we may more readily attain
at once to the rewards of salvation.
19. I think that we have fully followed out
the announcement of John the Baptist, whence we began our discourse,
when he said to the Jews, “I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance; but He who cometh after me is greater than I, whose
shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”5486
Moreover, I think also that we
have not unsuitably set in order the teaching of the Apostle John, who
says that “three bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the
blood; and these three are one.”5487
| 5487
1 John v. 8. [It is noteworthy that he quotes
the Latin formula, and not that (εἰς τὸ ἕν
εἰσιν) of the Greek. Now, the
Latin, repeating (in verse 8) the formula (hi tres unum
sunt) which belongs to the dubious protasis, is so far
evidence that such a verse existed in the old Greek. It is
important that the Latin is not conformed to the received formula of
the apodosis, “the three agree in
one.”] | And, unless I am mistaken, we
have also explained what our Lord says: “John indeed
baptized with water,
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.”5488
Moreover, I think that we
have given no weak reason as the cause of the custom. Let us have
a care, although we do that in a subsequent place, that none may think
that we are stirring up the present debate on a single article;
although this custom even alone ought, among men who have the fear of
God, and are lowly, to maintain a chief place.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
