{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. xiv.</span>—19. Nor is it material, when we are considering\r\nthe question of the genuineness and holiness of the sacrament,\r\n\"what the recipient of the sacrament believes, and with what,\r\nfaith he is imbued.\" It is of the very highest consequence as\r\nregards the entrance into salvation, but is wholly immaterial as\r\nregards the question of the sacrament. For it is quite possible\r\nthat a man may be possessed of the genuine sacrament and a\r\ncorrupted faith, as it is possible that he may hold the words\r\nof the creed in their integrity, and yet entertain an erroneous\r\nbelief about the Trinity, or the resurrection, or any other point.<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_66\">[Pg 66]</a></span>\r\nFor it is no slight matter, even within the Catholic Church,\r\nto hold faith entirely consistent with the truth about even\r\nGod Himself, to say nothing of any of His creatures. Is it\r\nthen to be maintained, that if any one who has been baptized\r\nwithin the Catholic Church itself should afterwards, in the\r\ncourse of reading, or by listening to instruction, or by quiet\r\nargument, find out, through God's own revelation, that he had\r\nbefore believed otherwise than he ought, it is requisite that he\r\nshould therefore be baptized afresh? But what carnal and\r\nnatural man is there who does not stray through the vain\r\nconceits<a id=\"FNanchor_134_134\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_134_134\">[134]</a> of his own heart, and picture God's nature to himself\r\nto be such as he has imagined out of his carnal sense, and\r\ndiffer from the true conception of God as far as vanity from\r\ntruth? Most truly, indeed, speaks the apostle, filled with the\r\nlight of truth: \"The natural man,\" says he, \"receiveth not\r\nthe things of the Spirit of God.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_135_135\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_135_135\">[135]</a> And yet herein he was\r\nspeaking of men whom he himself shows to have been baptized.\r\nFor he says to them, \"Was Paul crucified for you?\r\nor were ye baptized in the name of Paul?\"<a id=\"FNanchor_136_136\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_136_136\">[136]</a> These men had\r\ntherefore the sacrament of baptism; and yet, inasmuch as\r\ntheir wisdom was of the flesh, what could they believe about\r\nGod otherwise than according to the perception of their flesh,\r\naccording to which \"the natural man receiveth not the things\r\nof the Spirit of God?\" To such he says: \"I could not speak\r\nunto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto\r\nbabes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat:\r\nfor hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are\r\nye able. For ye are yet carnal.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_137_137\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_137_137\">[137]</a> For such are carried about\r\nwith every wind of doctrine, of which kind he says, \"That we\r\nbe no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with\r\nevery wind of doctrine.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_138_138\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_138_138\">[138]</a> Is it then true that, if these men\r\nshall have advanced even to the spiritual age of the inner man,\r\nand in the integrity of understanding shall have learned how\r\nfar different from the requirements of the truth has been the\r\nbelief which they have been led by the fallacious character of\r\ntheir conceits to entertain of God, they are therefore to be\r\nbaptized again? For, on this principle, it would be possible<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_67\">[Pg 67]</a></span>\r\nfor a Catholic catechumen to light upon the writings of some\r\nheretic, and, not having the knowledge requisite for discerning\r\ntruth from error, he might entertain some belief contrary to\r\nthe Catholic faith, yet not condemned by the words of the\r\ncreed, just as, under colour of the same words, innumerable\r\nheretical errors have sprung up. Supposing, then, that the\r\ncatechumen was under the impression that he was studying\r\nthe work of some great and learned Catholic, and was baptized\r\nwith that belief in the Catholic Church, and by subsequent\r\nresearch should discover what he ought to believe, so\r\nthat, embracing the Catholic faith, he should reject his former\r\nerror, ought he, on confessing this, to be baptized again?\r\nOr supposing that, before learning and confessing this for himself,\r\nhe should be found to entertain such an opinion, and\r\nshould be taught what he ought to reject and what he should\r\nbelieve, and it were to become clear that he had held this\r\nfalse belief when he was baptized, ought he therefore to be\r\nbaptized again? Why should we maintain the contrary?\r\nBecause the sanctity of the sacrament, consecrated in the\r\nwords of the gospel, remains upon him in its integrity, just\r\nas he received it from the hands of the minister, although\r\nhe, being firmly rooted in the vanity of his carnal mind, entertained\r\na belief other than was right at the time when he was\r\nbaptized. Wherefore it is manifest that it is possible that,\r\nwith defective faith, the sacrament of baptism may yet remain\r\nwithout defect in any man; and therefore all that is said\r\nabout the diversity of the several heretics is beside the question.\r\nFor in each person that is to be corrected which is\r\nfound to be amiss by the man who undertakes his correction.\r\nThat is to be made whole which is unsound; that is to be\r\ngiven which is wanting, and, above all, the peace of Christian\r\ncharity, without which the rest is profitless. Yet, as the rest\r\nis there, we must not administer it as though it were wanting,\r\nonly take care that its possession be to the profit, not the hurt\r\nof him who has it, through the very bond of peace and excellence\r\nof charity.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK THIRD."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-114"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"6c6a82008fea3f8ac84dff5da37654e2a1a4474635606e59364785f5d2bbef5e","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"EPH","chapter":4,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Eph. iv. 14","verse":14,"verse_end":14}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_138_138","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_138_138","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_138_138\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_138_138\"><span class=\"label\">[138]</span></a> Eph. iv. 14.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_138_138","text_sha256":"a68f599abfb8470b02002d25e2f42c439f5006b0620d7f32672ab33935fe347d","verified":false,"work_id":null}