206 THE SEVENTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE. sanctifiedin the church by the prayer of the priest,washes away sins; inthatdegree,ifinfectedwith hereticaldiscourse as with a cancer,it heaps up sins. Wherefore we must endeavour with allpeacefulpowers, that no one infected and stainedwith hereticalerrorrefuseto receivethe single and true baptism of the church,by which whosoever isnot baptized,shallbecome an alienfrom the kingdom of heaven. Privatianusof Sufetula1 said: Let him who saysthat hereticshave the power of baptizing,say firstwho founded heresy. For ifheresyisof God, italsomay have the divine indulgence. But if it is not from God, how can it either have the graceof God, or conferitupon any one ? Privatus of Sufess said: He who approves the baptism of heretics,what else does he do than communicate with heretics? Hortensianusof Lares * said: Let eitherthese presump tuousones,or thosewho favour heretics,considerhow many baptismsthereare. We claimfor the church one baptism, which we know not exceptin the church. Or how can they baptizeany one in the name of Christ,whom ChristHimself declaresto be His adversaries? Cassiusof Macomadae * said: Since there cannot be two baptisms,he who yieldsbaptismto the hereticstakesitaway from himself. I judge thereforethat heretics,lamentable and corrupt,must be baptizedwhen they begin to come to the church ; and thatwhen washed by the sacredand divine washing, and illuminatedby the lightof life,they may be receivedintothe church,not as enemies,but as made peace ful; not as foreigners,but as of the householdof the faithof the Lord ; not as childrenof adultery,but as sonsof God ; not of error,but of salvation; exceptthosewho once faithful have been supplanted,and have passedover from the church to the darknessof heresy,but thatthesemust be restoredby the impositionof hands. Another Januariusof Vicus Caesaris5 said: If errordoes 1A cityofNumidiaByzacenae. * IuByzacena. 3A cityofNumidiaPtolemais. 4 Or MacodamainNumidi*. *PerhapsNova CssarisinNumidia.