{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. xlv.</span>—54. But that neither he nor any one of you\r\nmight say that, when any one of concealed bad character is\r\nthe baptizer, then he whom he baptizes is not his fruit, but\r\nthe fruit of Christ, I went on immediately to point out\r\nwhat a foolish error is consequent also on that opinion; and\r\nI repeated, though in other words, what I had said shortly\r\nbefore: If, when the quality of the tree is concealed, but evil,\r\nany one who may have been baptized by it is born, not of it,\r\nbut of Christ, then they are justified with greater holiness\r\nwho are baptized by wicked men, whose wickedness is concealed,\r\nthan they who are baptized by men that are genuinely\r\nand manifestly good.<a id=\"FNanchor_1124_1124\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_1124_1124\">[1124]</a> Petilianus then, being hemmed in by\r\nthese embarrassing straits, said nothing about the earlier part\r\non which these remarks depended, and in his answer so quoted\r\nthis absurd consequence of his error as though I had stated\r\nit as my own opinion, whereas it was really stated in order\r\nthat he might perceive the amount of evil consequent on his\r\nopinion, and so be forced to alter it. Imposing, therefore, this\r\ndeceit on those who hear and read his words, and never for a\r\nmoment supposing that what we have written could be read,\r\nhe begins a vehement and petulant invective against me, as\r\nthough I had thought that all who are baptized ought to wish\r\nthat they might have as their baptizers men who are faithless,\r\nwithout knowing this themselves, since, however good\r\nthe men might be whom they had to baptize them, Christ is\r\nincomparably better, who will then be the head of the person\r\nbaptized, if the faithless baptizer conceal his true character.\r\nAs though, too, I had thought that those were justified with\r\ngreater holiness who are baptized by evil men, whose character\r\nis concealed, than those who are baptized by men that are\r\ngenuinely and manifestly good; when this marvellous piece\r\nof madness was only mentioned by me as following necessarily\r\non the opinion of those who think with Petilianus, that a<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_457\">[Pg 457]</a></span>\r\nman, when baptized, bears the same relation to his baptizer\r\nas fruit does to the tree from which it springs,—good fruit\r\nspringing from a good tree, evil fruit from an evil tree,—seeing\r\nthat they, when they are bidden by me to answer whose\r\nfruit they think a man that is baptized to be when he is\r\nbaptized by one of secretly bad character, since they do not\r\nventure to rebaptize him, are compelled to answer, that then\r\nhe is not the fruit of that man of secretly bad character, but\r\nthat he is the fruit of Christ. And so they are followed by a\r\nconsequence contrary to their inclination, which none but a\r\nmadman would entertain,—that if a man is the fruit of his\r\nbaptizer when he is baptized by one that is genuinely and\r\nmanifestly good, but when he is baptized by one of secretly bad\r\ncharacter, he is then not his fruit, but the fruit of Christ,—it cannot\r\nbut follow that they are justified with greater holiness who\r\nare baptized by men of secretly bad character, than those who\r\nare baptized by men who are genuinely and manifestly good.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK THIRD."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-733"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e4bd95a342d575128bd722dd303a5ec92ca9d2501316051f42b620a3316c61e6","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_1124_1124","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_1124_1124","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_1124_1124\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_1124_1124\"><span class=\"label\">[1124]</span></a> See Book <span class=\"smcap\">I.</span> cc. vii. viii. secs. 8, 9.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_1124_1124","text_sha256":"22937d342820ebde4025106fffdc8eb08df114df661a24f95c7d7f19085849e7","verified":false,"work_id":null}