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Church. For the Holy Spirit is not only given ously bewailed? For birds of prey, I believe, by the laying on of hands amid the testimony cannot be called doves, but rather hawks. of temporal sensible miracles, as He was given How then did they baptize those who used to in former days to be the credentials of a plunder estates by treacherous deceit, and inrudimentary faith, and for the extension of crease their profits by compound usury, if the first beginnings of the Church. For who baptism is only given by that indivisible and expects in these days that those on whom chaste and perfect dove, that unity which can hands are laid that they may receive the Holy only be understood as existing among the Spirit should forthwith begin to speak with good? Is it possible that, by the prayers of tongues? but it is understood that invisibly the saints who are spiritual within the Church, and imperceptibly, on account of the bond of as though by the frequent lamentations of the peace, divine love is breathed into their hearts, dove, a great sacrament is dispensed, with a so that they may be able to say, "Because secret administration of the mercy of God, so the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts that their sins also are loosed who are bapby the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." tized, not by the dove but by the hawk, if But there are many operations of the Holy they come to that sacrament in the peace of Spirit, which the same apostle commemorates Catholic unity? But if this be so, why should in a certain passage at such length as he it not also be the case that, as each man comes thinks sufficient, and then concludes: "But from heresy or schism to the Catholic peace, all these worketh that one and the selfsame his sins should be loosed through their Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He prayers? But the integrity of the sacrament. will." Since, then, the sacrament is one is everywhere recognized, though it will not thing, which even Simon Magus could have; avail for the irrevocable remission of sins outand the operation of the Spirit is another side the unity of the Church. Nor will the thing, which is even often found in wicked prayers of the saints, or, in other words, the men, as Saul had the gift of prophecy; and groanings of that one dove, be able to help that operation of the same Spirit is a third one who is set in heresy or schism; just as thing, which only the good can have, as "the they are not able to help one who is placed end of the commandment is charity out of a within the Church, if by a wicked life he himpure heart, and of a good conscience, and of self retain the debts of his sins against himself, faith unfeigned:" whatever, therefore, may and that though he be baptized, not by this be received by heretics and schismatics, the hawk, but by the pious ministry of the dove charity which covereth the multitude of sins herself. is the especial gift of Catholic unity and peace; nor is it found in all that are within that bond, since not all that are within it are of it, as we shall see in the proper place. At any rate, outside the bond that love cannot exist, without which all the other requisites, even if they can be recognized and approved, cannot profit or release from sin. But the laying on of hands in reconciliation to the Church is not, like baptism, incapable of repetition; for what is it more than a prayer offered over a man? 5

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CHAP. 18.-23. "As my Father hath sent me," says our Lord, "even so send I you. And what He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.", Therefore, if they represented the Church, and this was said to them as to the Church herself, it follows that the peace of the Church looses sins, and estrangement from the Church retains them, not according to the will of men, but according to the will of God and the prayers of the saints who are spiritual, who "judge all things, but themselves are judged of no man.” 10 For the rock retains, the rock remits; the dove retains, the dove remits; unity retains, unity remits. But the peace of this unity exists only in the good, in those who are either already spiritual, or are advancing by the obedience of concord to spiritual things; it exists not in the bad, whether they make disturbances abroad, or are endured within the Church with lamenta

