{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>102. But the safe course for us is, not to advance with any\r\nrashness of judgment in setting forth a view which has neither\r\nbeen started in any provincial Council of the Catholic Church\r\nnor established in a general one; but to assert, with all the\r\nconfidence of a voice that cannot be gainsaid, what has been<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_227\">[Pg 227]</a></span>\r\nconfirmed by the consent of the universal Church, under the\r\ndirection of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Nevertheless,\r\nif any one were to press me—supposing I were duly\r\nseated in a Council in which a question were raised on points\r\nlike these—to declare what my own opinion was, without reference\r\nto the previously expressed views of others, whose judgment\r\nI would rather follow, if I were under the influence of\r\nthe same feelings as led me to assert what I have said before,\r\nI should have no hesitation in saying that all men possess baptism\r\nwho have received it in any place, from any sort of men,\r\nprovided that it were consecrated in the words of the gospel,\r\nand received without deceit on their part with some degree of\r\nfaith; although it would be of no profit to them for the salvation\r\nof their souls if they were without charity, by which they\r\nmight be grafted into the Catholic Church. For \"though I\r\nhave faith,\" says the apostle, \"so that I could remove mountains,\r\nbut have not charity, I am nothing.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_635_635\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_635_635\">[635]</a> Just as already,\r\nfrom the established decrees of our predecessors, I have no\r\nhesitation in saying that all those have baptism who, though\r\nthey receive it deceitfully, yet receive it in the Church, or\r\nwhere the Church is thought to be by those in whose society\r\nit is received, of whom it was said, \"They went out from us.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_636_636\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_636_636\">[636]</a>\r\nBut when there was no society of those who so believed, and\r\nwhen the man who received it did not himself hold such\r\nbelief, but the whole thing was done as a farce, or a comedy,\r\nor a jest,—if I were asked whether the baptism which was\r\nthus conferred should be approved, I should declare my opinion\r\nthat we ought to pray for the declaration of God's judgment\r\nthrough the medium of some revelation, seeking it with united\r\nprayer and earnest groanings of suppliant devotion, humbly\r\ndeferring all the time to the decision of those who were to\r\ngive their judgment after me, in case they should set forth\r\nanything as already known and determined. And, therefore,\r\nhow much the more must I be considered to have given my\r\nopinion now without prejudice to the utterance of more diligent\r\nresearch or authority higher than my own!</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SEVENTH."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-391"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d5c658772927414da2a40a8ca3d52bd7d14422f2498ac4a439e9ad313232e929","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"1JN","chapter":2,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"1 John ii. 19","verse":19,"verse_end":19}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_636_636","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_636_636","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_636_636\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_636_636\"><span class=\"label\">[636]</span></a> 1 John ii. 19.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_636_636","text_sha256":"85db273ed64a89db33bb6d69703142942115784a521ab7f885310b62410087dc","verified":false,"work_id":null}