Chapter 26.--50. Also another Lucius of Membresa [1830] said: "It is written, God heareth not sinners.' [1831] How can he who is a sinner be heard in baptism?" [1832]
51. We answer: How is the covetous man heard, or the robber, and usurer, and murderer? Are they not sinners? And yet Cyprian, while he finds fault with them in the Catholic Church, yet tolerates them.
[1830] Membresa was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Lucius, see Bk. VI. c. 38.
[1831] John ix. 31.
[1832] Conc. Carth. sec. 62.
Chapter 27.--52. Also another Felix of Buslaceni [1833] said: "In admitting heretics to the Church without baptism, let no one place custom before reason and truth; for reason and truth always exclude custom." [1834]
53. To him our answer is: You do not show the truth; you confess the existence of the custom. We should therefore do right in maintaining the custom which has since been confirmed by a plenary Council, even if the truth were still concealed, which we believe to have been already made manifest.
[1833] Buslaceni (Cussaceni) is probably Byzacium, the capital of province of Byzacium, since we know that it was also called Bizica Lucana; others place it in Africa Proconsularis. For Felix, cp. Bk. VI. cc. 19 and 23.
[1834] Conc. Carth. sec. 63.
Chapter 28.--54. Another Saturninus of Abitini [1835] said: "If Antichrist can give to any one the grace of Christ, then can heretics also baptize, who are called Antichrists." [1836]
55. What if another were to say, If a murderer can give the grace of Christ, then can they also baptize that hate their brethren who are called murderers? For certainly he would seem in a way to speak the truth, and yet they can baptize; in like manner, therefore, can the heretics as well.
[1835] Abitini (Avitini) was in ecclesiastical province of Africa Proconsularis. For Saturninus, cp. cc. 15, 16.
[1836] Conc. Carth. sec. 64.
Chapter 29.--56. Quintus of Aggya [1837] said: "He who has a thing can give it; but what can the heretics give, who are well known to have nothing?" [1838]
57. To him our answer is: If, then, any man can give a thing who has it, it is clear that heretics can give baptism: for when they separate from the Church, they have still the sacrament of washing which they had received while in the Church; for when they return they do not again receive it, because they had not lost it when they withdrew from the Church.
[1837] Aggya, probably the same as Aggiva and the Aga in ecclesiastical province of Proconsular Africa. The name Quintas as bishop occurs in Cypr. Epp lvii., lxvii., lxx., lxxi., but this one is of Mauritania, as appears from Epp lxxii. 1, lxxiii. 1.
[1838] Conc. Carth. sec. 65.
Chapter 30.--58. Another Julianus of Marcelliana [1839] said: "If a man can serve two masters, God and mammon, [1840] then baptism also can serve two, the Christian and the heretic." [1841]
59. Truly, if it can serve the self-restrained and the covetous man, the sober and the drunken, the well-affectioned and the murderer, why should it not also serve the Christian and the heretic?--whom, indeed, it does not really serve; but it ministers to them, and is administered by them, for salvation to those who use it right, and for judgment to such as use it wrong.
[1839] Marcelliana (Gyrnmarcelli) in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
[1840] Matt. vi. 24.
[1841] Conc. Carth. sec. 66.
Chapter 31.--60. Tenax of Horrea Celiæ [1842] said: "There is one baptism, but of the Church; and where the Church is not, there baptism also cannot be." [1843]
61. To him we answer: How then comes it that it may be where the rock is not, but only sand; seeing that the Church is on the rock, and not on sand?
[1842] Horrea Celiæ (Cæliæ) was a village of ecclesiastical province of Byzacium, ten miles north of Hadrumetum. A Tenax is mentioned as bishop in Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
[1843] Conc. Carth. sec. 67.
Chapter 32.--62. Another Victor of Assuras [1844] said: "It is written, that there is one God and one Christ, one Church and one baptism.' [1845] How then can any one baptize in a place where there is not either God, or Christ, or the Church?" [1846]
63. How can any one baptize either in that sand, where the Church is not, seeing that it is on the rock; nor God and Christ, seeing that there is not there the temple of God and Christ?
[1844] Assuras was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Victor, cp. c. 4.
[1845] See Eph. iv. 4-6.
[1846] Conc. Carth. sec. 68.
Chapter 33.--64. Donatulus of Capse [1847] said: "I also have always entertained this opinion, that heretics, who have gained nothing outside the Church, should be baptized when they are converted to the Church." [1848]
65. To this the answer is: They have, indeed, gained nothing outside the Church, but that is nothing towards salvation, not nothing towards the sacrament. For salvation is peculiar to the good; but the sacraments are common to the good and bad alike.
[1847] Capse was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacene. This Donatulus is probably to be identified with the one mentioned Cypr. Ep. lvi.
[1848] Conc. Carth. sec. 69.
Chapter 34.--66. Verulus of Rusiccade [1849] said: "A man that is a heretic cannot give that which he has not; much more is this the case with a schismatic, who has lost what he had." [1850]
67. We have already shown that they still have it, because they do not lose it when they separate themselves. For they do not receive it again when they return: wherefore, if it was thought that they could not give it because they were supposed not to have it, let it now be understood that they can give it, because it is understood that they also have it.
[1849] Rusiccade was at the mouth of the Thapsus, in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
[1850] Conc. Carth. sec. 70.
Chapter 35.--68. Pudentianus of Cuiculi [1851] said: "My recent ordination to the episcopate induced me, brethren, to wait and hear what my elders would decide. For it is plain that heresies have and can have nothing; and so, if any come from them, it is determined righteously that they should be baptized." [1852]
69. As, therefore, we have already answered those who went before, for whose judgment this man was waiting, so be it understood that we have answered himself.
