Epistle LXXIII.776    Oxford ed.: Ep. lxxiv.

To Pompey, Against the Epistle of Stephen About the Baptism of Heretics.

Argument.—The Purport of This Epistle is Given in St. Augustine’s “Contra Donatistas,” Lib. V. Cap. 23. He Says There: “Cyprian, Moreover, Writes to Pompey on the Same Subject, When He Plainly Signifies that Stephen, Who, as We Learn, Was Then a Bishop of the Roman Church, Not Only Did Not Agree with Him on Those Points, But Even Had Written and Charged in Opposition to Him.”777    On which subject, again, in chap. 25: “I will not now reconsider what he angrily uttered against Stephen, because there is no necessity for it. The very same things are indeed said which have already been sufficiently discussed, and it is better to pass by what suggested the risk of a mischievous dissension. Stephen, for his part, had thought that they who endeavoured to annul the old custom about receiving heretics were to be excommunicated; but the other, moved with the difficulty of that very question, and very largely endowed with a sacred charity, thought that unity might be maintained with them who thought differently. Thus, although there was a great deal of keenness, yet it was always in a spirit of brotherhood; and at length the peace of Christ conquered in their hearts, so that in such a dispute none of the mischief of schism arose between them” (Migne). [Ed. Migne adds, assuming the mediæval system to have been known to Cyprian, as follows]: “Thus far Augustine, whom we have quoted at length, because the passage is opposed to those who strive from this to assert his schism from the Roman pontiff.”

1. Cyprian to his brother Pompeius, greeting. Although I have fully comprised what is to be said concerning the baptism of heretics in the letters of which I sent you copies, dearest brother, yet, since you have desired that what Stephen our brother replied to my letters should be brought to your knowledge, I have sent you a copy of his reply; on the reading of which, you will more and more observe his error in endeavouring to maintain the cause of heretics against Christians, and against the Church of God.778    [It will be seen, more and more, that this entire conviction of Cyprian as to Stephen’s absolute equality with himself, results from the Ante-Nicene system, and accords with his theory of the divine organization of the Church. So Augustine, as quoted in the “Argument.”] For among other matters, which were either haughtily assumed, or were not pertaining to the matter, or contradictory to his own view, which he unskilfully and without foresight wrote, he moreover added this saying: “If any one, therefore, come to you from any heresy whatever, let nothing be innovated (or done) which has not been handed down, to wit, that hands be imposed on him for repentance;779    Meaning, probably, heretics with regard to the doctrine of the Trinity, Stephen not regarding the Novatians as “properly” heretics. [See Oxford translator, note m, p. 261.] since the heretics themselves, in their own proper character, do not baptize such as come to them from one another, but only admit them to communion.”

2. He forbade one coming from any heresy to be baptized in the Church; that is, he judged the baptism of all heretics to be just and lawful. And although special heresies have special baptisms and different sins, he, holding communion with the baptism of all, gathered up the sins of all, heaped together into his own bosom. And he charged that nothing should be innovated except what had been handed down; as if he were an innovator, who, holding the unity, claims for the one Church one baptism; and not manifestly he who, forgetful of unity, adopts the lies and the contagions of a profane washing. Let nothing be innovated, says he, nothing maintained, except what has been handed down.  Whence is that tradition? Whether does it descend from the authority of the Lord and of the Gospel, or does it come from the commands and the epistles of the apostles? For that those things which are written must be done, God witnesses and admonishes, saying to Joshua the son of Nun: “The book of this law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate in it day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.”780    Josh. i. 8. Also the Lord, sending His apostles, commands that the nations should be baptized, and taught to observe all things which He commanded. If, therefore, it is either prescribed in the Gospel, or contained in the epistles or Acts of the Apostles, that those who come from any heresy should not be baptized, but only hands laid upon them to repentance, let this divine and holy tradition be observed. But if everywhere heretics are called nothing else than adversaries and antichrists, if they are pronounced to be people to be avoided, and to be perverted and condemned of their own selves, wherefore is it that they should not be thought worthy of being condemned by us, since it is evident from the apostolic testimony781    [Tit. iii. 11.] that they are of their own selves condemned? So that no one ought to defame the apostles as if they had approved of the baptisms of heretics, or had communicated with them without the Church’s baptism, when they, the apostles, wrote such things of the heretics. And this, too, while as yet the more terrible plagues of heresy had not broken forth; while Marcion of Pontus had not yet emerged from Pontus, whose master Cerdon came to Rome,—while Hyginus was still bishop, who was the ninth bishop in that city,—whom Marcion followed, and with greater impudence adding other enhancements to his crime, and more daringly set himself to blaspheme against God the Father, the Creator, and armed with sacrilegious arms the heretical madness that rebelled against the Church with greater wickedness and determination.

