An historical treatise of the foundation and prerogatives of the Church of Rome and of her bishops written originally in French by Monsieur Maimbourg ; and translated into English by A. Lovel ...

CHAP. IX. What inference is to be made from that famous contest that happened betwixt the Pope, St. Stephen, and St. Cyprian, concerning the Bap∣tism of Hereticks.

THis famous question that hath made so much noise in the Church, was fourty years before St. Cyprian, solemnly examined in a Council held in Africa by Agrippi∣nus Bishop of Carthage; and there it was determined, that the Baptism of Hereticks being null, there was a ne∣cessity of Re-baptizing all those, who, having abjured their Heresie, should return to the bosome of the Church. Vincentius Lirinensis hath Written, that that same Agrippinus was the first, who, contrary to the custome of the Universal Church, and the determination of his Brethren, thought that Hereticks ought to be Re-baptised. But saving the honour and respect that is due to so great a

Man, it is evident he was mistaken. For besides that the Bishops of Afri∣ca and Numidia, with common con∣sent, and in conjunction with Agrip∣pinus, decided the same thing: Ter∣tullian, who Wrote his excellent Book of Prescriptions against Here∣ticks, fourteen years before the Coun∣cil of Agrippinus, says therein very plainly, that their Baptism is not valid: Which in his Book of Bap∣tism he also asserts in most express terms; a Book Written by him be∣fore he fell into the Heresie of the Montanists. Clemens Alexandrinus, who flourished in the same time, al∣so rejects the Baptism of Hereticks: which shews, that it was the doctrine and custome of the Church of Alex∣andria, the chief and most illustrious Church, next to that of Rome. So that Agrippinus, and the Bishops of Africa and Numidia, whom he as∣sembled in a Council to determine that Question, are not the first who established that Custome and Disi∣pline, which appoints all Hereticks,

who return into the bosome of the Church to be Re-baptized.

Probably it may be objected by some, that what these ancient Au∣thours say, ought onely to be under∣stood of the Hereticks of their times, who, all of them, blaspheming a∣gainst the most Holy Trinity, Bap∣tized not in the Name of the Fa∣ther, Son and Holy Ghost, and that therefore their Baptism was null; which is most true. But the rea∣son whereupon they ground the nul∣lity of the Baptism of Hereticks, to wit, that they are strangers, without the Pale of the Church, and that we are forbidden to have any com∣merce with them, proves manifestly, that what they said ought to be un∣derstood of all sorts of Hereticks, both present and to come, because they are all out of the Pale of the Church.

Now seeing some considerable time after the Council of Agrippi∣nus, Novation, who was the first An∣ti-pope. caused Catholicks who fol∣lowed the party of the true Pope

Cornelius to be Re-baptized, the Que∣stion concerning the Baptism of He∣reticks was argued afresh in Africa, where it was put, Whether or not the Novatian Schismaticks, who re∣turned to the Church, ought to be Re-baptized. Whereupon St. Cypri∣an having assembled a Provincial Council at Carthage, it was there de∣clared, that since no body can be lawfully Baptized out of the Church, there was a necessity of Re-bapti∣zing Hereticks and Schismaticks, those excepted, who, having been Baptized in the Catholick Church, had afterward separated from it; because Baptism, once rightly admi∣nistred, could never again be reitera∣ted.

The Bishops of Numidia who had received the Decree of the Council of Agrippinus, having consulted Saint Cyprian upon that new emergent, re∣ceived also the Decree of the Coun∣cil of Carthage; and that it might be rendered more Authentick, Saint Cyprian assembled them together, with the Bishops of his Province, in

a second Synod, where the decisi∣on of the former was confirmed. And thereupon a Synodal Letter was written to the Pope St. Stephen, informing him of what had been de∣cided in those two Councils, to wit, that all those, who being out of the Church, had been polluted by the profane Baptism of Hereticks and Schismaticks, ought to be Re-bap∣tised: which was also confirmed in a third Council, wherein were pre∣sent the Bishops of Mauritania, with those of Africa and Numidia.

