Letters & Polemics (CSEL) 25 part 11/16

For let someone tell me how those crept into the enclosed garden and the sealed fountain whom Cyprian testifies to have renounced the world in words alone and not in deeds, and yet to have been within. For if they too are there, they too are the spouse of Christ. Is that spouse then really such, without spot or wrinkle, and is that beautiful dove disfigured by such a part of her members? Or are these the thorns, in the midst of which is she who is like the lily, as is said in the same Song?

In so far therefore as she is a lily, in so far also is she an enclosed garden and a sealed fountain — namely in those just ones who are Jews in secret, by the circumcision of the heart (for all the beauty of the king's daughter is from within) — in whom there is a certain number of the saints, predestined before the foundation of the world. But that multitude of thorns, by hidden or open separations, lies adjacent on the outside, over and above the number. I have declared, He says, and I have spoken: they are multiplied above number. That number therefore of the just who are called according to His purpose, of whom it is said, The Lord knows those who are His — that is the enclosed garden, the sealed fountain, the well of living water, the paradise with the fruit of apple-trees.

Out of this number certain persons live spiritually and enter upon the surpassing way of charity, and, when they instruct in the spirit of gentleness a man overtaken in some fault, they take heed lest they too be tempted; and when perchance they too are overtaken, the affection of charity is somewhat repressed in them, yet not extinguished, and, rising up again and blazing up, is restored to its former course. For they know how to say: My soul has slumbered for weariness: strengthen me in Your words. But when they hold some view otherwise, this too God will reveal to them, so long as they remain in the ardour of charity and do not break the bond of peace.

But certain others, still carnal and animal, diligently pursue their own advancement, and, that they may become fit for the food of spiritual things, are nourished with the milk of the holy mysteries; those things which, even by common judgment, are manifest in depraved conduct they shun in the fear of God, and they take the most watchful care that they may take less and less delight in earthly and temporal things; the rule of faith, carefully sought out, they hold most firmly, and if they deviate at all from it, they are quickly corrected by catholic authority, although in its words, for want of a carnal understanding, they still waver amid the various collisions of phantasms. There are also certain ones of that number who still live wickedly, or even lie in heresies or in the superstitions of the gentiles, and yet even there the Lord knows those who are his.

For in that ineffable foreknowledge of God many who seem to be outside are within, and many who seem to be within are outside. From all those, therefore, who, so to speak, are inwardly and secretly within, is constituted that enclosed garden, that sealed fountain, that well of living water, that paradise with the fruit of apples. Of the gifts granted to these from on high, some are proper to them—as in this present time an untiring charity, and in the age to come eternal life—but some are common to them with the evil and the perverse, as are all the rest, among which are also the most sacred mysteries. Hence, then, a consideration now easier and readier is set before us of that ark of which Noah was the builder and pilot. For Peter says:

In Noah's ark few, that is, eight souls of men, were saved by water. This also in a like figure baptism now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience. Wherefore, if there appear among men baptized in catholic unity those who renounce the world by words only and not by deeds, how do they belong to the mystery of this ark, in whom there is not the answer of a good conscience? Or how are they saved by water, who, using holy baptism wrongly, though they seem to be within, persevere to the very end of life in shameful and abandoned conduct?

Or how are those not saved by water whom Cyprian himself records as having been admitted into the Church without further ado, with that very baptism which they had received in heresy? For the same unity of the ark saved them, in which no one is saved except through water. For he himself says: The Lord is able in his mercy to grant indulgence, and not to separate from the gifts of his Church those who, having been simply admitted into the Church, fell asleep in the Church. If not through water, how in the ark? If not in the ark, how in the Church? But if in the Church, then assuredly in the ark; and if in the ark, then assuredly through water.

It can happen, therefore, that certain persons baptized outside are, through the foreknowledge of God, more truly reckoned as baptized within, because there the water begins to profit them unto salvation—for otherwise they cannot be said to have been made safe in the ark except through water—and again, that certain persons who seemed to be baptized within are, through the same foreknowledge of God, more truly reckoned as baptized outside. For those who use baptism wrongly die through the water, which then happened to none save him who was outside the ark.

Certainly it is manifest that what is said about being within and without in the Church must be understood of the heart, not of the body, since all who are within in heart are saved in the unity of the ark by that same water through which all who are without in heart—whether they be also without in body or not—die as enemies of unity. Therefore, just as it was not another but the same water that both saved those placed within the ark and destroyed those placed outside the ark, so it is not by another but by the same baptism that both good catholics are saved and evil catholics or heretics perish.

But what the most blessed Cyprian thinks concerning the catholic Church, and how by his authority the heretics are utterly crushed—although I have already said much—I have nevertheless resolved to speak of separately, if it please the Lord, somewhat more fully and more plainly, after I have first said concerning his council what I think ought to be said by me. This, God willing, I shall undertake in the following volume. BOOK SIX.

It might perhaps already suffice that, with reasonings so often repeated and handled and treated in manifold disputation, with documents of the divine Scriptures also adjoined and with so many testimonies of Cyprian himself lending support, even those slower in heart now understand, as I judge, that the baptism of Christ can be violated by no perversity of man, whether of the one giving or of the one receiving it.

And it was for no other reason, in those times when this question was being discussed against a useful custom by those disputing—while charity and unity were preserved—that it seemed to certain men, even excellent men, bishops of Christ, among whom the blessed Cyprian pre-eminently stood out, that the baptism of Christ could not exist among heretics or schismatics, except that the sacrament was not distinguished from the effect or use of the sacrament; and because its effect and use, in the liberation from sins and rectitude of heart, was not found among heretics, the sacrament itself was thought not to be there.

But when they turned their eyes to the multitude of chaff within, since even these, who in that very unity are perverse and live wickedly, appear neither to be able to give nor to have the remission of sins—because it was said not to the malignant but to the good sons:

If you remit anyone's sins, they shall be remitted him; if you retain anyone's, they shall be retained—yet that they do nonetheless have and give and receive the sacrament of baptism shone forth clearly enough to the pastors of the catholic Church spread throughout the whole world, through whom afterward, by the authority of a plenary council, the original custom was confirmed: namely, that even the sheep which was straying outside and had received the Lord's mark from its deceitful plunderers outside, when it comes to the salvation of Christian unity, is corrected from its error, is freed from captivity, is healed from its wound, yet the Lord's mark in it is to be acknowledged rather than disapproved—since that very mark is impressed by many both wolves and upon wolves, who indeed seem to be within, yet are convicted by the fruits of their conduct as not belonging to that sheep which is also one out of many, in which conduct they persist to the very end; because, according to the foreknowledge of God, just as many sheep stray outside, so many wolves lie in wait within.

Among whom nevertheless the Lord knows those who are his, who do not hear a voice except the shepherd's, even when he cries out through men like the Pharisees, of whom it was said: What they say, do. For just as a spiritual man, having the end of the commandment—that is, charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith—may, on account of the body which is still being corrupted and weighs down the soul, discern something less clearly and have a different understanding of what God, when he wills, will reveal to him abiding in that same charity, so in a carnal and perverse man some good and useful thing may be found which is from elsewhere, not from himself.

For as in a fruitful branch there is found something that must be pruned, that it may bear greater fruit, so also on a barren and dry reed, or on one tied up, a grape cluster is wont to hang. And therefore, just as it is foolish to love the prunings of a fruitful branch, while he acts fittingly who does not reject sweet fruits wherever they hang, so whoever, cut off from unity, rebaptizes for this reason—because it seemed to Cyprian that those coming from heretics ought to be baptized again—turns away in so great a man from what is praiseworthy and follows what ought to be corrected, and does not even attain those very things which he follows. For that man, while in zeal for God he gravely detested those who had separated themselves from unity, judged them to be separated even from baptism itself;

but these men, thinking it but a small wickedness that they themselves are separated from the unity of Christ, contend that his baptism also is not there and has departed with them. So far, then, are they from the fruitfulness of Cyprian that they are not even equal to his prunings. Likewise, whoever, not having charity and entering upon the abandoned ways of the worst conduct, seems to be within while he is without, and does not repeat the baptism of Christ even among heretics—his barrenness is in no way helped by the fact that he is not made fruitful by his own fruit, but is burdened with another's. And it can happen that someone flourishes in the root of charity, and in the very matter in which Cyprian thought otherwise judges most rightly, and yet in Cyprian there are more fruitful things than in this man, and in this man more things to be pruned than in Cyprian.