3. But if it is evident that subsequently heresies became more numerous and worse; and if, in time past, it was never at all prescribed nor written that only hands should be laid upon a heretic for repentance, and that so he might be communicated with; and if there is only one baptism, which is with us, and is within, and is granted of the divine condescension to the Church alone, what obstinacy is that, or what presumption, to prefer human tradition to divine ordinance, and not to observe that God is indignant and angry as often as human tradition relaxes and passes by the divine precepts, as He cries out, and says by Isaiah the prophet, “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and commandments of men.”782    Isa. xxix. 13. Also the Lord in the Gospel, similarly rebuking and reproving, utters and says, “Ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”783    Mark vii. 13. Mindful of which precept, the blessed Apostle Paul himself also warns and instructs, saying, “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to His doctrine, he is proud, knowing nothing: from such withdraw thyself.”784    1 Tim. vi. 3–5.

4. Certainly an excellent and lawful tradition is set before us by the teaching of our brother Stephen, which may afford us a suitable authority! For in the same place of his epistle he has added and continued: “Since those who are specially heretics do not baptize those who come to them from one another, but only receive them to communion.” To this point of evil has the Church of God and spouse of Christ been developed, that she follows the examples of heretics; that for the purpose of celebrating the celestial sacraments, light should borrow her discipline from darkness, and Christians should do that which antichrists do. But what is that blindness of soul, what is that degradation of faith, to refuse to recognise the unity785    [This “unity” consisted not at all in agreeing with Stephen, according to our author. See good note (l) Oxford edition, p. 260.] which comes from God the Father, and from the tradition of Jesus Christ the Lord and our God! For if the Church is not with heretics, therefore, because it is one, and cannot be divided; and if thus the Holy Spirit is not there, because He is one, and cannot be among profane persons, and those who are without; certainly also baptism, which consists in the same unity, cannot be among heretics, because it can neither be separated from the Church nor from the Holy Spirit.

5. Or if they attribute the effect of baptism to the majesty of the name, so that they who are baptized anywhere and anyhow, in the name of Jesus Christ, are judged to be renewed and sanctified; wherefore, in the name of the same Christ, are not hands laid upon the baptized persons among them, for the reception of the Holy Spirit? Why does not the same majesty of the same name avail in the imposition of hands, which, they contend, availed in the sanctification of baptism? For if any one born out of the Church can become God’s temple, why cannot the Holy Spirit also be poured out upon the temple? For he who has been sanctified, his sins being put away in baptism, and has been spiritually reformed into a new man, has become fitted for receiving the Holy Spirit; since the apostle says, “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”786    Gal. iii. 27. He who, having been baptized among the heretics, is able to put on Christ, may much more receive the Holy Spirit whom Christ sent. Otherwise He who is sent will be greater than Him who sends; so that one baptized without may begin indeed to put on Christ, but not to be able to receive the Holy Spirit, as if Christ could either be put on without the Spirit, or the Spirit be separated from Christ. Moreover, it is silly to say, that although the second birth is spiritual, by which we are born in Christ through the laver of regeneration, one may be born spiritually among the heretics, where they say that the Spirit is not. For water alone is not able to cleanse away sins, and to sanctify a man, unless he have also the Holy Spirit.787    [Cyprian does not believe in the mere opus operatum of the water. And one fears that Stephen’s position in this matter bore its fruit long after in that pernicious dogma of the schoolmen.]  Wherefore it is necessary that they should grant the Holy Spirit to be there, where they say that baptism is; or else there is no baptism where the Holy Spirit is not, because there cannot be baptism without the Spirit.

6. But what a thing it is, to assert and contend that they who are not born in the Church can be the sons of God! For the blessed apostle sets forth and proves that baptism is that wherein the old man dies and the new man is born, saying, “He saved us by the washing of regeneration.”788    Tit. iii. 5. But if regeneration is in the washing, that is, in baptism, how can heresy, which is not the spouse of Christ, generate sons to God by Christ? For it is the Church alone which, conjoined and united with Christ, spiritually bears sons; as the same apostle again says, “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it, cleansing it with the washing of water.”789    Eph. v. 25, 26. If, then, she is the beloved and spouse who alone is sanctified by Christ, and alone is cleansed by His washing, it is manifest that heresy, which is not the spouse of Christ, nor can be cleansed nor sanctified by His washing, cannot bear sons to God.790    [Allowing the premisses admitted alike by Stephen and Cyprian (of which it is not my place to speak), the logic of our author appears to me irresistible. Practically, how wise the inspired maxim, Rom. xiv. 1.]