Pope Stephen, though his Prede∣cessours had not opposed the Coun∣cil of Agrippinus, but left the Afri∣cans in the possession of their cu∣stome, thought that he ought to condemn it as contrary to Apostoli∣cal Tradition. And thereupon, in two Letters which he Wrote to the Africans, he made a Decree quite contrary to that of St. Cyprian, and of those three Councils. These are the proper terms of the Decree of the Pope, which we have in the

Epistles of St. Cyprian, for the Let∣ters of St. Stephen have not come to our hands. If any one return to us from what Heresie soever it be, let nothing be innovated, and let nothing be done but what Tradition authori∣ses; that is to say, that hands be one∣ly laid upon him, to reconcile him by repentance.

There is nothing more opposite than those two Decrees, if you take them literally. That of Saint Cyprian will have all Hereticks to be Re-baptized, from what Heresie soe∣ver they return, and all that are out of the Church; and that it is not enough to lay hands upon them; but the Pope by his, declares, that it is sufficient, and forbids any Heretick to be Re-baptised. This St. Austine confirms, when he expresly assures us, that Stephen would have no He∣retick to be Re-baptized, and that he was extreamly offended against all those that did it.

The truth is, Eusebius in his Hi∣story remarks, that the true state of that great Question, that was then in agitation, was to know, Whether those who returned from any Here∣sie whatsoever, ought to be Re-bap∣tized.

Indeed, if one would stick, with∣out admitting any explication, to the natural sense of these words of Eu∣sebius, A quocunque Haeresis genere; and of those of the Decree of Saint Stephen, Si quis à quacunque Haeresi venerit ad nos, nihil innovetur, nisi ut manus ei imponatur in poenitenti∣am; It will seem, at first sight, that as St. Cyprian was, for having all ge∣nerally, who had been Baptized by Hereticks, to be Re-baptized; so that Holy Pope, on the contrary, forbad the Re-baptizing of any who had been Baptized by Hereticks. And that is also the errour that some have attributed unto him upon these words, Si quis à quacunque Haeresi, which they have taken according to the strictness of the Letter. But it is to be confessed ingenuously, that

as Tradition hath always rejected the Monstrous Baptisms of some Hereticks, which may be seen in E∣piphanius, who Baptized in a quite different manner from what Jesus Christ prescribes, when he command∣ed his Apostles to Baptize in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; So that Holy Pope, who, with St. Cyprian, rejec∣ted all these false Baptisms, would onely, that the Baptism administred in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, by any Hereticks what∣soever, should not be reiterated.

And certainly, without necessity of alledging any other proof, that, in my opinion, appears evidently, by that testimony of St. Augustine, which I have just now cited: Stephanus Bap∣tismum Christi in nullo iterandum esse censebat: Pope Stephen thought, that the Baptism of Jesus Christ was to be reiterated in no Heretick. The Que∣stion was onely then about the Bap∣tism of Jesus Christ, which ordains Baptism to be administred in the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Ghost. The Romans would have that to stand good by what Heretick soever it had been conferred; and the Africans main∣tained that it was null, if it was con∣ferred by Hereticks out of the Church, or by Schismaticks. And this is the precise state of that great Controversie, betwixt the Pope Saint Stephen and St. Cyprian, though the Decree of that Pope be not altoge∣ther so clearly worded as that of St. Cyprian.

Now this Decree which the Pope grounded wholly upon the ancient custome of the Church, and the Tra∣dition of the Apostles, having been brought into Africa, St. Cyprian, and all those of his party, which was very considerable, opposed it with all their might. For besides, the Afri∣can Bishops assembled in three Coun∣cils, after that of Agrippinus, Firmi∣lian Bishop of Cesanea in Cappadocia, and most of the Bishops of Asia ad∣hered unto him, and had, as well as those of Africa, decided against the

Baptism of Hereticks, in the Coun∣cils of Iconium and Synnada, and of many other Cities of Asia, where the Bishops of Cappadocia, Cilicia, Galatia, Phrygia, and other Provin∣ces, assembled for examining that Question, which had been the cause of so great a difference.

