Chapter 44.—85. Vincentius of Thibari1748
| 1748 Thibari, perhaps the same as Tabora, in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Cæsariensis. A Bp. Vincentius is mentioned in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
|
said: "We know that
heretics are worse than heathens. If they, being
converted, wish to come to
God, they have assuredly a rule of
truth, which the
Lord by His
divine precept committed to the
apostles, saying, ‘Go ye, lay on
hands in my name, cast out
devils;’
1749
and in another place, ‘Go ye, and
teach all
nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost.’
1750
Therefore, first by the laying on of
hands in exorcism, secondly by
regeneration in
baptism, they may come to the
promises of
Christ; but my
judgment is that in no other way should this be done."
1751
| 1751 Conc. Carth. sec. 37.
|
86. By what rule he asserts that heretics are worse than heathens I do not know, seeing that the Lord says, "If he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican."1752
Is a heretic worse even than such? I do not gainsay it. I do not, however, allow that because the man himself is worse than a
heathen, that is, than a Gentile and pagan, therefore whatever the sacrament contains that is
Christ’s is mingled with his vices and character, and
perishes through the
corruption of such admixture. For if even those who depart from the
Church, and become not the followers but the founders of
heresies, have been
baptized before their secession,
they continue to have
baptism, although, according to the above rule, they are worse than heathens; for if on correction they return, they do not receive it, as they certainly would do if they had lost it. It is therefore possible that a man may be worse than a
heathen, and yet that the sacrament of
Christ may not only be in him, but be not a whit inferior to what it is in a holy and
righteous man. For although to the extent of his powers he has not
preserved the
sacrament, but done it
violence in
heart and will, yet so
far as the sacrament’s own
nature is concerned, it has remained unhurt in its
integrity even in the man who
despised and
rejected it. Were not the people of
Sodom heathens, that is to say, Gentiles? The
Jews therefore were worse, to whom the
Lord says, "It shall be more tolerable for the
land of
Sodom in the day of
judgment than for thee;"
1753
and to whom the
prophet says, "Thou hast justified
Sodom,"
1754
that is to say, in comparison with thee
Sodom is
righteous. Shall we, however, maintain that on this account the holy sacraments which existed among the
Jews partook of the
nature of the
Jews themselves,—those sacraments which the
Lord Himself also accepted, and sent the
lepers whom He had cleansed to
fulfill them,
1755
of which when Zacharias was administering them, the
angel stood by him, and declared that his prayer had been heard while he was sacrificing in the
temple?
1756
These same sacraments were both in the good men of that time, and in those bad men who were worse than are the heathens, seeing that they were ranked before the Sodomites for
wickedness, and yet those sacraments were
perfect and holy in both.
87. For even if the Gentiles themselves could have anything holy and right in their doctrines, our saints did not condemn it, however much the Gentiles themselves were to be detested for their superstitions and idolatry and pride, and the rest of their corruptions, and to be punished with judgment from heaven unless they submitted to correction. For when Paul the apostle also was saying something concerning God before the Athenians, he adduced as a proof of
what he said, that certain of them had said something to the same effect,1757
which certainly would not be
condemned but recognized in them if they should come to
Christ. And the holy Cyprian uses similar evidence against the same heathens; for, speaking of the magi, he says, "The
chief of them, however, Hostanes, asserts both that the form of the true
God cannot be seen, and also that true
angels stand beside His seat. In which Plato also agrees in like manner, and, maintaining the existence of one
God, he calls the others
angels or
demons.
Hermes Trismegistus also speaks of one
God, and confesses that He is incomprehensible, and past our powers of estimation."
1758
| 1758 Cypr. de Idol. Vanitate, c. vi.
|
If, therefore, they were to come to the perception of
salvation in
Christ, it surely would not be said to them, This that ye have is bad, or false; but clearly it would deservedly be said, Though this in you is
perfect and true, yet it would
profit nothing unless ye came to the
grace of
Christ. If, therefore, anything that is holy can be found and rightly approved in the very heathens, although the
salvation which is of
Christ is not yet to be granted to them, we ought
not, even though heretics are worse than they, to be moved to the desire of correcting what is bad in them belonging to themselves, without being willing to acknowledge what is good in them of Christ. But we will set forth from a fresh preface to consider the remaining judgments of this Council.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