7. But further, one is not born by the imposition of hands when he receives the Holy Ghost, but in baptism, that so, being already born, he may receive the Holy Spirit, even as it happened in the first man Adam. For first God formed him, and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. For the Spirit cannot be received, unless he who receives first have an existence. But as the birth of Christians is in baptism, while the generation and sanctification of baptism are with the spouse of Christ alone, who is able spiritually to conceive and to bear sons to God, where and of whom and to whom is he born, who is not a son of the Church, so as that he should have God as his Father, before he has had the Church for his Mother? But as no heresy at all, and equally no schism, being without, can have the sanctification of saving baptism, why has the bitter obstinacy of our brother Stephen broken forth to such an extent, as to contend that sons are born to God from the baptism of Marcion; moreover, of Valentinus and Apelles, and of others who blaspheme against God the Father; and to say that remission of sins is granted in the name of Jesus Christ where blasphemy is uttered against the Father and against Christ the Lord God?

8. In which place, dearest brother, we must consider, for the sake of the faith and the religion of the sacerdotal office which we discharge, whether the account can be satisfactory in the day of judgment for a priest of God, who maintains, and approves, and acquiesces in the baptism of blasphemers, when the Lord threatens, and says, “And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you: if ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord Almighty, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.”791    Mal. ii. 1, 2. [Compare Tertullian, vol. iv. p. 122.] Does he give glory to God, who communicates with the baptism of Marcion? Does he give glory to God, who judges that remission of sins is granted among those who blaspheme against God? Does he give glory to God, who affirms that sons are born to God without, of an adulterer and a harlot? Does he give glory to God, who does not hold the unity and truth that arise from the divine law, but maintains heresies against the Church? Does he give glory to God, who, a friend of heretics and an enemy to Christians, thinks that the priests of God, who support the truth of Christ and the unity of the Church, are to be excommunicated?792    [A terrible indictment, indeed, of his brother Stephen; provoked, however, by conduct less warranted. See Ep. lxxiv. infra.] If glory is thus given to God, if the fear and the discipline of God is thus preserved by His worshippers and His priests, let us cast away our arms; let us give ourselves up to captivity; let us deliver to the devil the ordination of the Gospel, the appointment of Christ, the majesty of God; let the sacraments of the divine warfare be loosed; let the standards of the heavenly camp be betrayed; and let the Church succumb and yield to heretics, light to darkness, faith to perfidy, hope to despair, reason to error, immortality to death, love to hatred, truth to falsehood, Christ to Antichrist! Deservedly thus do heresies and schisms arise day by day, more frequently and more fruitfully grow up, and with serpents’ locks shoot forth and cast out against the Church of God with greater force the poison of their venom; whilst, by the advocacy of some, both authority and support are afforded them; whilst their baptism is defended, whilst faith, whilst truth, is betrayed;793    [Stephen’s presumption in this step is the dark spot in his record. It was a brutum fulmen, however, even in his own province. See Augustine’s testimony, Oxf. ed. (note l) p. 258.] whilst that which is done without against the Church is defended within in the very Church itself.

9. But if there be among us, most beloved brother, the fear of God, if the maintenance of the faith prevail, if we keep the precepts of Christ, if we guard the incorrupt and inviolate sanctity of His spouse, if the words of the Lord abide in our thoughts and hearts, when he says, “Thinkest thou, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?”794    Luke xviii. 8. then, because we are God’s faithful soldiers, who war for the faith and sincere religion of God, let us keep the camp entrusted to us by God with faithful valour. Nor ought custom, which had crept in among some, to prevent the truth from prevailing and conquering; for custom without truth is the antiquity of error.795    [Another of Cyprian’s striking aphorisms: “Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est.”] On which account, let us forsake the error and follow the truth, knowing that in Esdras also the truth conquers, as it is written: “Truth endureth and grows strong to eternity, and lives and prevails for ever and ever.  With her there is no accepting of persons or distinctions; but what is just she does: nor in her judgments is there unrighteousness, but the strength, and the kingdom, and the majesty, and the power of all ages. Blessed be the Lord God of truth!”796    Esdras iv. 38–40. This truth Christ showed to us in His Gospel, and said, “I am the truth.”797    John xiv. 6. Wherefore, if we are in Christ, and have Christ in us, if we abide in the truth, and the truth abides in us, let us keep fast those things which are true.