Denis Patriarch of Alexandria, a Man of extraordinary merit, singu∣lar learning, and great authority, made it also evident enough by his Writings, that they should not offer to condemn that Doctrine which his Bishops of Africa and of Asia main∣tained to be exactly conform to ho∣ly Scripture, affirming, that as there is but one Faith, one Church, and one Baptism, this cannot be administred out of the Church; And as Here∣ticks can neither absolve from sins, nor give the Holy Ghost by the Im∣position of hands, so neither can they Baptise. And as to the custome that was objected to them, they absolute∣ly denied it to have been the practice of the Primitive Church, nor a Tra∣dition

derived from the Apostles; but on the contrary, said, that theirs was Apostolical, and that their prac∣tice, being the more ancient, had been observed time out of mind in the Church.

Notwithstanding all these reasons, the Pope continued stedfast in the resolution he had taken, of causing his Decree to be observed, in so far, that he cut off from his communion all the Bishops of Asia, who would not submit to it. And this he did, although Denis of Alexandria had written earnestly to him to dissuade him from it, representing to him, that he might appease him, that Pope Cornelius, and the Anti-pope Novatian having written to these Bi∣shops, to engage them severally unto their party, they had, in fine, all of them, condemned Novatian and his Heresie, which consisted in this, that he maintained, that the Church had not power to reconcile those, who, in time of persecution, had fallen off to Idolatry.

Cardinal Baronius concludes from these words of the Holy Patriarch, that the Asiaticks had quitted their opinion concerning the nullity of the Baptism of Hereticks. But without doubt that is an evident A∣nachronism, and manifest contra∣diction, which that great Cardinal had not leisure to mind. For the Patriarch Denis speaks onely here of what these Bishops had done under the Pontificate of Pope Cornelius; and he prays Stephen, the Successour of that Pope, not to use them harsh∣ly for the Judgment they are of, that the Baptism of Hereticks is null: Them, says he, who under his Predecessour condemned the Heresie of Novatian. Is there any thing clear∣er, than that Baronius, without minding it, hath taken the Counter-sense? and besides, Denis of Alexan∣dria would have had care not to call an opinion, which he believed to be true, an Heresie.

Firmilian then, and the Asiaticks, persisted still in their opinion, as well

as St. Cyprian, the Africans and their successours, till the decision of a Ge∣neral Council, as may be clearly seen in an hundred passages of the Books of St. Austine, which he Wrote con∣cerning Baptism against the Dona∣tists. I know that St. Jerome says, in the Dialogue against the Luciferi∣ans, that the Bishops of Africa re∣turned to the ancient custome, say∣ing, What do we doe? and that a∣bandoning St. Cyprian, they made a new Decree conform to that of Saint Stephen. But all the Learned agree, that that holy Doctour, who Wrote that Dialogue before the most part of his other Works, had taken that out of some Apocryphal Writings, such as that which bears for Title, The Repentance of St. Cyprian; and was declared false and supposititious, in a Synod held at Rome Threescore and fourteen years before the death of St. Jerome. For, to be short, the quite contrary is to be seen in the Books of St. Austine that I have just now alledged, in the Letter of Saint Basil to Amphilochius, and in the

Eighth Canon of the first Council of Arles.

Now, if during the life of Saint Stephen, there were so many Bishops who refused to obey his Decree, there were as many that opposed it after his death. For the Patriarch Denis of Alexandria Wrote in a high strain to Pope Sixtus the Successour of St. Stephen, exhorting him to fol∣low a conduct contrary to that of his Predecessour, and not to break, as he had done, with so many Bishops for a constitution contrary to his own; since it had been approved in several Councils; and St. Jerome him∣self, in his Treatise of Ecclesiastical Writers, which he made long after his Dialogue against the Luciferians, assures us, that that great Man decla∣red openly for the Doctrine of Saint Cyprian and African Bishops, and that he thereupon Wrote many Let∣ters which were still extant in his time. That was the cause that the Successours of Sixtus entertained Peace with the African and Asiatick

Bishops, every one freely following their custome and opinion as to that Point, without being blamed for it, untill that a General Council had pronounced Supremely in the mat∣ter.

