On the One Baptism, against Petilian

Contents

Translation in progress.

Reading pages: 1–19 · 20–32

1. 1Augustine introduces his reply to a Donatist treatise “On the One Baptism,” given him by his friend Constantine.
2. 2The Donatist complains that a secret rite is debated publicly; Augustine answers that what is urged openly and harms in secret must be openly refuted.
3. 3The Donatist claims Catholics accept his baptism as his; Augustine answers that baptism is Christ’s, not the minister’s, and to repeat it would be sacrilege.
4. 4As a Jew converting keeps his true beliefs while his errors are corrected, so a heretic’s true baptism, given by the Gospel rule, is kept while his error is corrected.
5. 5Paul in Rom 1 condemns the idolaters’ lie but affirms the true knowledge of God they held in unrighteousness.
6. 6Paul at Athens confirmed the pagan poets’ truth and the altar “to an unknown god,” as Cyprian too used pagan authors for the one God.
7. 7As Paul used the Corinthians’ true baptism to rebuke their schisms, the church keeps the heretic’s true baptism while correcting his division.
8. 8As the Athenians worshiped the true God unknowingly outside the church, heretics give true baptism outside it; it profits them nothing but is to be acknowledged.
9. 9Paul’s baptizing of John’s disciples at Ephesus (Acts 19) does not support rebaptism: John was no heretic, and his baptism was not yet Christ’s.
10. 10The Donatist author answers his own objection with Matt 12:30 and 7:21–23, but these texts support the Catholic case.
11. 11Christ’s rejection of those who work wonders in his name without love does not deny the truth of what they hold; as 1 Cor 13 shows, gifts remain great though their holder is nothing.
12. 12Christ forbade hindering the man who cast out demons in his name though not following with the disciples; so the truth heretics hold is acknowledged while their division is condemned.
13. 13Christ’s sacraments are never sacrilegious even if given by sinners, just as his name remains his name when used by them.
14. 14The Lord will reject the wicked inside the church too, and the Donatists themselves do not rebaptize those baptized by their own sinners.
15. 15By the author’s own reasoning, schismatic baptism is as real as exorcism in Christ’s name; one who comes to the church keeps it and receives the unity that makes it profitable.
16. 16Catholic recognition of Donatist baptism does not prove the Donatists right; their separation is condemned while the baptism is acknowledged.
17. 17As the demons’ true confession of Christ is not denied, so heretics’ true baptism is not destroyed; James compared faith without works to the demons’ belief without denying its truth.
18. 18True baptism can exist without true faith, as at Corinth; Scripture gives no explicit example either way, so the apostolic rule of keeping truth while correcting error decides.
19. 19Converts are received without their schism and error; the Donatists, by contrast, treat even Catholic bishops as unbaptized catechumens.
20. 20Catholics who lapsed to the Donatists do a heavier penance and are barred from the clergy; the Donatists hold true baptism in unrighteousness and face God’s wrath.
21. 21The Donatist boast of rebaptizing like Paul at Ephesus would make John the Baptist a sacrilegious defiler.
22. 22Agrippinus and Cyprian erred on rebaptism but stayed in unity, and Cyprian’s love and martyrdom covered his error; rebaptizing heretics was human error then, rebaptizing Catholics is diabolical now.
23. 23Stephen and Cyprian disagreed on rebaptism yet stayed in one communion; if that church did not perish, communion with the bad does not destroy the church, and Donatist separation is baseless.
24. 24The texts the Donatists cite against communion with sinners would have required Cyprian to leave Stephen; since he did not, the church survived mixed, as it still does.
25. 25A truly just man would remain in the church with sinners, as Paul and Cyprian did; defilement comes by consent, as in Eden, not by sharing sacraments, as Judas did not defile the apostles.
26. 26If Stephen’s church survived receiving sinners without rebaptism, others’ sins defile no one; and if unity’s love cleanses converts, rebaptism is needless.
27. 27Augustine refuses to credit the Donatist author’s unproved charges that the Roman bishops Marcellinus, Miltiades, Marcellus, and Silvester were betrayers.
28. 28The Donatists never charged Miltiades with betrayal when he judged Caecilian, though they did charge Felix of Abthugni, who was cleared; their late charge against Miltiades is slander.
29. 29Mensurius kept peace with Secundus; the author’s slanders against Profuturus and Fortunatus of Cirta, known to be false, show how little his charges against long-dead men are worth.
30. 30Whatever the accused bishops were, they neither crown nor condemn the worldwide church; within the threshing floor are good and bad, outside it no good.
31. 31Augustine can prove that Donatist founders were betrayers, but by Scripture each bears his own sin; only by the Donatists’ own principle would all of them share their founders’ guilt.
32. 32Augustine concludes: as truth held by Jews, pagans, exorcists outside the fold, and demons is not denied, so the true baptism held by heretics is not to be denied.