10. But it happens, by a love of presumption and of obstinacy, that one would rather maintain his own evil and false position, than agree in the right and true which belongs to another. Looking forward to which, the blessed Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, and warns him that a bishop must not be “litigious, nor contentious, but gentle and teachable.”798    Original, “docibilis.”  2 Tim. ii. 24. Now he is teachable who is meek and gentle to the patience of learning.  For it behoves a bishop not only to teach, but also to learn; because he also teaches better who daily increases and advances by learning better; which very thing, moreover, the same Apostle Paul teaches, when he admonishes, “that if anything better be revealed to one sitting by, the first should hold his peace.”799    1 Cor. xiv. 30. But there is a brief way for religious and simple minds, both to put away error, and to find and to elicit truth. For if we return to the head and source of divine tradition, human error ceases; and having seen the reason of the heavenly sacraments, whatever lay hid in obscurity under the gloom and cloud of darkness, is opened into the light of the truth. If a channel supplying water, which formerly flowed plentifully and freely, suddenly fail, do we not go to the fountain, that there the reason of the failure may be ascertained, whether from the drying up of the springs the water has failed at the fountainhead, or whether, flowing thence free and full, it has failed in the midst of its course; that so, if it has been caused by the fault of an interrupted or leaky channel, that the constant stream does not flow uninterruptedly and continuously, then the channel being repaired and strengthened, the water collected may be supplied for the use and drink of the city, with the same fertility and plenty with which it issues from the spring? And this it behoves the priests of God to do now, if they would keep the divine precepts, that if in any respect the truth have wavered and vacillated, we should return to our original and Lord, and to the evangelical and apostolical tradition; and thence may arise the ground of our action, whence has taken rise both our order and our origin.800    [Elucidation XVIII. See pp. 380 (note 1) and 322 (note 2).]

11. For it has been delivered to us, that there is one God, and one Christ, and one hope, and one faith, and one Church, and one baptism ordained only in the one Church, from which unity whosoever will depart must needs be found with heretics; and while he upholds them against the Church, he impugns the sacrament of the divine tradition. The sacrament of which unity we see expressed also in the Canticles, in the person of Christ, who says, “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a fountain sealed, a well of living water, a garden with the fruit of apples.”801    Cant. iv. 12, 13. But if His Church is a garden enclosed, and a fountain sealed, how can he who is not in the Church enter into the same garden, or drink from its fountain? Moreover, Peter himself, showing and vindicating the unity, has commanded and warned us that we cannot be saved, except by the one only baptism of one Church. “In the ark,” says he, “of Noah, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water, as also baptism shall in like manner save you.”802    1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. In how short and spiritual a summary has he set forth the sacrament of unity! For as, in that baptism of the world in which its ancient iniquity was purged away, he who was not in the ark of Noah could not be saved by water, so neither can he appear to be saved by baptism who has not been baptized in the Church which is established in the unity803    [It is obvious that the Cyprianic theory of unity has not the least connection with a theory depending on communion with a particular See. But this calculates the maxim, p. 384, note 7.] of the Lord according to the sacrament of the one ark.

12. Therefore, dearest brother, having explored and seen the truth; it is observed and held by us, that all who are converted from any heresy whatever to the Church must be baptized by the only and lawful baptism of the Church, with the exception of those who had previously been baptized in the Church, and so had passed over to the heretics.804    [See letter lxxi. p. 378, supra.] For it behoves these, when they return, having repented, to be received by the imposition of hands only, and to be restored by the shepherd to the sheep-fold whence they had strayed. I bid you, dearest brother, ever heartily farewell.

Epistola LXXIV. EPISTOLA S. CYPRIANI AD POMPEIUM CONTRA EPISTOLAM STEPHANI DE HAERETICIS BAPTIZANDIS. (Erasm. p. 332 Pamel. Rigalt. Baluz. Oxon. Lips. LXXIV.)

