Chapter 10.—12. I ask, therefore, if sins were remitted by the baptism of John, what more could the baptism of Christ confer on those whom the Apostle Paul desired to be baptized with the baptism of Christ after they had received the baptism of John? But if sins were not remitted by the baptism of John, were those men in the days of Cyprian better than John, of whom he says himself that they "used to seize on estates by treacherous
frauds, and increase their gains by accumulated usuries,"1488
| 1488 Cypr. Serm. de Lapsis, c. vi.
|
through whose, administration of
baptism the
remission of
sins was yet conferred? Or was it because they were contained within the
unity of the
Church? What then? Was John not contained within that
unity, the
friend of the Bridegroom, the preparer of the way of the
Lord, the baptizer of the
Lord Himself? Who will be
mad enough to assert this? Wherefore, although my belief is that John so
baptized with the
water of repentance for the
remission of
sins, that those who
were
baptized by him received the expectation of the
remission of their
sins, the actual
remission taking place in the
baptism of the
Lord,—just as the resurrection which is expected at the last day is fulfilled in
hope in us, as the
apostle says, that "He hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus;"
1489
and again, "For we are
saved by
hope;"
1490
or as again John himself, while he says, "I indeed
baptize you with
water unto repentance, for the
remission of your
sins,"
1491
yet says, on seeing our
Lord, "Behold the
Lamb of
God, which taketh away the
sin of the
world,"
1492
—nevertheless I am not disposed to
contend vehemently against any one who maintains that
sins were remitted even in the
baptism of John, but that some fuller
sanctification was conferred by the baptism of Christ on those whom Paul ordered to be baptized anew.
1493
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