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Against the Donatists

St Optatus of Milevis, tr. Vassall-Phillips, 1917

Book 5, 5. Why and When the Baptism of Christ Was Conferred

To give the final proof concerning this matter, John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Saviour, when he was baptising many to repentance and the remission of their sins,¹ declared that the Son of God was about to come. These are his words:
‘Behold, He cometh to baptise you.’²

Yet we do not read that Christ rebaptised anyone after John. With regard, therefore, to these words:
‘He cometh to baptise you,’
Christ coming after John baptised no one. This promise was made for our times, that He might give what is given to-day, according to His Word:
‘He who shall drink the water which I give shall not thirst for ever.’

And although the disciples of John said to their master:
‘Behold He, whom thou hast baptised, baptises.’³

He baptised indeed, but by the hands of His Apostles, to whom He had given the laws of Baptism. As it has been written in another place:
‘For He Himself baptised no one, but His disciples baptised.’⁴

In this matter we are all His disciples, so that we should work,⁵ in order that He may give, who promised that He would give. Still, when John was baptising many⁶ thousands of men, even in the presence of Christ, the servant worked, and the Lord did nothing⁷ until He gave the Form of Baptism.⁸ After the lapse of a considerable period,⁹ thousands of men were washed in repentance and forgiveness of sins. But no one was washed in the Trinity, no one yet knew Christ, no one had heard that there was a Holy Ghost. But when there came the fullness of time, at a fixed moment, the Son of God gave the laws of Baptism. He gave also the way by which we might go to the Kingdom of Heaven, for He then commanded:
‘Go ye, teach all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.’¹⁰

From that day what He had commanded had to be done. It was not His will to amend that which had been done before that time, lest He might [seem to] give permission to rebaptise----although the Baptism of John was one thing, and the Baptism of Christ is another. Before His law [was given] He willed the Baptism of John, which was not full, to be held for full. And yet with regard to the thousands of men mentioned above, although they knew not the Son of God and the Holy Ghost, He could not refuse them the Kingdom of Heaven, because they had believed in God. So it is the Voice of the Son of God, who says:
‘From the days of John to this day the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and they who do violence bear it away.’¹¹

For this reason does He say:
‘They who do violence,’¹²
because John was still baptising. So, because the time before His commandments¹³ was different from the time after His commandments, they who have been baptised in the Name of the Saviour after the commandments,¹⁴ have entered the Kingdom, through the laws¹⁵ [of Baptism], whilst those who were before the commandments did violence,¹⁶ without the law, but were not shut out. Therefore, though before the commandments,¹⁷ the Baptism of John was imperfect, it was judged by Him, in whose place no man judges,¹⁸ as though it were perfect,¹⁹ because a certain line of division²⁰ was placed between the times that preceded and those that followed His command.²¹

When the most blessed Paul saw some at Ephesus who had been baptised, after the commandments²² [of Christ], in the Baptism of John, he asked them whether they had received the Holy Ghost.²³ They replied that they did not know whether there was a Holy Ghost, and he said to them that, after the Baptism of John, they must receive the Holy Ghost.

They had been baptised, in the same manner²⁴ as had been the many whom John had baptised. But those who had been baptised before the law,²⁵ belonged to the time of exemption,²⁶ for He had been present who could give exemption. Those who were not bound by the laws²⁷ were altogether not guilty.²⁸ But those who, as we read, were baptised at Ephesus with the Baptism of John after the law,²⁹ had after the laws³⁰ erred in the Sacrament,³¹ because the Baptism of the Lord had now been introduced and the Baptism of the servant had been abrogated.³² And so it is that, after the divine commands,³³ men had to go into the Kingdom by laws,³⁴ not by violence.³⁵ For Christ had already fixed the limit of time by saying:
‘From the days of John until to-day.’³⁶

After ‘to-day’ that which was lawful yesterday was lawful no longer. Wherefore do not deceive yourselves³⁷ with the saying of the Apostle Paul,³⁸ for he did not ask about the person of the ‘Minister,’ but about the thing.³⁹ With the fact, not with the person, he was dissatisfied. So he commanded the Baptism of the Saviour, that they who did not know might learn, for this⁴⁰ they had not received, but something different. But what do you change? If you have been able to change things,⁴¹ you will have done well, provided you have acted according to the Law.⁴² Paul said:
‘In what Baptism have you been baptised?’⁴³
and they said to him:
‘The Baptism of John.’

He persuaded them to receive the Baptism of Christ. You do not say:
‘What have you received?
but
‘From whom have you received it? ‘
and you inveigh against the characters of men, and wish to repeat what is for once only. They who had been baptised at Ephesus, had believed in repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Rightly was it said to them, that they should be baptised in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. But what is there for you to change in men, who have already made profession⁴⁴ that they believe in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost?⁴⁵ Whether you ask them this again, or something else, be convinced that you must sin----if you either interrogate concerning that which has not been commanded, or wish to do something which has been done already.

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