[1851] Cuiculi was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
[1852] Conc. Carth. sec. 71.
Chapter 36.--70. Peter of Hippo Diarrhytus [1853] said: "Since there is one baptism in the Catholic Church, it is clear that a man cannot be baptized outside the Church; and therefore I give my judgment, that those who have been bathed in heresy or in schism ought to be baptized on coming to the Church." [1854]
71. There is one baptism in the Catholic Church, in such a sense that, when any have gone out from it, it does not become two in those who go out, but remains one and the same. What, therefore, is recognized in those who return, should also be recognized in those who received it from men who have separated themselves, since they did not lose it when they went apart into heresy.
[1853] Hippo Diarrhytus (Hippozaritus) was on the coast in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Petrus, cp. Cypr. Ep. lxvii.
[1854] Conc. Carth. sec. 72.
Chapter 37.--72. Likewise another Lucius of Ausafa [1855] said: "According to the motion of my mind and of the Holy Spirit, since there is one God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one Christ, and one hope, one Spirit, one Church, there ought also to be only one baptism. And therefore I say, both that if anything has been set on foot or done among the heretics, that it ought to be rescinded; and also, that they who come out from among the heretics should be baptized in the Church." [1856]
73. Let it therefore be pronounced of no effect that they baptize, who hear the words of God and do them not, when they shall begin to pass from unrighteousness to righteousness, that is, from the sand to the rock. And if this is not done, because what there was in them of Christ was not violated by their unrighteousness, then let this also be understood in the case of heretics: for neither is there the same hope in the unrighteous, so long as they are on the sand, as there is in those who are upon the rock; and yet there is in both the same baptism, although as it is said that there is one hope, so also is it said that there is one baptism.
[1855] Ausafa was in ecclesiastical province of Zeugitana. For Lucius, cp. Bk. VI. cc. 14 and 38, and Bk. VII. c. 26.
[1856] Conc. Carth. sec. 73.
Chapter 38.--74. Felix of Gurgites [1857] said: "I give my judgment, that, according to the precepts of the holy Scriptures, those who have been unlawfully baptized outside the Church by heretics, if they wish to flee to the Church, should obtain the grace of baptism where it is lawfully given." [1858]
75. Our answer is: Let them indeed begin to have in a lawful manner to salvation what they before had unlawfully to destruction; because each man is justified under the same baptism, when he has turned himself to God with a true heart, as that under which he was condemned, when on receiving it he "renounced the world in words alone, and not in deeds."
[1857] Gurgites was in ecclesiastical province of Byzacium. For Felix, cp. Bk. VI. cc. 19, 33, 40; Bk. VII. cc. 10, 28.
[1858] Conc. Carth. sec. 74.
Chapter 39.--76. Pusillus of Lamasba [1859] said: "I believe that baptism is not unto salvation except within the Catholic Church. Whatsoever is without the Catholic Church is mere pretense." [1860]
77. This indeed is true, that "baptism is not unto salvation except within the Catholic Church." For in itself it can indeed exist outside the Catholic Church as well; but there it is not unto salvation, because there it does not work salvation; just as that sweet savor of Christ is certainly not unto salvation in them that perish, [1861] though from a fault not in itself, but in them. But "whatsoever is without the Catholic Church is mere pretense," yet only in so far as it is not Catholic. But there may be something Catholic outside the Catholic Church, just as the name of Christ could exist outside the congregation of Christ, in which name he who did not follow with the disciples was casting out devils. [1862] For there may be pretense also within the Catholic Church, as is unquestionable in the case of those "who renounce the world in words and not in deeds," and yet the pretense is not Catholic. As, therefore, there is in the Catholic Church something which is not Catholic, so there may be something which is Catholic outside the Catholic Church.
[1859] Lamasba was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
[1860] Conc. Carth. sec. 75.
[1861] 2 Cor. ii. 15.
[1862] Mark ix. 38.
Chapter 40.--78. Salvianus of Gazaufala [1863] said: "It is generally known that heretics have nothing; and therefore they come to us, that they may receive what previously they did not have." [1864]
79. Our answer is: On this theory, the very men who founded heresies are not heretics themselves, because they separated themselves from the Church, and certainly they previously had what they received there. But if it is absurd to say that those are not heretics through whom the rest became heretics, it is therefore possible that a heretic should have what turns to his destruction through his evil use of it.
[1863] Gazaufala (Gazophyla) was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia.
[1864] Conc. Carth. sec. 76.
Chapter 41.--80. Honoratus of Tucca [1865] said: "Since Christ is the truth, we ought to follow the truth rather than custom; that we may sanctify by the baptism of the Church the heretics who come to us, simply because they could receive nothing outside." [1866]
81. This man, too, is a witness to the custom, in which he gives us the greatest assistance, whatever else he may appear to say against us. But this is not the reason why heretics come over to us, because they have received nothing outside, but that what they did receive may begin to be of use to them: for this it could not be outside in any wise.
[1865] Tucca (Thucca) was in ecclesiastical province of Numidia. Honoratus occurs as bishop's name in Cypr. Epp. lvii., lxii., lxvii., lxx. bis. The attempts to distinguish or to identify these are hazardous.
[1866] Conc. Carth. sec. 77.
Chapter 42.--82. Victor of Octavus [1867] said: "As ye yourselves also know, I have not been long appointed a bishop, and therefore I waited for the counsel of my seniors. This therefore I express as my opinion, that whosoever comes from heresy should undoubtedly be baptized." [1868]