1127B ARGUMENTUM hujus Epistolae istud est apud D. August., libr. V, contra Donatist., cap. 23. «Ad Pompeium, inquit, etiam scribit Cyprianus de hac eadem re; ubi aperte indicat Stephanum, quem Romanae Ecclesiae episcopum tunc fuisse didicimus, non solum sibi ad ista non consensisse, verum etiam contra scripsisse atque praecepisse.» De qua rursum cap. 25: «Jam illa quae in Stephanum iratus effudit, retractare nolo, quia et opus non est. Eadem quippe ipsa dicuntur quae jam satis discussa sunt; et ea praet rire melius est, quae periculum perniciosae dissensionis habuerunt. 1128AStephanus autem et abstinendos putaverat qui de suscipiendis haereticis priscam consuetudinem convellere conarentur. Iste autem quaestionis ipsius difficultate permotus, et sanctis charitatis visceribus largissime praeditus, in unitate eis manendum qui diversa sentirent. Ita, quamvis commotius sed tamen fraterne indignetur, vicit tamen pax Christi in cordibus eorum, ut in tali discrepatione nullum inter eos malum schismatis oriretur.» Hactenus ille; quae prolixius citavimus, eo quod antidoti sint loco, adversus eos qui hinc schisma suum a Romano Pontifice confirmare nituntur.

I. Cyprianus Pompeio fratri salutem. Quamquam plene ea quae de haereticis baptizandis dicenda sunt complexi sumus in epistolis quarum ad te exempla 1128B transmisimus, frater charissime, tamen quia desiderasti in notitiam tuam perferri quid mihi ad litteras nostras Stephanus frater noster rescripserit, misi tibi rescripti ejus exemplum: quo lecto, magis ac magis ejus errorem denotabis, qui haereticorum causam contra Christianos et contra Ecclesiam Dei asserere conatur. Nam inter caetera vel superba, vel ad rem non pertinentia, vel sibi ipsi contraria, quae imperite atque improvide scripsit, etiam illud adjunxit ut diceret: Si quis ergo a quacumque haeresi venerit ad vos, nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est, ut manus illi imponatur 1129Ain poenitentiam, cum ipsi haeretici proprie alterutrum ad se venientes non baptizent, sed communicent tantum.

II. A quacumque haeresi venientem baptizari in Ecclesia vetuit, id est, omnium haereticorum baptismata justa esse et legitima judicavit. Et cum singulae haereses singula baptismata et diversa peccata habeant, hic cum omnium baptismo communicans universorum delicta in sinum suum coacervata congessit. Et praecepit nihil aliud innovari nisi quod traditum est; quasi is innovet qui unitatem tenens, unum baptisma uni Ecclesiae vindicat, et non ille utique qui unitatis oblitus mendacia et contagia profanae tinctionis usurpat. Nihil innovetur, inquit, nisi quod traditum est. Unde est ista traditio? Utrumne de dominica 1129B et evangelica auctoritate descendens, an de Apostolorum mandatis atque epistolis veniens? Ea enim facienda esse quae scripta sunt Deus testatur et praemonet ad Jesum Nave dicens: Non recedet liber legis hujus ex ore tuo, sed meditaberis in eo die ac nocte, ut observes facere omnia quae scripta sunt in eo (Josue I, 8) Item Dominus Apostolos suos mittens mandat baptizari Gentes et doceri ut observent omnia quaecumque ille praecepit (Matth. XXVIII, 19, 20). Si ergo aut in Evangelio praecipitur aut in Apostolorum epistolis vel actibus continetur ut a quacumque haeresi venientes non baptizentur, sed tantum manus illis imponatur in poenitentiam, observetur divina haec et sancta traditio. Si vero ubique haeretici nihil aliud quam adversarii et antichristi nominantur, si 1129C vitandi et perversi et a semetipsis damnati pronuntiantur, quale est ut videantur damnandi a nobis non esse quos constat apostolica contestatione a semetipsis damnatos esse? Ut nemo infamare Apostolos 1130A debeat, quasi illi haereticorum baptismata probaverint, aut eis sine Ecclesiae baptismo communicaverint, quando talia de haereticis Apostoli scripserint, et hoc cum nondum haereticae pestes acriores prorupissent, necdum quoque Marcion Ponticus de Ponto emersisset, cujus magister Cerdon sub Hygino tunc episcopo, qui in urbe nonus fuit, Romam venit; quem Marcion secutus, additis ad crimen augmentis, impudentius caeteris et abruptius in Deum patrem creatorem blasphemare instituit, et haereticum furorem sacrilegis armis contra Ecclesiam rebellantem sceleratius et gravius armavit.