And so we not only in no way compare evil catholics, but do not easily even equate good ones with the blessed Cyprian, whom holy Mother Church numbers among the rare and few men of most excellent grace—although these men acknowledge the baptism of Christ even among heretics, while to him it seemed otherwise, in order that through him, seeing something less yet abiding most firmly in unity, it might be more plainly shown to the heretics by what a sacrilegious crime the bond of peace was broken. For neither were the blind Pharisees, although sometimes saying what ought to be done, to be compared to the apostle Peter, although sometimes saying what ought not to be done.

But not only is the dryness of these men not to be set beside his greenness, but neither is the fruit of others to be equated with his abundance. For no one now compels the gentiles to judaize, nor yet on that account is anyone now in the Church, however much he has advanced, to be compared to the apostolate of Peter. Wherefore, rendering due reverence and paying fitting honor as far as I am able to the peaceable bishop and glorious martyr Cyprian, I nevertheless dare to say that he thought otherwise concerning the baptizing of schismatics or heretics than the truth afterward disclosed—not from my own opinion, but from the judgment of the universal Church, strengthened and confirmed by the authority of a plenary council;

just as, venerating Peter according to his merit as the first of the apostles and the most eminent of martyrs, I nevertheless dare to say that he did not act rightly in that he compelled the gentiles to judaize. For this too I say not from my own opinion, but from the salutary doctrine of the apostle Paul, retained and preserved throughout the universal Church.

Disputing therefore concerning the opinion of Cyprian, though placed far beneath the merits of Cyprian, I say that the sacrament of baptism can be had, given, and received by both the good and the evil—by the good indeed profitably and healthfully, but by the evil perniciously and to their punishment—yet with this proviso, that in both it is equally intact, and that it makes no difference to its equal integrity in all cases how much worse a man may possess it among the evil, just as it makes no difference how much better a man may possess it among the good. And through this it likewise makes no difference how much worse a man may deliver it, just as it makes no difference how much better; and thus it makes no difference how much worse a man may receive it, just as it makes no difference how much better.

For that thing, by itself, both in those who are not equally just and in those who are not equally unjust, is equally holy. But that evil men, in no way changed for the better, have baptism and deliver and receive it, we have, as I judge, sufficiently demonstrated both from the canonical Scriptures and from the very letters of Cyprian.

That these men do not belong to the holy Church of God, although they seem to be within, appears most plainly from this: that they are the covetous, robbers, usurers, envious, malicious, and other such kinds—whereas that dove is unique, chaste and pure, a bride without spot or wrinkle, an enclosed garden, a sealed fountain, a paradise with the fruit of apples, and the other things which are likewise said of her—which is not understood except in the good and holy and just: that is, not only according to the operations of God's gifts common to good and evil, but also according to that inmost and pre-eminent charity, in those having the Holy Spirit, to whom the Lord says: If you remit anyone's sins, they shall be remitted him, and if you retain anyone's, they shall be retained.

And through this, nothing suitable can be said as to why an evil man cannot also deliver baptism, who can have it, and just as he has it perniciously so also can deliver it perniciously—not because he delivers something of such a kind, nor because such a man delivers it, but because he delivers it to such a man. For when an evil man delivers it to a good man—that is, to one changed by a true conversion within the bond of unity—between the good sacrament which is delivered and the good faithful man to whom it is delivered, the malice of the one delivering is overcome. And when that man, truly converted to God, has his sins remitted, they are remitted by those to whom he is joined by that very true conversion. For the same Holy Spirit remits them, who is given to all the saints cleaving to one another in charity, whether they know one another bodily or do not know one another.

Similarly, when anyone's sins are retained, they are assuredly retained by those from whom the one whose sins are retained separates himself by dissimilarity of life and aversion of a depraved heart, whether they know him bodily or do not know him. Wherefore all the evil are spiritually severed from the good; but if they are also separated bodily by open dissension, they become worse. Yet, as has been said, it makes no difference to the holiness of baptism how much worse anyone possesses it and to how much worse a man he delivers it. Nevertheless a separated man can deliver it, just as a separated man can have it, but as perniciously to deliver as to have.

