Chapter 24.—42. Fortunatus of Thuccabori1670
| 1670 Thuccabori, Tucca or Terebrinthina, in ecclesiastical province of Africa Proconsularis or Zeugitana. For Bp. Fortunatus, see Cypr. Epp. xlviii., lvi., lvii. (the first), lxvii., lxx.
|
said: "
Jesus Christ our
Lord and
God, the Son of
God the
Father and Creator, built His
Church upon a
rock, not upon
heresy, and gave the
power of
baptizing to
bishops, not to
heretics. Wherefore those who are outside the
Church, and stand against
Christ, scattering His
sheep and
flock, cannot
baptize outside."
1671
| 1671 Conc. Carth. sec. 17.
|
43. He added the word "outside" in order that he might not be answered with a like brevity to Successus. For otherwise he might also have been answered word for word: Jesus Christ our Lord and God, the Son of God the Father and Creator, built His Church upon a rock, not upon iniquity, and gave the power of baptizing to bishops, not to the unrighteous. Wherefore those who do not belong to the rock on which they build, who hear the word of God and do it,
1672
but, living contrary to
Christ in hearing the word and not doing it, and hereby
building on the
sand, in this way scatter His
sheep and
flock by the example of an abandoned character, cannot
baptize. Might not this be said with all the semblance of
truth? and yet it is false. For the
unrighteous do
baptize, since those robbers are
unrighteous whom Cyprian maintained to be at
unity with himself.
1673
| 1673 Cypr. Serm. de Laps.
|
But for this reason, says the Donatist, he adds "outside." Why therefore can they not
baptize outside? Is it because they are worse from the very fact that they are outside? But it makes no difference, in respect of the validity of
baptism, how much worse the
minister may be. For there is not so much difference between bad and worse as between good and bad; and yet, when the bad baptizes, he gives the selfsame sacrament as the good. Therefore, also, when the worse
baptizes, he gives the selfsame sacrament as the less bad. Or is it that it is not in respect of man’s merit, but of the sacrament of
baptism itself, that it cannot be given outside? If this were so, neither could it be
possessed outside, and it would be necessary that a man should be
baptized again so often as he left the
Church and again returned to it.
44. Further, if we inquire more carefully what is meant by "outside," especially as he himself makes mention of the rock on which the Church is built, are not they in the Church who are on the rock, and they who are not on the rock, not in the Church either? Now, therefore, let us see whether they build their house upon a rock who hear the words of Christ and do them not. The Lord Himself declares the contrary, saying, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock;" and a little later, "Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand."1674
If, therefore, the
Church is on a
rock, those who are on the
sand, because they are outside the
rock, are necessarily outside the
Church. Let us recollect, therefore, how many Cyprian mentions as placed within who build upon the
sand, that is, who hear the words of
Christ and do them not. And therefore, because they are on the
sand, they are
proved to be outside the
rock, that is, outside the
Church; yet even while they are so situated, and are either not yet or never
changed for the better, not only do they
baptize and are
baptized, but the
baptism which they have remains valid in them though they are destined to
damnation.
45. Neither can it be said in this place,1675
| 1675 It is pointed out by the Louvain editors that this passage shows that Augustin considered our Lord’s precept to comprehend everything contained in the Sermon on the Mount.
|
Yet who is there that doeth all the words of the
Lord which are written in the evangelic sermon itself,
1676
| 1676 It is pointed out by the Louvain editors that this passage shows that Augustin considered our Lord’s precept to comprehend everything contained in the Sermon on the Mount.
|
at the end of which He says, that he who heard the said words and did them built upon a
rock, and he who heard them and did them not built upon the
sand? For, granting that by certain persons all the words are not accomplished, yet in the same sermon He has
appointed the remedy, saying, "
Forgive, and ye shall be
forgiven."
1677
And after the
Lord’s prayer had been
recorded in detail in the same sermon, He says, "For I say unto you, if ye
forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also
forgive you: but if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses."
1678
Hence also Peter says, "For
charity shall cover the multitude of
sins;"
1679
which
charity they certainly did not have, and on this account they built upon the
sand, of whom the same Cyprian says, that within the
Church they held conversation, even in the time of the
apostles, in unkindly
hatred alien from Christian charity;
1680
| 1680 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 14.
|
and therefore they seemed indeed to be within, but really were without, because they were not on that rock by which the Church is signified.
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