This we learn from St. Austine, in his Books of Baptism against the Donatists. These, who began their Schism against Cecilian Bishop of Carthage, in the year Three hundred and two, alledged continually the example of St. Cyprian, and of his fellow Bishops, to justifie the conduct which they held, as well as those in Re-baptizing all Hereticks. It is most evident, that they durst not have made use of that instance, if St. Cyprian and those Bishops had retracted: For St. Austine would have confounded these Schismaticks upon the spot, by saying, that all these Bishops had condemned their former opinion. Yet he ne∣ver did so. On the contrary, he confesses, that they always believed that Hereticks must be Re-baptized:

but he adds, that it was lawfull for them to believe it, and for all who have succeeded them to doubt of that point, which was then in con∣troversie, and to dispute about it. As, indeed, there were many confe∣rences, great disputes and debates on Church decided that difference, and all submitted to that Sovereign Au∣thority; as St. Cyprian would have done without doubt, saith St. Au∣stine, if the whole Church, in a full and general Council had in his time pronounced concerning that point. And because the Donatists would not submit to the Decree of that Coun∣cil, in that they added Heresie to their Schism.

Now before we come to shew what that General Council decided as to that point, we must make a se∣rious and solid reflexion upon what we have now said, which will suf∣fise, to make it clearly out to us what Antiquity hath believed concerning the Infallibility of the Pope.

Here then, we have a Pope of fa∣mous memory in the Church, who makes a Decree, whereby he in∣structs all Believers, concerning a point of highest importance, where the question is about the validity or nullity of Baptism, without which one cannot be saved; and by that Decree he pretends to oblige the whole Church to believe, that Hereticks, who are converted, ought not to be Re-baptized, and does so pretend it, that he cuts off from his communion great Bishops, who would not submit to his Decree. And nevertheless St. Cyprian, all the Bishops of Africa, Mauritania and Numidia, those of Cappadocia, Ci∣licia, Galatia and Phrygia, Denis Patriarch of Alexandria, and the Bishops of his Patriarchate, will not receive that so solemn a Decree of Stephen Pope of Rome.

Besides, St. Austine, and all the African Catholicks, united with that great Doctour of the Church against the Donatists, say, that be∣fore

the decision of the Council, that came not till long after that Decree of the Pope, it might freely, with∣out making a separation from the Church, be held, what St. Cyprian had believed concerning the Bap∣tism of Hereticks. In fine, St. A∣thanasius, St. Optatus Melevitanus, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Basil, and some others, who have Written as well as they after that General Council, whereof St. Austine speaks, and before that of Constantinople have believed, that all Hereticks, who have not the true Faith of the Trinity, ought to be Re-baptized, who, in those first Ages of the Church, were incomparably more numerous than the other Hereticks, who be∣lieved that great Mystery.

These are not bare conjectures that may be doubted of: but un∣controverted matters of fact. A Man needs no more but eyes in his head, to prove them, by Read∣ing the testimonies alledged. It must necessarily then follow, see∣ing

they submitted to a Council, because they knew it to be Infalli∣ble, which was not done in regard to the Pope St. Stephen, that St. Cy∣prian, Firmilian of Caesarea, Denis of Alexandria, St. Athanasius, Saint Optatus, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Saint Basil, St. Austine, and most Catho∣lick Bishops of Aegypt, Asia and A∣frica, not to mention those, who, in the interval of almost Threescore years, that was betwixt Pope Ste∣phen and the Council, had liberty to follow the party of St. Cyprian, be∣lieved not in the Third, Fourth and Fifth Ages of the Church, that the Pope was Infallible. What can be answered to that?

Let us now consult the Council in Question, or rather the Councils which have pronounced Sovereign∣ly concerning that point of the Bap∣tism of Hereticks. You have three of them. First, the full Council, which is the first Council of Arles, to which the Pope St. Sylvester sent four Legats in the year 314. makes

this Decree, in the Eighth Canon, upon occasion of the Africans, who Rebaptized all Hereticks: If any Heretick return to the Church, let him be asked the Question; and if it appear that he hath been Baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that hands be onely laid upon him, to the end he may receive the Holy Ghost: but if he answer, not according to the Mystery of the Trinity, let him be Re-baptized.

