Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>88. Wherefore do not seek to raise confusion out of the<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_309\">[Pg 309]</a></span>\r\nbaptism of John, the source and intention of which was\r\neither such as I have here set forth; or if any other better\r\nexplanation of it can be given, this much still is clear, that\r\nthe baptism of John and the baptism of Christ are two distinct\r\nand separate things, and that the former was expressly\r\ncalled the baptism of John, as is clear both from the answer\r\nof those men whose case you quoted, and from the words of\r\nour Lord Himself, when He says, \"The baptism of John,\r\nwhence was it? from heaven, or of men?\"<a id=\"FNanchor_812_812\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_812_812\">[812]</a> But the latter\r\nis never called the baptism of Cæcilianus, or of Donatus, or\r\nof Augustine, or of Petilianus, but the baptism of Christ.\r\nFor if you think that we are shameless, because we will not\r\nallow that any one should be baptized after baptism from us,\r\nalthough we see that men were baptized again who had received\r\nthe baptism of John, who certainly is incomparably\r\ngreater than ourselves, will you maintain that John and\r\nOptatus were of equal dignity? The thing appears ridiculous.\r\nAnd yet I fancy that you do not hold them to be\r\nequals, but consider Optatus the greater of the two. For\r\nthe apostle baptized after baptism by John: you venture to\r\nbaptize no one after baptism by Optatus. Was it because\r\nOptatus was in unity with you? I know not with what\r\nheart a theory like this can be maintained, if the friend of\r\nthe Count,<a id=\"FNanchor_813_813\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_813_813\">[813]</a> who had in the Count a god for his companion,\r\nis said to have been in unity, and the friend of the Bridegroom\r\nto have been excluded from it. But if John was pre-eminently\r\nin unity, and far more excellent and greater than\r\nall of us and all of you, and yet the Apostle Paul baptized\r\nafter him, why do you then not baptize after Optatus?\r\nUnless indeed it be that your blindness brings you into such\r\na strait that you should say that Optatus had the power of\r\ngiving the Holy Spirit, and that John had not! And if you\r\ndo not say this, for fear of being ridiculed for your madness\r\neven by the insane themselves, what answer will you be able\r\nto make when you are asked why men should have required\r\nto be baptized after receiving baptism from John, while no\r\none needs to be baptized after receiving it from Optatus,\r\nunless it be that the former were baptized with the baptism<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_310\">[Pg 310]</a></span>\r\nof John, while, whenever any one is baptized with the baptism\r\nof Christ, whether he be baptized by Paul or by Optatus,\r\nthere is no difference in the nature of his baptism, though\r\nthere is so great a difference between Paul and Optatus?\r\nReturn then, O ye transgressors, to a right mind,<a id=\"FNanchor_814_814\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_814_814\">[814]</a> and do not\r\nseek to weigh the sacraments of God by considerations of the\r\ncharacters and deeds of men. For the sacraments are holy\r\nthrough Him to whom they belong; but when taken in hand\r\nworthily, they bring reward, when unworthily, judgment.\r\nAnd although the men are not one who take in hand the\r\nsacrament of God worthily or unworthily, yet that which is\r\ntaken in hand, whether worthily or unworthily, is the same;\r\nso that it does not become better or worse in itself, but only\r\nturns to the life or death of those who handle it in either\r\ncase. And in respect of what you said, that \"in those whom\r\nPaul baptized after they had received the baptism of John, he\r\nwashed off what had already existed,\" you certainly would not\r\nhave said it had you taken a moment to consider what you\r\nwere saying. For if the baptism of John required washing\r\noff, it must, beyond all doubt, have had some foulness in it.\r\nWhy then should I press you further? Recollect or read, and\r\nsee whence John received it, so shall you see against whom you\r\nhave uttered that blasphemy; and when you have discovered\r\nthis, your heart will surely be beaten, if a rein be not set\r\non your tongue.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SECOND."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-517"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"bbe23dd7918579cefd07ed54b3c2dfed6934b867b16d07cf6a1203834f8a54cc","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_813_813","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Title leaves identify J. R. King, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1872; catalog identifies translator John Richard King (1835-1907). Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/American Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_813_813","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_813_813\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_813_813\"><span class=\"label\">[813]</span></a> Gildo; see above, xxiii. 53.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_813_813","text_sha256":"e4f47ae5b320792f1dee423d63fe3a5aa7978d2dc2e30f88ddd63a6c2a0b35ea","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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