OPTATUS
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OPTATUS
unity of the Church, so impressively asserted by Cypri- an, and considered by him as of paramount importance (iii, 4). He looks upon the see of Kome as its outward manifestation, and entitled as such to the regard and obedience of all. He considers the catholicity of the Church as resulting from its rationality (from an erro- neous derivation from Kara \6yov), and from its spread- ing over the earth (" quod sit rationabilis et ubique dif- fusa," ii, 1). However, he already went farther than Cyprian in considering the holiness of the Church to consist, not in the individual purity of its members, but in the sacraments ("ergo ecclesia una est, cujus sancti- tas de sacramentis colligitur, non de superbia persona- rum ponderatur," ii, 1) — an opinion which we must con- sider as the most important result of the Donatistic controversy. He even denies the possibility of perfect holiness within the Church ; he considers Christ as alone perfect, commanding his disciples to attain to perfection, but not making them perfect (ii, 20). This view stands in close connection with that which he held concerning the relation between free will and grace ; even the Chris- tian, though wining only that wliich is right, yet can put it into practice but to a certain extent ; the final accomplishment is not in man's power, but in God's, be- cause he alone is perfect, and alone capable of perfecting anything (" sed homini non est datum perficere, ut post Bpatia, quae debet homo implere, restet aliquid Deo, ubi deficienti succurrat quia ipse est perfectio," ii, 20). Such declarations coming from the North-African Church show clearly what a change Augustine wrought in the views of the Church. The opinions of Optatus on bap- tism are particularly deserving of notice : since all, even the children of Christian parents, are from their birth animated by an unclean spirit, exorcism must precede baptism, so that the evil spirit depart and make room for the heart to become a temple of God (iv, G). Bap- tism is to be looked upon in two principal aspects, the objective and subjective ; the first is based in the Trin- ity, the second in the faith and profession of the person baptized coinciding with the first. The result of this coincidence is the blessing attached to baptism, spiritual regeneration, by virtue of which God becomes the fa- ther of man, and the Church his mother ("concurrit Trinitati fides credentium et professio — ut dum Trinitas cum fide concordat, qui natus fuerit sfeculo, renascatur spiritaliter Deo; sic fit hominum pater Deus, sancta fit mater ecclesia," ii, 10). The sanctifying efficacy of baptism is independent of the person baptized, who only acts as an operative (nperarius) ; it depends exclusively on the name of the Godhead (" nomen est, quod sancti- ficat, non opus," v, 7), which also is the source whence flows the holy water (" aqua sancta, qua; de trium no- reinum fontibus inundat," v, 3). Baptism performed in the name and through the power of the Trinity confers grace ("baptisma Christianorum, Trinitate confectum, confert gratiam," v, 1) ; this baptism is the vital force of virtue (" virtutum vita"), the death of sin (" crimi- num mors"), the immortal birth ("nativitas immorta- lis"), the acquisition of the kingdom of heaven (" coe- lestis regni comparatio"), the wreck of all sins ('• pecca- torura naufragium," v, 1). Although the expression bapiismvs confert gratiam may at a first glance be thought to indicate that Optatus inclined to the subse- quent Roman Catholic dogma on that subject, we find that he differed widely from it in considering the effi- ciency of the sacrament to be independent of the dis- position of the receiver. Faith (which he considers only as a subjective acquiescence in the Trinitarian creed) is for him not merely a condition for the reception of the grace connected with the sacrament, but a neces- sary, constitutive element of the sacrament itself ("duas enim species video necess. principal, loc. Trin. possidet, sine qua res ipsa non potest geri, banc sequitur fides credentis," V, 4) ; he designates it as the menV of belie vers ("restat jam de credentis merito aliquid dicere, cujus est fides," v, 8) ; he values it the more as Christ consid- ers it as superior to his holiness and majesty (" fidem