But he to whom it is delivered can receive it healthfully, if he himself receives it not separated—as happens to very many, that with a catholic mind and heart, not alienated from the unity of peace, under some necessity of pressing death they rushed upon some heretic and received from him the baptism of Christ without his perversity, and whether they died or were delivered they in no way remained among those to whom in heart they had never crossed over. But if he himself also, being separated, receives it, he receives it so much the more perniciously, the more good is that which he does not receive well, and it avails so much the more to the destruction of the separated man, the more it could avail to the salvation of the one joined.

And therefore, if, corrected from that perversity and converted from separation, he comes to catholic peace, under the same baptism which he had received his sins will be remitted on account of the bond of charity—under which same baptism his sins were being retained on account of the sacrilege of division—because that thing is always holy both in a just man and in an unjust man, being neither increased by anyone's righteousness nor diminished by anyone's iniquity. Since these things are so, what now hinders this manifest truth, that many fellow-bishops consented to Cyprian in that opinion and set forth their own opinions agreeing with the same—except that the charity of that man toward the unity of Christ may be made more and more known?

For if, holding these views alone with no one consenting, he had remained by himself, he might have seemed on that account to have grown cold from the crime of schism, because he found no associates of his error. But with so many consenting to him, the fact that he remained in unity with the rest who thought differently shows that he preserved the most holy bond of catholic universality not from fear of solitude, but from love of peace. Wherefore it might now indeed seem superfluous to review the individual opinions of the other bishops of that council also.

But since those slower in heart do not think it an answer if, to some passage of anyone's discourse, a reply is given not there but elsewhere, which could also be applied to that place, they are much better worn down by reading, that they may be sharpened, than they complain through understanding too little, that they may be refuted. First, therefore, we recall for reconsideration Cyprian's own address, by which is indicated a peaceable soul overflowing with the abundance of charity, from which the council itself begins.

You have heard, he says, most beloved colleagues, what our fellow-bishop Jubaianus has written to me, consulting our mediocrity concerning the unlawful and profane baptism of heretics, and what I have written back to him, judging, namely, what we have once and again and often judged, that heretics coming to the Church ought to be baptized and sanctified with the baptism of the Church. Likewise there have been read to you also other letters of Jubaianus, in which, according to his sincere and religious devotion, writing back to our letter, he not only consented but also gave thanks that he had been instructed. It remains that on this very matter we each set forth what we think, judging no one, nor removing anyone from the right of communion if he should think differently.

For none of us sets himself up as a bishop of bishops, or by tyrannical terror compels his colleagues to the necessity of obedience, since every bishop, by the license of his liberty and power, has his own judgment, and can no more be judged by another than he himself can judge another. But let us all await the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone and singly has the power both of setting us over the governance of his Church and of judging concerning our acts.

Now sufficiently, as I judge, we have in the preceding books disputed—as far as we could—not only against the letter which he wrote to Jubaianus, but also against that which he gave to Quintus, and that which with certain colleagues he sent to certain colleagues, and that which he sent to Pompeius, on behalf of the universality of catholic agreement and of the council, in whose unity these men remained as pious members. Wherefore it now seems opportune to consider what the rest also individually judged, with that liberty which he himself did not take away from us, saying: judging no one, nor removing anyone from the right of communion if he should think differently.

That he did not say this for the purpose of catching, with such assurance, the silent thoughts of his colleagues as though dug out from a hidden place, but because he truly loved peace and unity, is most easy to see from other similar passages, where he writes to individuals, as to Jubaianus himself: These things, he says, we have written back to you most briefly according to our mediocrity, dearest brother, prescribing to no one nor prejudging, so that each of the bishops may do what he thinks, having the free power of his own judgment. And lest anyone, if with this same free power he should think differently, might seem to be one who ought to be driven from the fellowship of the rest, he continues and says:

As for us, as far as it lies in us, we do not contend on account of heretics with our colleagues and fellow-bishops, with whom we hold divine concord and the Lord's peace. And a little after: There is preserved by us, he says, patiently and gently, charity of soul, the honor of the collegium, the bond of faith, the concord of the priesthood. So too in the letter which he wrote to Magnus, when it was asked concerning the baptism of those dipped and those merely poured over, whether there was any difference: In which matter, he says, our modesty and reserve prejudges no one, so that each may think what he shall have thought and do what he shall have thought.