tions, baptizing and being baptized. But just CHAP. 19.-25. They indeed who say that as those who are tolerated with groanings baptism is not to be repeated, because only within the Church, although they do not be- hands were laid on those whom Philip the long to the same unity of the dove, and to deacon had baptized," are saying what is quite that "glorious Church, not having spot or beside the point; and far be it from us, in wrinkle, or any such thing," yet if they are seeking the truth, to use such arguments as corrected, and confess that they approached this. Wherefore we are all the further from to baptism most unworthily, are not baptized" yielding to heretics," if we deny that what again, but begin to belong to the dove, through they possess of Christ's Church is their own whose groans those sins are remitted which property, and do not refuse to acknowledge were retained in them who were estranged the standard of our General because of the from her peace; so those also who are more crimes of deserters; nay, all the more because openly without the Church, if they have re-" the Lord our God is a jealous God," let us ceived the same sacraments, are not freed refuse, whenever we see anything of His with from their sins on coming, after correction, an alien, to allow him to consider it his own. to the unity of the Church, by a repetition of For of a truth the jealous God Himself rebaptism, but by the same law of charity and bukes the woman who commits fornication bond of unity. For if "those only may bap- against Him, as the type of an erring people, tize who are set over the Church, and estab- and says that she gave to her lovers what belished by the law of the gospel and ordination longed to Him, and again received from them as appointed by the Lord," were they in any what was not theirs but His. In the hands wise of this kind who seized on estates by of the adulterous woman and the adulterous treacherous frauds, and increased their gains lovers, God in His wrath, as a jealous God, by compound interest? I trow not, since those recognizes His gifts; and do we say that bapare established by ordination as appointed of tism, consecrated in the words of the gospel, the Lord, of whom the apostle, in giving them belongs to heretics? and are we willing, from a standard, says, "Not greedy, not given to consideration of their deeds, to attribute to filthy lucre." 2 Yet men of this kind used to them even what belongs to God, as though baptize in the time of Cyprian himself; and they had the power to pollute it, or as though he confesses with many lamentations that they could make what is God's to be their they were his fellow-bishops, and endures own, because they themselves have refused them with the great reward of tolerance. Yet to belong to God? did they not confer remission of sins, which is granted through the prayers of the saints, that is, the groans of the dove, whoever it be that baptizes, if those to whom it is given belong to her peace. For the Lord would not say to robbers and usurers, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted to him; and whose soever sins ye retain, they shall be retained. Outside the Church, indeed, nothing can be either bound or loosed, since there there is no one who can either bind or loose;" but he is loosed who has made peace with the dove, and he is bound who is not at peace with the dove, whether he is openly without, or appears to be within.

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26. Who is that adulterous woman whom the prophet Hosea points out, who said, "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, and everything that befits me?" Let us grant that we may understand this also of the people of the Jews that went astray; yet whom else are the false Christians (such as are all heretics and schismatics) wont to imitate, except false Israelites? For there were also true Israelites, as the Lord Himself bears witness to Nathanael, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' But who are true Christians, save those of whom the same Lord said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me?" But what is it to keep His commandments, except to abide in love? Whence also He says, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another;" and again, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." 12 But who can doubt that this was spoken not only to those

6 Acts viii 5-17.

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7 Because Cyprian, in his letter to Jubaianus (Ep. lxxiii. 10), had urged as following from this, that "there is no reason, dearest brother, why we should think it right to yield to heretics that bap tism which was granted to the one and only Church. 8 Deut. iv. 24. 9 Hos. 11. 5, cp. LXX. 10 John i. 47.

11 John xiv. 21.

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John xiii. 34, 35

wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." But what is it to purge oneself from such as these, except what he said just before, "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." And lest any one should think that, as being in one great house with them, he might perish with such as these, he has most carefully forewarned them, "The Lord knoweth them that are His,"-those, namely, who, by departing from iniquity, purge themselves from the vessels made to dishonor, lest they should perish with them whom they are compelled to tolerate in the great house.

