Chapter 11.—The Ancients Assumed Original Sin.

You see with what confidence this great man expresses himself after the ancient and undoubted rule of faith. In advancing such very certain statements, his object was by help of these firm conclusions to prove the uncertain point which had been submitted to him by his correspondent, and concerning which he informs him that a decree of a council had been passed, to the effect that, if an infant were brought even before the eighth day after his birth, no one should hesitate to baptize him. Now it was not then determined or confirmed by the council that infants were held bound by original sin as if it were new, or as if it were attacked by the opposition of some one; but when another controversy was being conducted, and the question was discussed, in reference to the law of the circumcision of the flesh, whether they ought to be baptized before the eighth day. None agreed with the person who denied this; because it was not an open question admitting of discussion, but was fixed and unassailable, that the soul would forfeit eternal salvation if it ended this life without obtaining the sacrament of baptism: but at the same time infants fresh from the womb were held to be affected only by the guilt of original sin. On this account, although remission of sins was easier in their case, because the sins were derived from another, it was nevertheless indispensable. It was on sure grounds like these that the uncertain question of the eighth day was solved, and the council decided that after a man was born, not a day ought to be lost in rendering him that succour which should prevent his perishing for ever. When also a reason was given for the circumcision of the flesh as being itself a shadow of what was to be, its purport was not that we should understand that baptism ought to be administered on the eighth day after birth, but rather that we are spiritually circumcised in the resurrection of Christ, who rose from the dead on the third day, indeed, after His passion, but among the days of the week, by which time is counted, on the eighth, that is, on the first day after the Sabbath.

11. Vides quanta fiducia ex antiqua et indubitata fidei regula vir tantus ista loquatur? Qui haec documenta certissima ideo protulit, ut illud quod erat incertum, unde consuluerat ille cui rescribit, et unde concilii decretum constitutum esse commemorat, ut scilicet etiam ante octavum diem ex quo die natus esset infans, eum, si afferretur, baptizare nemo dubitaret, per haec firmamenta probaretur. Neque enim hoc tunc quasi novum aut quasi aliqua cujusquam contradictione pulsatum, concilio statuebatur seu firmabatur, quod obstricti originali peccato tenerentur infantes: sed cum illic alia consultatio versaretur, et disceptaretur, propter legem carnalis circumcisionis, utrum eos et ante octavum diem baptizare oporteret; ideo ei qui hoc negabat, nemo consensit, quia 0192 jam non consulendum nec disceptandum , sed firmum certumque habebatur, animam saluti aeternae perituram, si hanc vitam sine illius Sacramenti consecutione finiret: quamvis ab utero recentissimi parvuli solo reatu essent peccati originalis obstricti: quare illis etsi multo facilior, quod alienorum, sed tamen esset necessaria remissio peccatorum. His certis illa incerta de octavo die quaestio dissoluta est, atque in concilio judicatum, homini nato, ne in aeternum pereat, omni die debere succurri : cum etiam de ipsa carnali circumcisione ratio redderetur, quod umbra esset futuri: non quo intelligeremus etiam Baptismum octavo ex quo natus est homo die dari oportere, sed nos in Christi resurrectione spiritualiter circumcidi, qui tertio quidem post diem passionis, in diebus tamen hebdomadarum, quibus tempora provolvuntur, octavo, hoc est, post sabbatum primo die a mortuis resurrexit.