From which words of his it sufficiently appears that at that time these matters were being handled by them, when, not yet declared, they were being drawn in without ambiguity resolved, but, still shut up, were being sought out with great effort.

We therefore, now holding the custom of the universal Church—strengthened even by universal councils—concerning the simplicity of baptism to be acknowledged everywhere, and having received from the words of Cyprian a greater confidence, by which even then it would be permitted me, with the right of communion preserved, to think differently, with unity indeed preferred and praised, such as the blessed Cyprian and his colleagues, who with him held that council, maintained together with those thinking differently—driving off and overthrowing the seditious calumnies of heretics and schismatics, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who speaking through his apostle says: Bearing with one another in love, being eager to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, through whom he also says:

If in anything you are otherwise minded, this too God will reveal to you—we approach the consideration and thorough discussion of the opinions of the holy bishops, with the bond of unity and peace preserved with them, in retaining which, as far as the Lord himself helps us, we imitate them. Caecilius of Bilta said: I know one baptism in the Church alone, and outside the Church none. Here there will be one, where hope is null and faith certain. For thus it is written:

One faith, one hope, one baptism—not among heretics, where hope is null and faith false, where all things are done through falsehood, where a demoniac exorcizes, where one whose mouth and words emit a cancer administers the sacrament, where an unbeliever gives faith, where a wicked man bestows pardon of sins, and in the name of Christ an antichrist baptizes, one cursed by God blesses, a dead man promises life, an unpeaceable man gives peace, a blasphemer invokes God, a profane man administers the priesthood, a sacrilegious man sets up the altar. To all these there is added also this evil, that the bishop of the devil dares to make the eucharist. Or let those who stand by them say that these things are false. Concerning heretics.

Behold to what things the Church is forced to consent, and is compelled to communicate without baptism and pardon of sins! This thing, brethren, we ought to flee and avoid, and to separate ourselves from so great a crime, and to hold the one baptism which has been granted by God to the Church alone.

To these things I reply: since whoever, even within, confesses that he knows God but denies him by his deeds—such as are the covetous and the envious, and those who, on account of hatred of a brother, are called murderers, not by my testimony but by that of the holy apostle John—and they have no hope, because they bear an evil conscience, and are faithless, because they do not do what they vowed to God, and are liars, because they profess falsely, and are demoniacs, because they give place to the devil and his angels in their own heart, and their words work rottenness, since they corrupt good morals by evil conversations, and are unbelievers, since they mock at what God threatens against such, and are wicked, because they live nefariously, and are antichrists, because their morals are opposed to Christ, and are cursed by God,

because everywhere holy Scripture execrates such men; and are dead, because they lack the life of righteousness; and are unpeaceable, because by contrary deeds they clash with the word of God; and are blasphemers, because by their abandoned acts the Christian name is disparaged; and are profane, because they are spiritually shut out from that inner sanctuary of God; and are sacrilegious, because in their very selves they corrupt the temple of God by living wickedly; and are bishops of the devil, because they serve fraud and avarice, which is idolatry.

But that some such men—nay, very many—exist even within, both the apostle Paul and bishop Cyprian bear witness. Why then do these baptize? Why also do certain ones, who renounce the world by words and not by deeds, get baptized while unchanged from such conduct, and, when they are changed, are not rebaptized? Now indeed, as to his indignation, when he says: Behold to what things the Church is forced to consent, and is compelled to communicate without baptism and pardon of sins—unless there were other bishops who compelled others to these things, he assuredly would not say it. Whence it is shown that even then those thought more truly who did not withdraw from the ancient custom, which was afterward confirmed by the universality of the council. But what is it that he adds and says:

This thing, brethren, we ought to flee and avoid, and to separate ourselves from so great a crime? For if he says this in such a way that he neither does these things nor approves them, it is one matter; but if he says it so as to condemn and segregate first those who think differently, he resists the words of Cyprian in which he says: judging no one, nor removing anyone from the right of communion if he should think differently. To the things which Felix of Misgirpa said, we say this: If there were not one and true baptism except in the Church, it would assuredly not be in those who depart from unity. But it is in them; for they do not receive it anew upon returning for any other reason than that they had not lost it upon departing. But as to what he says: for the things which are performed outside have no effect of salvation—I consent and believe it to be altogether true.