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 recognise them? We ought to recognise 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. 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. FOOTNOTES: [114] See above, II. ii. 3. [115] See above, II. ii. 3. [116] Ecclus. iii. 18. [117] See above, II. ii. 3. [118] John i. 33. [119] The Council of Carthage. [120] _Epist._ lxxiii. sec. 20, to Jubaianus. [121] Conc. Carth. sec. 28. [122] John xiv. 6. [123] Conc. Carth. sec. 30. [124] _Ib._ sec. 56. [125] Gal. ii. 11-14. [126] Conc. Carth. sec. 63. [127] _Ib._ sec. 77. [128] Cypr. _Ep._ lxxiii. sec. 1. [129] Cypr. _Ep._ lxxiii. sec. 2. [130] Cypr. _Ep._ lxxiii. sec. 3. [131] Above, Book I. c. xi. foll. [132] Non ut jam vere dimissa non retineantur. One of the negatives here appears to be superfluous, and the former is omitted in Amerbach's edition, and in many of the MSS., which continue the sentence, "non ut ille baptismus," instead of "neque ut ille," etc. If the latter negative were omitted, the sense would be improved, and "neque" would appropriately remain. [133] 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. [134] Phantasmata. [135] 1 Cor. ii. 14. [136] 1 Cor. i. 13. [137] 1 Cor. iii. 1-3. [138] Eph. iv. 14. [139] Matt. xxviii. 19.