who heard His words with their fleshly ears when He was present with them, but also to those who learn His words through the gospel, when He is sitting on His throne in heaven? For He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill. But the fulfilling of the law is love. And in this Cyprian abounded greatly, insomuch that though he held a different view concerning baptism, he yet did not forsake the unity of the Church, and was in the Lord's vine a branch firmly rooted, bearing fruit, which the heavenly Husbandman purged with the knife of suffering, that it should bear more fruit. But the enemies of this brotherly love, whether they are openly without, or appear to be within, are false Christians, and antichrists. For when they have found an opportunity, they go out, as it is written: "A man wishing to separate him- 27. They, therefore, who are wicked, evilself from his friends, seeketh opportunities." doers, carnal, fleshly, devilish, think that they But even if occasions are wanting, while they receive at the hands of their seducers what seem to be within, they are severed from that are the gifts of God alone, whether sacrainvisible bond of love. Whence St. John ments, or any spiritual workings about present says, "They went out from us, but they were salvation. But these men have not love tonot of us; for had they been of us, they wards God, but are busied about those by would no doubt have continued with us. "'s whose pride they are led astray, and are comHe does not say that they ceased to be of us pared to the adulterous woman, whom the by going out, but that they went out because prophet introduces as saying, “I will go after they were not of us. The Apostle Paul also my lovers, that give me my bread and my speaks of certain men who had erred concern- water, my wool and my flax, and my oil, and ing the truth, and were overthrowing the faith everything that befits me." For thus arise of some; whose word was eating as a canker. heresies and schisms, when the fleshly people Yet in saying that they should be avoided, he which is not founded on the love of God says, nevertheless intimates that they were all in "I will go after my lovers," with whom, either one great house, but as vessels to dishonor, by corruption of her faith, or by the puffing -I suppose because they had not as yet gone up of her pride, she shamefully commits adulout. Or if they had already gone out, how tery. But for the sake of those who, having can he say that they were in the same great undergone the difficulties, and straits, and house with the honorable vessels, unless it barriers of the empty reasoning of those by was in virtue of the sacraments themselves, whom they are led astray, afterwards feel the which even in the severed meetings of heretics prickings of fear, and return to the way of are not changed, that he speaks of all as be- peace, to seeking God in all sincerity,-for longing to the same great house, though in their sake He goes on to say, "Therefore, different degrees of esteem, some to honor behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and some to dishonor? For thus he speaks and make a wall, that she shall not find her in his Epistle to Timothy: "But shun pro- paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, fane and vain babblings; for they will increase but she shall not overtake them; and she unto more ungodliness. And their word will shall seek them, but she shall not find them: eat as doth a canker; of whom is Hymenæus then shall she say, I will go and return to my and Philetus; who concerning the truth have first husband; for then was it better with me erred, saying that the resurrection is past al- than now." Then, that they may not attribute ready; and overthrow the faith of some. to their seducers what they have that is sound, Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth and derived from the doctrine of truth, by firm, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of

which they lead them astray to the falseness of their own dogmas and dissensions; that they may not think that what is sound in the m belongs to them, he immediately added, “And she did not know that I gave her corn, and

her fornication, yet those things wherewith she adorned it, whether as seduced or in her turn seducing, belonged not to her, but to God. If these things were spoken in a figure of the Jewish nation, when the scribes and Pharisees were rejecting the commandment of God in order to set up their own traditions, so that they were in a manner committing whoredom with a people which was abandoning their God; and yet for all that, whoredom at that time among the people, such as the Lord brought to light by convicting it, did not cause that the mysteries should belong to them, which were not theirs but God's, who, in speaking to the adulteress, says that all these things were His; whence the Lord Himself also sent those whom He cleansed from leprosy to the same mysteries, that they should offer sacrifice for themselves before the priests, because that sacrifice had not become efficacious for them, which He Himself afterwards wished to be commemorated in the Church for all of them, because He Himself proclaimed the tidings to them all;—if this be so, how much the more ought we, when we find the sacraments of the New Testament among certain heretics or schismatics, not to attribute them to these men, nor to condemn them, as though we could not recognize them? We ought to recognize the gifts of the true husband, though in the possession of an adulteress, and to amend, by the word of truth, that whoredom which is the true possession of the unchaste woman, instead of finding fault with the gifts, which belong entirely to the pitying Lord.

wine, and oil, and multiplied her money; but to have had them, and that not as belonging she made vessels of gold and silver for Baal." "to herself or her lovers, but to God, whose For she had said above, "I will go after my alone they are. Although, therefore, she had lovers, that give me my bread," etc., not at all understanding that all this, which was held soundly and lawfully by her seducers, was of God, and not of men. Nor would even they themselves claim these things for themselves, and as it were assert a right in them, had not they in turn been led astray by a people which had gone astray, when faith is reposed in them, and such honors are paid to them, that they should be enabled thereby to say such things, and claim such things for themselves, that their error should be called truth, and their iniquity be thought righteousness, in virtue of the sacraments and Scriptures, which they hold, not for salvation, but only in appearance. Accordingly, the same adulterous woman is addressed by the mouth of Ezekiel: "Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them; and tookest my broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before thine idols for a sweet savor: and this thou hast done."3 For she turns all the sacraments, and the words of the sacred books, to the images of her own idols, with which her carnal mind delights to wallow. Nor yet, because those images are false, and the doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, are those sacraments and divine utterances therefore so to lose their due honor, as to be thought to belong to such as these; seeing that the Lord says," Of my gold, and my silver, and my broidered garments, and mine oil, and mine incense, and my meat," and so forth. Ought we, because those erring ones think that these things belong to their seducers, therefore not to recognize whose they really are, when He Himself says, "And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her money"? For He did not say that she did not have these things because she was an adulteress; but she is said

