Chapter 4.—5. Wherefore the holy Cyprian, whose dignity is only increased by his humility, who so loved the pattern set by Peter as to use the words, "Giving us thereby a pattern of concord and patience, that we should not pertinaciously love our own opinions, but should rather account as our own any true and rightful suggestions of our brethren and colleagues, for the common health and weal,"1219
—he, I say,
abundantly shows that he was most willing to correct his own opinion, if any one should
prove to him that it is as certain that the
baptism of
Christ can be given by those who have strayed from the fold, as that it could not be lost when they strayed; on which subject we have already said much. Nor should we ourselves venture to assert anything of the
kind, were we not supported by the unanimous
authority of the whole
Church, to which he himself would
unquestionably have yielded, if at that time the
truth of this
question had been placed beyond dispute by the investigation and
decree of a plenary
Council. For if he quotes Peter as an example for his allowing himself quietly and peacefully to be corrected by one junior colleague, how much more readily would he himself, with the
Council of his
province, have yielded to the
authority of the whole
world, when the
truth had been thus brought to
light? For, indeed, so holy and
peaceful a
soul
would have been most ready to assent to the arguments of any single person who could
prove to him the
truth; and perhaps he even did so,
1220
| 1220 Bede asserts that this was the case. Book VIII. qu. 5.
|
though we have no
knowledge of the fact. For it was neither possible that all the proceedings which took place between the
bishops at that time should have been
committed to writing, nor are we acquainted with all that was so
committed. For how could a matter which was involved in such mists of disputation even have been brought to the full illumination and authoritative decision of a plenary
Council, had it not first been known to be discussed for some considerable time
in the various
districts of the
world, with many discussions and comparisons of the views of the
bishop on every side? But this is one effect of the soundness of
peace, that when any doubtful points are long under investigation, and when, on account of the difficulty of arriving at the
truth, they produce difference of opinion in the course of
brotherly disputation, till men at last arrive at the unalloyed
truth; yet the
bond of unity remains, lest in the part that is cut away there should be
found the incurable wound of deadly error.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
