{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. IV.</span>—5. Wherefore the holy Cyprian, whose dignity is<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_36\">[Pg 36]</a></span>\r\nonly increased by his humility, who so loved the pattern set\r\nby Peter as to use the words, \"Giving us thereby a pattern of\r\nconcord and patience, that we should not pertinaciously love\r\nour own opinions, but should rather account as our own any\r\ntrue and rightful suggestions of our brethren and colleagues,\r\nfor the common health and weal,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_72_72\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_72_72\">[72]</a>—he, I say, abundantly\r\nshows that he was most willing to correct his own opinion, if\r\nany one should prove to him that it is as certain that the\r\nbaptism of Christ can be given by those who have strayed\r\nfrom the fold, as that it could not be lost when they strayed;\r\non which subject we have already said much. Nor should we\r\nourselves venture to assert anything of the kind, were we not\r\nsupported by the unanimous authority of the whole Church,—to\r\nwhich he himself would unquestionably have yielded, if at\r\nthat time the truth of this question had been placed beyond\r\ndispute by the investigation and decree of a general Council.\r\nFor if he quotes Peter as an example for his allowing himself\r\nquietly and peacefully to be corrected by one junior colleague,\r\nhow much more readily would he himself, with the Council of\r\nhis province, have yielded to the authority of the whole world,\r\nwhen the truth had been thus brought to light? For, indeed,\r\nso holy and peaceful a soul would have been most ready to\r\nassent to the arguments of any single person who could prove\r\nto him the truth; and perhaps he even did so,<a id=\"FNanchor_73_73\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_73_73\">[73]</a> though we\r\nhave no knowledge of the fact. For it was neither possible\r\nthat all the proceedings which took place between the bishops\r\nat that time should have been committed to writing, nor are\r\nwe acquainted with all that was so committed. For how\r\ncould a matter which was involved in such mists of disputation\r\neven have been brought to the full illumination and\r\nauthoritative decision of a general Council, had it not first\r\nbeen known to be discussed for some considerable time in the\r\nvarious districts of the world, with many discussions and comparisons\r\nof the views of the bishops on every side? But this\r\nis one effect of the soundness of peace, that when any doubtful\r\npoints are long under investigation, and when, on account of\r\nthe difficulty of arriving at the truth, they produce difference of<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_37\">[Pg 37]</a></span>\r\nopinion in the course of brotherly disputation, till men at last\r\narrive at the unalloyed truth; yet the bond of unity remains,\r\nlest in the part that is cut away there should be found the\r\nincurable wound of deadly error.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SECOND."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-79"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"1f8176d84fd026ebb5a183a68a2272391ce28feb3a091e55ecc5be411980c319","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_73_73","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_73_73","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_73_73\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_73_73\"><span class=\"label\">[73]</span></a> Bede asserts that this was the case, Book viii. qu. 5.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_73_73","text_sha256":"51319380ff50acefcdb3e9e95767da53d88e6db894fd406db9cca7a274e5a061","verified":false,"work_id":null}