III. Quod si haereses constat postmodum plures ac pejores extitisse, et si retro nusquam omnino praeceptum est neque conscriptum ut haeretico tantum 1130B manus in poenitentiam imponatur, et sic ei communicetur, et si Baptisma non nisi unum est, quod apud nos est, et intus est, et soli Ecclesiae de divina dignatione concessum est, quae ista obstinatio est, quaeve praesumptio, humanam traditionem divinae dispositioni anteponere, nec animadvertere indignari et irasci Deum quoties divina praecepta solvit et praeterit humana traditio, sicut per Esaiam prophetam clamat et dicit: Populus iste labiis honorificat me, cor vero eorum longe separatum est a me. Sine causa autem colunt me, mandata et doctrinas hominum docentes (Isa. XXIX, 13). Item Dominus in Evangelio increpans similiter et objurgans ponit et dicit: Rejicitis mandatum Dei ut traditionem vestram statuatis (Marc. VII, 13). Cujus praecepti memo, 1130C beatus Apostolus commonet ipse quoque et instruit dicens: Si quis aliter docet, et non acquiescit sanis verbis Domini nostri Jesu Christi et doctrinae ejus, 1131Astupore elatus est, nihil sciens, discede ab hujusmodi (I Tim. VI, 3).

IV. Praeclara sane et legitima traditio, Stephano fratre nostro docente, proponitur, quae auctoritatem nobis idoneam praebeat. Nam in eodem loco epistolae suae addidit et adjecit: cum ipsi haeretici proprie alterutrum ad se venientes non baptizent, sed communicent tantum. Ad hoc enim malorum devoluta est Ecclesia Dei et sponsa Christi ut haereticorum exempla sectetur, ut ad celebranda sacramenta coelestia disciplinam lux de tenebris mutuetur, et id faciant Christiani quod antichristi faciunt. Quae vero est animi caecitas, quae pravitas, fidei unitatem de Deo patre et de Jesu Christi Domini et Dei nostri traditione venientem nolle cognoscere? Nam si idcirco 1131B apud haereticos Ecclesia non est, quia una est et dividi non potest, et si ideo illic Spiritus sanctus non est, quia unus est, et esse apud profanos et extraneos non potest, utique et baptisma, quod in eadem unitate consistit, esse apud haereticos non potest, quia separari neque ab Ecclesia neque a Spiritu Sancto potest.

V. Aut si effectum baptismi majestati nominis tribuunt, ut qui in nomine Jesu Christi ubicumque et quomodocumque baptizantur, innovati et sanctificati judicentur, cur non in ejusdem Christi nomine illic et manus baptizato imponitur ad accipiendum Spiritum sanctum, cur eadem ejusdem majestas nominis non praevalet in manus impositione quam valuisse contendunt in baptismi sanctificatione? Nam si potest 1131C quis extra Ecclesiam natus, templum Dei fieri, cur non possit super templum et Spiritus sanctus infundi? Qui enim peccatis in baptismo expositis sanctificatus est et in novum hominem spiritaliter reformatus, ad accipiendum Spiritum sanctum idoneus factus est, quando Apostolus dicat: Quotquot in Christo baptizati estis, Christum induistis (Gal. III, 27), qui potest apud haereticos baptizatus Christum induere, multo magis potest Spiritum sanctum, quem Christus misit, accipere. Caeterum major erit mittente qui missus est, ut incipiat foris baptizatus Christum quidem induisse, sed Spiritum sanctum 1132A non potuisse percipere; quasi possit aut sine Spiritu Christus indui, aut a Christo Spiritus separari. Illud quoque quam ineptum est, ut cum nativitas secunda spiritalis sit, qua in Christo per lavacrum regenerationis nascimur, dicant quod possit quis apud haereticos spiritaliter nasci, ubi Spiritum negant esse. Peccata enim purgare et hominem sanctificare aqua sola non potest, nisi habeat et Spiritum sanctum. Quare aut Spiritum sanctum necesse est concedant esse illic ubi baptisma esse dicunt, aut nec baptisma est ubi Spiritus sanctus non est, quia baptisma esse sine Spiritu sancto non potest.

VI. Quale est autem asserere et contendere quod esse possint filii Dei qui non sint in Ecclesia nati? Baptisma enim esse in quo homo vetus moritur et 1132B novus nascitur manifestat et probat beatus Apostolus dicens: Servavit nos per lavacrum regenerationis (Tit. III, 5). Si autem in lavacro, id est in Baptismo, est regeneratio, quomodo generare filios Deo haeresis per Christum potest, quae Christi sponsa non est? Ecclesia est enim sola quae Christo conjuncta et adunata spiritaliter filios generat, eodem Apostolo rursus dicente: Christus dilexit Ecclesiam et se ipsum tradidit pro ea ut eam sanctificaret, purgans eam lavacro aquae (Ephes. V, 25, 26). Si igitur haec est dilecta et sponsa quae sola a Christo sanctificatur et lavacro ejus sola purgatur, manifestum est haeresim, quae sponsa Christi non sit, nec purgari nec sanctificari lavacro ejus posse, filios Deo generare non posse.

