# Augustine of Hippo on the validity of baptisms performed by schismatics



## Reformed Covenanter (Mar 12, 2022)

You therefore are changed from that sect by which you are separated, although the sacraments which you have are holy, since they are the same in all. That is why we wish you to be won away from your false position, so that your cut-off branches may be again rooted. The sacraments, which you have not changed, are approved by us as you have them; so, when we wish to correct your aberration, we must guard against doing a sacrilegious wrong to those mysteries of Christ which have not been vitiated by your vice. For, Saul did not vitiate the anointing which he had received, when King David, the devout servant of God, did such honour to it.

We do not rebaptize you when we wish to restore you to the root, because we approve the form of the lopped-off branch, if it is not changed, which, however, even when intact, is anything but fruitful without a root. It is one question about the persecutions which you say you suffered even under our mildness and tolerance, when your adherents individually committed such gravely unlawful acts, but baptism is another question, since we do not look to see where it is, but where it is validly. Wherever it is, it is itself, but the one who receives it is not himself wherever he is. ...

For more, see Augustine of Hippo on the validity of baptisms performed by schismatics.


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