Moreover, the great Council of Nice, Twelve years after, ordains, in the Canon 19. that the Paula∣nists who return to the Church should be Re-baptized, because, as St. Austine says, these Hereticks, the Disciples of Paulus Samosatanus, who believed not the Trinity, nor the In∣carnation of the Word, observed not the form of Baptism, in Baptizing in the Name of the Three Persons of the Trinity. But as to the Novati∣ans who Baptized in the Name of the Trinity, as Catholicks did, the

Council declares, that it is sufficient to lay hands upon them.

In fine, the first Council of Con∣stantinople, which is the second Ge∣neral, ordains also the Montanists, Sabellians, and such other Hereticks, who Baptized not in the Name of the Three Persons of the Trinity, against which they blasphemed, should be Re-baptized; but not the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, nor yet the Arians and Macedonians, be∣cause although these had not the true belief which ought to be had of that great Mystery, yet they Bapti∣zed in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: which St. Austine, who hath Writ∣ten after that Council of Constanti∣nople, assures to be sufficient for the validity of the Sacrament, though the Faith of him who Baptizes be not pure. So that, saith he, if Mar∣cion Baptized, using the words of the Gospel, in the Name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, his Baptism was good, though that Heretick, under these words, believed a thing quite different from what the Catholick Church teaches.

That being so, there is no more to be done, but to compare these Decrees of Councils with those of the Pope St. Stephen, and of Saint Cyprian. This Pope Decrees, that if any one return from any Heresie whatsoever, he shall have onely hands laid upon him, without be∣ing Re-baptized: Si quis à quacun∣que Haeresi, &c. St. Cyprian says on the contrary, that if any one re∣turn from any Heresie whatsoever, he ought to be Re-baptized. These are two extreams, directly opposite one to another. The Three Coun∣cils take the middle course, explain∣ing the one, and condemning the other. They are not for Re-bapti∣zing the Novatians and other Here∣ticks who Baptize in the Name of the Three Persons of the Trinity, and they hold their Baptism to be

lawfull and good, according to the true Apostolical Tradition; but they are also absolutely for Re-bapti∣zing the Paulanists, and all such who Baptize not in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; thereby clearly defi∣ning that their Baptism is null. And therein they explain and rectifie the Decree of the Pope St. Stephen, ad∣ding but in formal terms an excep∣tion, which is onely understood therein. They plainly then declare on the one hand, how the Decree of St. Stephen is to be understood; and on the other, that St. Cyprian, who expressed himself clearly enough in his, was deceived, but very inno∣cently; because, as St. Austine says, the truth was not then discovered and declared by the Council. Now seeing before that Declaration, one might, according to that holy Fa∣ther, freely follow the opinion of St. Cyprian, notwithstanding the De∣cree of the Pope, and that after that of the Council one had not the same liberty: it is altogether evi∣dent,

that it must once more be concluded, that it is, because the an∣cient Church believed, that a Coun∣cil is Infallible, and that the Pope is not.

Notes

• Ann. 217.
• Cypr. Epist. 71. ad Quin. & Epist. ad Jubaian. Commonit. 6.9.
• Cypr. loc. citat.
• Ann. 203. Cap. 12.
• Cap. 15.
• Ann. 200. Strommat. 1.
• Ad quos vetamur accedere, quis servus cibaria ab extraneo, ne dicam ab inimico do∣mini sui petat? &c. Tertull. de praescrip.

  Quos extraneos uti{que} testatur ipsa ademptio communicationis. Id. de Baptis.

  Trajicies aquam ali∣enam? &c. Clem. A∣lex.
• Litt. Synod. ad Epis. ad Episc. humid. ap Cypr. Epist. 90.