VII. Porro autem non per manus impositionem 1132C quis nascitur quando accipit Spiritum sanctum, sed in Ecclesiae baptismo, ut Spiritum sanctum jam natus accipiat, sicut in primo homine Adam factum est (Gen. II). Ante enim Deus eum plasmavit, et tunc insufflavit in faciem ejus flatum vitae. Nec enim potest accipi Spiritus, nisi prius fuerit qui accipiat. Cum autem nativitas Christianorum in baptismo sit, Baptismi autem generatio et sanctificatio apud solam sponsam Christi sit, quae parere spiritaliter et generare filios Deo possit, ubi et ex qua et cui natus est qui filius Ecclesiae non est, ut habere quis possit Deum patrem ante Ecclesiam matrem? Cum vero 1133A nulla omnino haeresis, sed neque aliquod schisma habere salutaris baptismi sanctificationem foris possit, cur in tantum Stephani fratris nostri obstinatio dura prorupit ut etiam de Marcionis baptismo, item Valentini et Apelletis, et caeterorum blasphemantium in Deum Patrem contendat filios Deo nasci, et illic in nomine Jesu Christi dicat remissionem peccatorum dari ubi blasphematur in Patrem et in Dominum Deum Christum?

VIII. Quo in loco considerandum est, frater charissime, pro fide et religione loci sacerdotalis, quo fungimur, an constare sacerdoti Dei ratio in die judicii possit asserenti et probanti et in acceptum referenti blasphemantium baptismata, cum Dominus comminetur et dicat: Et nunc praeceptum hoc ad vos est, o sacerdotes, 1133Bsi non audieritis, et si non posueritis in corde vestro ut detis honorem nomini meo, dicit Dominus omnipotens, immittam in vos maledictionem, et maledicam benedictionem vestram (Malach. II, 1, 2). Dat honorem Deo qui Marcionis baptismo communicat? Dat honorem Deo qui apud eos qui in Deum blasphemant remissionem peccatorum dari judicat? Dat honorem Deo qui foris de adultera et fornicaria Deo filios asseverat? Dat honorem Deo qui unitatem et veritatem de divina lege venientem non tenens haereses contra Ecclesiam vindicat? Dat honorem Deo qui haereticorum amicus et inimicus Christianorum sacerdotes Dei veritatem Christi et Ecclesiae unitatem tuentes abstinendos putat? Si sic honor Deo datur, si sic a cultoribus et sacerdotibus ejus Dei timor et 1133C disciplina servatur, abjiciamus arma, manus demus in captivitatem, tradamus diabolo ordinationem Evangelii, dispositionem Christi, majestatem Dei, divinae 1134A militiae sacramenta solvantur, castrorum coelestium signa prodantur, succumbat et cedat Ecclesia haereticis, lux tenebris, fides perfidiae, spes desperationi, ratio errori, immortalitas morti, charitas odio, veritas mendacio, Christus antichristo. Merito et sic in dies singulos schismata et haereses surgunt, crebrius atque uberius excrescunt, et serpentinis crinibus pullulantes adversus Ecclesiam Dei majoribus viribus veneronum suorum virus expromunt, dum illis advocatione quorumdam et auctoritas praestatur et firmitas, dum baptisma eorum defenditur, dum fides, dum veritas proditur, dum id quod contra Ecclesiam foris geritur intus in ipsa Ecclesia vindicatur.

IX. Quod si est apud nos, frater dilectissime, Dei timor, si tenor praevalet fidei, si custodimus Christi 1134B praecepta, si incorruptam atque inviolatam sponsae ejus sanctitatem tuemur, si haerent sensibus et cordibus nostris verba Domini dicentis: Putas cum venerit filius hominis, inveniet fidem in terra (Luc. XVIII, 3)? quia fideles Dei milites, qui Deo fide et religione sincera militamus, commissa nobis divinitus castra fideli virtute servemus. Nec consuetudo quae apud quosdam obrepserat impedire debet quominus veritas praevaleat et vincat. Nam consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est. Propter quod, relicto errore, sequamur veritatem, scientes quia et apud Esdram veritas vincit, sicut scriptum est: Veritas manet et invalescit in aeternum et vivit et obtinet in saecula saeculorum. Nec est apud eam accipere personam nec differentias, sed quae sunt justa facit, nec est in judicio ejus 1134Ciniquum, sed fortitudo, et regnum, et majestas, et potestas omnium saeculorum. Benedictus Dominus Deus veritatis (III Esdr. IV, 34-40). Quam veritatem nobis 1135A Christus ostendens in Evangelio suo dicit: Ego sum veritas (Joan. XIV, 6). Propter quod si in Christo sumus et Christum in nobis habemus, si manemus in veritate, et veritas in nobis manet, ea quae sunt vera et recta teneamus.

