Chapter 49.—59. Do not therefore any longer say, "The conscience of one that gives in holiness is what we look for to cleanse the conscience of the recipient," lest you be asked, When a stain on the conscience of the giver is concealed, who cleanses the conscience of the recipient? And when you shall have answered, Either God or an angel (since there is no other answer which you possibly can make), then should follow a consequence
whereby you would be confounded: Those then are justified with greater holiness who are baptized by undetected evil men, so as to be cleansed by God or by an angel, than those who are baptized by men who are genuinely and manifestly good, who cannot be compared with God or with the angels. But prevail upon yourselves to say what is said by Truth and by the Catholic Church, that not only when the minister of baptism is evil, but also when he is holy and good, hope is still not to be placed in
man, but in Him that justifieth the ungodly, in whom if any man believe, his faith is counted for righteousness.2423
For when we say,
Christ baptizes, we do not mean by a visible ministry, as Petilianus believes, or would have men think that he believes, to be our meaning, but by a hidden
grace, by a hidden
power in the
Holy Spirit as it is said of Him by John the Baptist, "The same is He which baptizeth with the Holy
Ghost."
2424
Nor has He, as Petilianus says, now ceased to
baptize; but He still does it, not by any ministry of the body, but by the
invisible working of His
majesty. For in that we say, He Himself baptizes, we do not mean, He Himself holds and dips in the
water the bodies of the
believers; but He Himself invisibly cleanses, and that He does to the whole
Church without exception. Nor, indeed, may we refuse to believe the words of the
Apostle Paul who says concerning Him, "
Husbands,
love your
wives, even as
Christ also
loved the
Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word."
2425
Here you see that
Christ sanctifies; here you see that
Christ also Himself
washes, Himself
purifies with the self-same washing of
water by the word, wherein the
ministers are seen to do their
work in the body. Let no one, therefore, claim unto himself what is of
God. The
hope of men is only sure when it is
fixed on Him who cannot
deceive, since "
Cursed be every one that trusteth in man,"
2426
and "
Blessed is that man that maketh the
Lord His
trust."
2427
For the
faithful steward shall receive as his
reward eternal life; but the
unfaithful steward, when he dispenses his
lord’s provisions to his fellow-
servants, must in no
wise be conceived to make the provisions useless by his own unfaithfulness. For the
Lord says, "Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works."
2428
And this is therefore the injunction that is given us against
evil stewards, that the good things of
God should be received at their hands, but that we should beware of their own evil life, by reason of its unlikeness to what they thus dispense.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
