{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. xxi.</span>—28. With regard to the objection brought\r\nagainst Cyprian, that the catechumens who were seized in\r\nmartyrdom, and slain for Christ's name's sake, received a\r\ncrown even without baptism, I do not quite see what it has\r\nto do with the matter, unless, indeed, they urged that heretics\r\ncould much more be admitted with baptism to Christ's kingdom,\r\nto which catechumens were admitted without it, since\r\nHe Himself has said, \"Except a man be born of water and of\r\nthe Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_289_289\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_289_289\">[289]</a> Now,\r\nin this matter I do not hesitate for a moment to place the\r\nCatholic catechumen, who is burning with love for God, before\r\nthe baptized heretic; nor yet do we thereby do dishonour\r\nto the sacrament of baptism which the latter has already\r\nreceived, the former not as yet; nor do we consider that the\r\nsacrament of the catechumen<a id=\"FNanchor_290_290\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_290_290\">[290]</a> is to be preferred to the sacra<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_109\">[Pg 109]</a></span>ment\r\nof baptism, when we acknowledge that some catechumens\r\nare better and more faithful than some baptized persons.\r\nFor the centurion Cornelius, before baptism, was better than\r\nSimon, who had been baptized. For Cornelius, even before\r\nhis baptism, was filled with the Holy Spirit;<a id=\"FNanchor_291_291\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_291_291\">[291]</a> Simon, even\r\nafter baptism, was puffed up with an unclean spirit.<a id=\"FNanchor_292_292\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_292_292\">[292]</a> Cornelius,\r\nhowever, would have been convicted of contempt for\r\nso holy a sacrament, if, even after he had received the Holy\r\nGhost, he had refused to be baptized. But when he was\r\nbaptized, he received in no wise a better sacrament than\r\nSimon; but the different merits of the men were made manifest\r\nunder the equal holiness of the same sacrament,—so true\r\nis it that the good or ill deserving of the recipient does not\r\nincrease or diminish the holiness of baptism. But as baptism\r\nis wanting to a good catechumen to his receiving the kingdom\r\nof heaven, so true conversion is wanting to a bad man though\r\nbaptized. For He who said, \"Except a man be born of water\r\nand of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,\"\r\nsaid also Himself, \"Except your righteousness shall exceed\r\nthe righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in\r\nno case enter into the kingdom of heaven.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_293_293\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_293_293\">[293]</a> For that the\r\nrighteousness of the catechumens might not feel secure, it is\r\nwritten, \"Except a man be born again of water and of the\r\nSpirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.\" And again,\r\nthat the unrighteousness of the baptized might not feel secure\r\nbecause they had received baptism, it is written, \"Except\r\nyour righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes\r\nand Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of\r\nheaven.\" The one were too little without the other; the two\r\nmake perfect the heir of that inheritance. As, then, we ought\r\nnot to depreciate a man's righteousness, which begins to exist\r\nbefore he is joined to the Church, as the righteousness of Cor<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_110\">[Pg 110]</a></span>nelius\r\nbegan to exist before he was in the body of Christian\r\nmen,—which righteousness was not thought worthless, or the\r\nangel would not have said to him, \"Thy prayers and thine\r\nalms are come up as a memorial before God;\" nor did it yet\r\nsuffice for his obtaining the kingdom of heaven, or he would\r\nnot have been told to send to Peter,<a id=\"FNanchor_294_294\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_294_294\">[294]</a>—so neither ought we to\r\ndepreciate the sacrament of baptism, even though it has been\r\nreceived outside the Church. But since it is of no avail for\r\nsalvation unless he who has baptism indeed in full perfection\r\nbe incorporated into the Church, correcting also his own depravity,\r\nlet us therefore correct the error of the heretics, that\r\nwe may recognise what in them is not their own but Christ's.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK FOURTH."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-153"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"2445b9059fa8ea6716644f34944e070b6f97612ca9f8a8528be78fb09cb76ab9","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"ACT","chapter":8,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Acts viii. 13","verse":13,"verse_end":13}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_292_292","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_292_292","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_292_292\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_292_292\"><span class=\"label\">[292]</span></a> Acts viii. 13, 18, 19.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_292_292","text_sha256":"02da2b77864d2d0ceb1f2a776ff1725ecdb6d6e80d801aebea68fe529f36120b","verified":false,"work_id":null}