X. Fit autem studio praesumptionis et contumaciae ut quis magis sua prava et falsa defendat quam ad alterius recta et vera consentiat. Cui rei prospiciens beatus apostolus Paulus ad Timotheum scribit et monet episcopum non litigiosum, nec contentiosum, sed mitem et docibilem esse debere (II Tim. II, 24). Docibilis autem ille est qui est ad discendi patientiam lenis et mitis. Oportet enim episcopum non tantum docere, sed et discere; quia et ille melius docet qui quotidie crescit et proficit discendo meliora. 1135B Quod ipsum quoque idem apostolus Paulus docet praemonens ut si alii sedenti melius revelatum fuerit, prior taceat (I Cor. XIV, 30). In compendio est autem apud religiosas et simplices mentes et errorem deponere et invenire atque eruere veritatem. Nam si ad divinae traditionis caput et originem revertamur, cessat error humanus, et sacramentorum coelestium ratione perspecta, quicquid sub caligine ac nube tenebrarum obscurum latebat in lucem veritatis aperitur. Si canalis aquam ducens, qui copiose prius et largiter profluebat, subito deficiat, nonne ad fontem pergitur, ut illic defectionis ratio noscatur, utrumne arescentibus venis in capite unda siccaverit, an vero integra inde et plena procurrens in medio itinere destiterit; ut si vitio interrupti aut bibuli canalis effectum est 1135C quo minus aqua continua perseveranter ac jugiter flueret, refecto et confirmato canali ad usum atque ad potum civitatis aqua collecta eadem ubertate atque integritate repraesentetur qua de fonte proficiscitur. Quod et nunc facere oportet Dei sacerdotes praecepta divina servantes, ut si in aliquo nutaverit et vacillaverit veritas, ad originem dominicam et ad 1136A evangelicam atque apostolicam traditionem revertamur, et inde surgat actus nostri ratio, unde et ordo et origo surrexit.

XI. Traditum est enim nobis quod sit unus Deus, et Christus unus, et una spes, et fides una (Ephes. IV, 5), et una Ecclesia, et baptisma unum non nisi in una Ecclesia constitutum; a qua Unitate quisquis dicesserit, cum haereticis necesse est inveniatur; quos dum contra Ecclesiam vindicat, sacramentum divinae traditionis impugnat. Cujus Unitatis sacramentum expressum videmus etiam in Cantico canticorum ex persona Christi dicentis: Hortus conclusus, soror mea, sponsa, fons signatus, puteus aquae vivae, paradisus cum fructu pomorum (Cant. IV, 12, 13). Si autem Ecclesia ejus hortus conclusus est et fons signatus, quomodo 1136B in eumdem hortum introire aut bibere de fonte ejus potest qui in Ecclesia non est? Item Petrus ipse quoque demonstraus et vindicans Unitatem mandavit et monuit nisi per unum solum baptisma unius Ecclesiae salvari nos non posse. In arca, inquit, Noe pauci, id est, octo animae hominum salvae factae sunt per aquam, quod et vos similiter salvos faciet baptisma (I Pet. III, 20, 21). Quam brevi et spiritali compendio unitatis sacramentum manifestavit? Nam ut in illo mundi baptismo, quo iniquitas antiqua purgata est, qui in arca Noe non fuit non potuit per aquam salvatus fieri, ita nec nunc potest per baptismum salvatus videri qui baptizatus in Ecclesia non est, quae ad arcae unius sacramentum dominica unitate fundata est.

1136C XII. Observatur itaque a nobis et tenetur, frater charissime, explorata et perspecta veritate, ut omnes qui ex quacumque haeresi ad Ecclesiam convertuntur, Ecclesiae unico et legitimo baptismo baptizentur, exceptis his qui baptizati in Ecclesia prius fuerant, et sic ad haereticos transierant. Illos enim oportet, cum redeunt, acta poenitentia per manus impositionem 1137A solam recipi et in ovile, unde erraverant, a pastore restitui. Opto te, frater charissime, semper bene valere.