28. From these considerations, and such as these, our forefathers, not only before the time of Cyprian and Agrippinus, but even afterwards, maintained a most wholesome custom, that whenever they found anything divine and lawful remaining in its integrity even in the midst of any heresy or schism, they approved rather than repudiated it; but whatever they found that was alien, and peculiar to that false doctrine or division, this they convicted in the light of the truth, and healed. The points, however, which remain to be considered in the letter written by Jubaianus, must, I think, when looking at the size of this book, be taken in hand and treated with a fresh beginning.

BOOK IV.

IN WHICH HE TREATS OF WHAT FOLLOWS IN THE SAME EPISTLE OF CYPRIAN TO JUBAIANUS.

CHAP. 1.-1. The comparison of the Church. But to those who use it perversely, Church with Paradise shows us that men whether within or without the Church, it is may indeed receive her baptism outside her employed to work punishment, and does not pale, but that no one outside can either conduce to their reward. And so baptism receive or retain the salvation of eternal "cannot be corrupted and polluted," though happiness. For, as the words of Script- it be handled by the corrupt or by adulterers, ure testify, the streams from the fountain just as also "the Church herself is uncorrupt, of Paradise flowed copiously even beyond its and pure, and chaste." And so no share in it Record indeed is made of their belongs to the avaricious, or thieves, or usunames; and through what countries they flow, rers,-many of whom, by the testimony of and that they are situated beyond the limits Cyprian himself in many places of his letters, of Paradise, is known to all; and yet in Me-exist not only without, but actually within the sopotamia, and in Egypt, to which countries Church, and yet they both are baptized and those rivers extended, there is not found that do baptize, with no change in their hearts. blessedness of life which is recorded in Para- 3. For this, too, he says, in one of his episdise. Accordingly, though the waters of Para-tles to the clergy on the subject of prayer to dise are found beyond its boundaries, yet its happiness is in Paradise alone. So, therefore, the baptism of the Church may exist outside, but the gift of the life of happiness is found alone within the Church, which has been founded on a rock, which has received the keys of binding and loosing.3 "She it is alone who holds as her privilege the whole power of her Bridegroom and Lord;" by virtue of which power as bride, she can bring forth sons even of handmaids. And these, if they be not high-minded, shall be called into the lot of the inheritance; but if they be high-minded, they shall remain outside.

CHAP. 2.-2. All the more, then, because "we are fighting for the honor and unity" of the Church, let us beware of giving to heretics the credit of whatever we acknowledged among them as belonging to the Church; but let us teach them by argument, that what they possess that is derived from unity is of no efficacy to their salvation, unless they shall return to that same unity. For "the water of the Church is full of faith, and salvation, and holiness" to those who use it rightly. No one, however, can use it well outside the

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God, in which, after the fashion of the holy Daniel, he represents the sins of his people as falling upon himself. For among many other evils of which he makes mention, he speaks of them also as renouncing the world in words only and not in deeds;" as the apostle says of certain men, "They profess that they know God. but in works they deny Him." These, therefore, the blessed Cyprian shows to be contained within the Church herself, who are baptized without their hearts being changed for the better, seeing that they renounce the world in words and not in deeds, as the Apostle Peter says, "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience)," which certainly they had not of whom it is said that they renounced the world in words only, and not in deeds;" and yet he does his utmost, by chiding and convincing them, to make them at length walk in the way of Christ, and be His friends rather than friends of the world.

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