Chapter 31.—59. Another Secundinus of Carpis1702
| 1702 Carpis (Carpos) was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. See for Secundinus, note on chap. 18.
|
said: "Are
heretics Christians or not? If they are
Christians, why are they not in the
Church of
God? If they are not
Christians, let them be made so.
1703
| 1703 Fiant. Another reading in some Mss. of Cyprian (not found in those of Augustin) is, "quomodo Christianos faciunt," which is less in harmony with the context.
|
Else what will be the reference in the
discourse of the
Lord, in which He says, ‘He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad?’
1704
Whence it is clear that on
strange children and the
offspring of
Antichrist the
Holy Spirit cannot descend by the laying on of
hands alone, since it is clear that
heretics have not
baptism."
1705
| 1705 Conc. Carth. sec. 24.
|
60. To this we answer: Are the unrighteous Christians or not? If they are Christians, why are they not on that rock on which the Church is built? for they hear the words of Christ and do them not. If they are not Christians, let them be made so. Else what will be the reference in the discourse of our Lord, in which He says, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad?" For they scatter His sheep who lead them
to the ruin of their lives by a false imitation of the Lord. Whence it is clear that upon strange children (as all the unrighteous are called), and upon the offspring of Antichrist (which all are who oppose themselves to Christ), the Holy Spirit cannot descend by the laying on of hands alone, if there be not added a true conversion of the heart; since it is clear that the unrighteous, so long as they are unrighteous, may indeed have baptism, but cannot have the salvation of which baptism is
the sacrament. For let us see whether heretics are described in that psalm where the following words are used of strange children: "Deliver me, O Lord, from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: whose sons are like young shoots well established, and their daughters polished after the similitude of the temple. Their garners are full, affording all manner of store; their sheep are fruitful, bringing forth plenteously in
their streets; their oxen are strong: there is no breaking down of their fence, no opening of a passage out, no complaining in their streets. Men deemed happy the people that is in such a case; rather blessed is the people whose God is the Lord."1706
If, therefore, those are
strange children who place their
happiness in temporal things, and in the
abundance of earthly prosperity, and
despise the
commandments of the
Lord, let us see whether these are not the very same of whom Cyprian so speaks, transforming them also into himself, that he may show that he is speaking of men with whom he held
communion in the sacraments: "In not keeping," he says, "the way of the
Lord, nor observing the
heavenly
commandments given us for our
salvation. Our
Lord did the will of His
Father, and we do not do the will of the
Lord, being eager about our patrimony or our
gains, following after
pride, and so forth."
1707
| 1707 Cypr. Presbyteris et diaconibus fratribus, Ep. xi. 1.
|
But if these could both have and transmit
baptism, why is it denied that it may exist among
strange children, whom he yet exhorts, that, by keeping the heavenly commandments conveyed to them through the only-begotten Son, they should deserve to be His brethren and the sons of God?
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