'How is he, who has not anything to give, able to give?'
These words have not been written in the Law, for if (as you will have it) it is man who gives, God does nothing----and if God does nothing, and if everything that has to be given is in your hands, then [the baptised] are converted to you. Let those whom you baptise be washed in your name. Blush at the most blessed Paul, who cries out and expresses his thanksgiving:
'Have you been baptised in my name?'
He rejoices that he baptised only two persons and one household, but you strive to rebaptise whole peoples, and are contented both to have sinned in the past, and to go on sinning, saying:
'What does he give, who has not anything to give?' |230
He, in whom we believe, is Himself the giver of that in which we believe, not another through whose instrumentality we are brought to believe. Besides, under John a vast multitude of men were baptised. Prove (if you can) that John either received, or possessed, anything to give.
He was the 'Minister' ; the gift was from God, who does not fail in giving. And now whilst we all are Ministers of Baptism, the works are man's, but the gifts are from God.
VII. That the Grace of Baptism is the gift of God, not of man, who is shown to be only the Minister.
So consider how ridiculous is that saying, which is always heard to come from you, as though for your glorification:
'This gift of Baptism belongs to him who gives, not to him who receives.'
And would that you should say this of God, who is the true Giver. But----a stupid thing----you say that you are the givers. If this be so, suppose that both you and we are dealing with two Pagans. Do you, who say that you are holy, ask the one whom you have in your hands, whether he renounces the Devil and believes the Lord, and we will suppose that he says:
'I will not.' |231
On the other hand, let us who, as you will have it, are sinners, ask the other Pagan, whether he renounces the Devil, and believes God and the other questions, and we will suppose that he says:
'I do renounce and I do believe, and the rest' ----
will you tell me when you baptise the one who is unwilling, and we baptise the other who is willing, which of these two can arrive at the grace of God?
Surely, without doubt, it is acquired by the one who believes, not by him, in whose case, as you say, your holiness takes the place of his own will. Recognise, though late, that you are only ministers. Or if (you say that) the work is in the workmen, and not in itself, find some who will claim this for themselves in their arts, so that we may, according to your challenge, compare human arts with things that are divine.
When something is dyed with a precious colour, its nature is often changed. A white fleece is dyed, and becomes purple. Even as the white wool passes into the royal purple, so the catechumen passes into the Christian. Surely, whilst he begins to be that which he was not, he ceases to be that which he was. The wool changes both its colour and its name, and the man changes both his appellation and his |232 disposition. We have to think of the results that have been effected, and must consider once more what it is that has effected those results. You say that it is your gift that has made that man a Christian.
If this is all your doing, then the workman also who makes the purple, may say that he has the precious colour in his own hands, and has no need to procure from the Ocean precious dyes----unknown to many----that the fleeces may be promoted to a marvellous dignity, and is free to assert that he can make the purple, merely by his touch, without admixture from the blood of the fish.
But if on the contrary this workman is unable to give the colour by his touch alone, then neither is the workman in Baptism able to give anything of himself without the Trinity.
Such is this question, about which we have our present contention. For in Whom the nations should be baptised has been ordained by the Saviour. Through whom they should be baptised was appointed without the making of any exception. He did not say to the Apostles:
'Do it you! Let not others do it.'
Whosoever has baptised in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, has discharged the Apostles' work.
And so it has been written in the Gospel. When John said: |233
'O Master, we have seen one casting out devils in Thy Name, and we have forbidden him, because he followeth not with us,'
Christ said: