Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>2. In the treatise above mentioned, it has already been said\r\nthat the grace of baptism can be conferred outside the Catholic<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_2\">[Pg 2]</a></span>\r\ncommunion, just as it can be also there retained. But no one\r\nof the Donatists themselves denies that even apostates retain\r\nthe grace of baptism; for when they return within the pale\r\nof the Church, and are converted through repentance, it is\r\nnever given to them a second time, and so it is ruled that it\r\nnever could have been lost. So those, too, who in the sacrilege\r\nof schism depart from the communion of the Church,\r\ncertainly retain the grace of baptism, which they received\r\nbefore their departure, seeing that, in case of their return, it\r\nis not again conferred on them; whence it is proved, that what\r\nthey had received while within the unity of the Church, they\r\ncould not have lost in their separation. But if it can be retained\r\noutside, why may it not also be given there? If you\r\nsay, \"It is not rightly given without the pale;\" we answer,\r\n\"As it is not rightly retained, and yet is in some sense retained,\r\nso it is not indeed rightly given, but yet it is given.\"\r\nBut as, by reconciliation to unity, that begins to be profitably\r\npossessed which was possessed to no profit in exclusion from\r\nunity, so, by the same reconciliation, that begins to be profitable\r\nwhich without it was given to no profit. Yet it cannot\r\nbe allowed that it should be said that that was not given\r\nwhich was given, nor that any one should reproach a man\r\nwith not having given this, while confessing that he had\r\ngiven what he had himself received. For the sacrament of\r\nbaptism is what the person possesses who is baptized; and\r\nthe sacrament of conferring baptism is what he possesses who\r\nis ordained. And as the baptized person, if he depart from\r\nthe unity of the Church, does not thereby lose the sacrament\r\nof baptism, so also he who is ordained, if he depart from the\r\nunity of the Church, does not lose the sacrament of conferring\r\nbaptism. For neither sacrament may be wronged. If a sacrament\r\nnecessarily becomes void in the case of the wicked, both\r\nmust become void; if it remain valid with the wicked, this\r\nmust be so with both. If, therefore, the baptism be acknowledged\r\nwhich he could not lose who severed himself from the\r\nunity of the Church, that baptism must also be acknowledged\r\nwhich was administered by one who by his secession had not\r\nlost the sacrament of conferring baptism. For as those who\r\nreturn to the Church, if they had been baptized before their<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_3\">[Pg 3]</a></span>\r\nsecession, are not rebaptized, so those who return, having been\r\nordained before their secession, are certainly not ordained\r\nagain; but either they again exercise their former ministry,\r\nif the interests of the Church require it, or if they do not\r\nexercise it, at any rate they retain the sacrament of their ordination;\r\nand hence it is, that when hands are laid on them,<a id=\"FNanchor_7_7\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_7_7\">[7]</a>\r\nto mark their reconciliation, they are not ranked with the\r\nlaity. For Felicianus, when he separated himself from them\r\nwith Maximianus, was not held by the Donatists themselves\r\nto have lost either the sacrament of baptism or the sacrament\r\nof conferring baptism. For now he is a recognised member of\r\ntheir own body, in company with those very men whom he\r\nbaptized while he was separated from them in the schism of\r\nMaximianus. And so others could receive from them, whilst\r\nthey still had not joined our society, what they themselves\r\nhad not lost by severance from our society. And hence it is\r\nclear that they are guilty of impiety who endeavour to rebaptize\r\nthose who are in Catholic unity; and we act rightly who\r\ndo not dare to repudiate God's sacraments, even when administered\r\nin schism. For in all points in which they think\r\nwith us, they also are in communion with us, and only are\r\nsevered from us in those points in which they dissent from\r\nus. For contact and disunion are not to be measured by\r\ndifferent laws in the case of material or spiritual affinities.\r\nFor as union of bodies arises from continuity of position, so\r\nin the agreement of wills there is a kind of contact between\r\nsouls. If, therefore, a man who has severed himself from\r\nunity wishes to do anything different from that which had\r\nbeen impressed on him while in the state of unity, in this\r\npoint he does sever himself, and is no longer a part of the\r\nunited whole; but wherever he desires to conduct himself as\r\nis customary in the state of unity, in which he himself learned\r\nand received the lessons which he seeks to follow, in these\r\npoints he remains a member, and is united to the corporate\r\nwhole.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK FIRST."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-46"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d7acfb2d9283a007b96cd224c42bf6b01d39e3989b5c47d5a8602adb901644c9","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_7_7","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_7_7","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_7_7\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_7_7\"><span class=\"label\">[7]</span></a> Comp. v. 23, and iii. 16, note.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_7_7","text_sha256":"7e51c13ca6446c0b03201cb5f64ac1cc3fad2eb34f360b38896e04d926104437","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_7_7