{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>47. To this we answer, that if the water is not sanctified,\r\nwhen through want of skill the priest who prays utters some\r\nwords of error, many, not only of the bad, but of the good\r\nbrethren in the Church itself, fail to sanctify the water. For\r\nthe prayers of many are corrected every day on being recited\r\nto men of greater learning, and many things are found in\r\nthem contrary to the Catholic faith. Supposing, then, that it\r\nwere shown that some persons were baptized when these\r\nprayers had been uttered over the water, will they be bidden\r\nto be baptized afresh? Why not? Because generally the\r\nfault in the prayer is more than counterbalanced by the\r\nintent of him who offers it; and those fixed words of the\r\ngospel, without which baptism cannot be consecrated, are of\r\nsuch efficacy, that, by their virtue, anything faulty that is\r\nuttered in the prayer contrary to the rule of faith is made\r\nof no effect, just as the devil is excluded by the name of\r\nChrist. For it is clear that if a heretic utters a faulty prayer,\r\nhe has no good intent of love whereby that want of skill may\r\nbe compensated, and therefore he is like any envious or spiteful\r\nperson in the Catholic Church itself, such as Cyprian\r\nproves to exist within the Church. Or one might offer some\r\nprayer, as not unfrequently happens, in which he should\r\nspeak against the rule of faith, since many rush into the use\r\nof prayers which are composed not only by unskilful men\r\nwho love to talk, but even by heretics, and in the simplicity\r\nof ignorance, not being able to discern their true character,\r\nuse them, thinking they are good; and yet what is erroneous\r\nin them does not vitiate what is right, but rather it is rendered\r\nnull thereby, just as in the man of good hope and approved<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_178\">[Pg 178]</a></span>\r\nfaith, who yet is but a man, if in anything he be otherwise\r\nminded, what he holds aright is not thereby vitiated until God\r\nreveal to him also that in which he is otherwise minded.<a id=\"FNanchor_476_476\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_476_476\">[476]</a> But\r\nsupposing that the man himself is wicked and perverse, then,\r\nif he should offer an upright prayer, in no part contrary to\r\nthe Catholic faith, it does not follow that because the prayer\r\nis right the man himself is also right; and if over some he\r\noffers an erroneous prayer, God is present to uphold the words\r\nof His gospel, without which the baptism of Christ cannot be\r\nconsecrated, and He Himself consecrates His sacrament, that\r\nin the recipient, either before he is baptized, or when he is\r\nbaptized, or at some future time when he turns in truth to\r\nGod, that very sacrament may be profitable to salvation, which,\r\nwere he not to be converted, would be powerful to his destruction.\r\nBut who is there who does not know that there is no\r\nbaptism of Christ, if the words of the gospel in which consists\r\nthe outward visible sign be not forthcoming? But you will\r\nmore easily find heretics who do not baptize at all, than any\r\nwho baptize without those words. And therefore we say, not\r\nthat every baptism (for in many of the blasphemous rites of\r\nidols men are said to be baptized), but that the baptism of\r\nChrist, that is, every baptism consecrated in the words of the\r\ngospel, is everywhere the same, and cannot be vitiated by any\r\nperversity on the part of any men.<a id=\"FNanchor_477_477\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_477_477\">[477]</a></p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SIXTH."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-248"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"c4e4a82d3ac511c6581e356f617530eecbfc48eae11037da80ab85ba56b1ddaf","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_477_477","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_477_477","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_477_477\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_477_477\"><span class=\"label\">[477]</span></a> See above, <span class=\"smcap\">III.</span> cc. xiv. xv.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_477_477","text_sha256":"c3100151fcbaf40a6c823b3132cd4a927f8fd36952908fa33307b67399b1d566","verified":false,"work_id":null}