  Numid. ap Cypr. Epist. 70.
• Cypr. Epist. 74. ad Pomp.
• Litt. Synod. ad E∣pise. Numid.
• Cypr. Epist. 73. ad Jubai.
• Eos qui sunt foris extra Ecclesiam tincti, & apud haereticos & schismaticos profanae a∣quae labe maculaeti, quando ab nos vene∣rint Baptisare oportere, eo quod parum sit eis manum imponere. E∣pist. 70.

  Apud Cypr. & ap. August. l. 6. & 7. de Bapt.
• Euseb. Hist. l. 6. c. 5.
• Si quis à quâcun∣que Haeresi venerit ad nos nihil innovetur, ni∣si, quod traditum est, ut manus ei imponan∣tur ad poenitentiam. Ap. Cyprian. Epist. 79 ad Pompeian.
• Qui ex quâcunque haeresi ad Ecclesiam convertantur, unico & legitimo Baptismate Baptizentur. Cypr. E∣pist. ad Jubaian.
• Eo quod parum sit eis manum imponere.

  Stephanus Baptis∣mum Christi in nul∣lo iterandum esse cen∣sebat, & hoc facienti∣bus graviter succense∣bat. August. l. de u∣nic. Baptis. c. 14.
• Erat id tempor is non exigua quaestio & controversia excitata, utrum oporteret eos qui se à quocunque hae∣resis, genere revocassent, lavacro Baptisma∣tis, repurgare. Euseb. l. 7. c. 2.
• Aug. l. 1. de Bapt. contra Donat.
• Cypr. Ep. 74. & al.
• Firmil. Epist. ap. Cypr. Epist. 75.

  Dionys. Alexand. apud Euseb. l. 7. hist. c. 4. & 6.
• Ibid.
• Cypr. Epist. 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75 & 76.
• Dionys. Alexand. apud Euseb. l. 3. c. 4. Firmil. ap. Cypr. Epist. 75.
• Euseb. l. 7. hist. c. 4.
• Hic in Cypriani & Africanae Synodi dog∣ma consentiens de Haereticis Re-baptizandis, ad diversos plurimas mifit epistolas quae us{que} hodie extant.

  Hieron. de script. Ecclesias. in Dionys.
• August. l. 1. de Bapt. contra Donatis. c. 7.
• Cui & ipse cederet, si jam eo tempore quae∣stionis hujus veritas e∣liquata & declarata per plenarium concili∣um solidaretur.

  Ibid. c. 4.89.
• Athanas. Or. 3. con∣tra Arian.
• Optat. l. 4. Cont. Parmen.
• Cyril. Hieros. praef. in Catech.
• Basil. Epist. 3. Con. 47.
• De Afris quod pro∣priâ lege utantur, ut Re-baptisent, placuit ut si ad Ecclesiam a∣liquis de Haeresi vene∣rit, interrogent eum sym∣bolum, & si pervi∣derint eum in patre, & filio, & Spiritu Sancto Baptizatum, manus ei tantum im∣ponatur & sic accipi∣at Spiritum Sanctum.

  Quod si interroga∣tus, non responderit hanc Trinitatem Re∣baptisetur.
• De Paulanistis ad Ecclesiam Catholicam confugientibus defini∣tio prolata est ut ite∣rum Baptisentur omni∣modis. Aug. de haer. ad quod vult Haeres. 44.
• Can. 1.
• Can. 7.
• Manifestum est fie∣ri posse ut fide non in∣tegrā integrum in quo∣quam maneat Baptismi Sacramentum....... Quamo••rem nisi Evangelicis verbis, in nomine Patris, & Filii, & Spiritus Sancti Marcion Baptismum consecrabat, integrum erat Sacramentum, quam∣vis ejus fides sub iisdem verbis aliud opinantis quam Catholica veritas docet, non esset integra. Aug. l. 2. de Bapt. cont. Donatist. c. 14, 15.
• Si quis à quacun{que} Haeres. &c. manus ei tantum imponatur.
• Qui ex quacunque Haeresi, &c. Baptisen∣tur.
• Nondum veritas e∣liquata & declarata per plenarium conci∣lium.
• L. 1. de Baptis. Con∣tra Donatis. c. 7, 8, 9, 17.