He that washes himself after the touching of a dead body, if he touch it again, what avails his washing?
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 34:25 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 34
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
It was not Donatus of Carthage who established that Christians had to be rebaptized, as I thought when I responded to his letter. Nor is it true that he drew the words necessary for his purpose directly from an expression of Ecclesiasticus, where it is written, "If a person is baptized after touching a dead person and touches him again, what good was it for him to wash." He claims it reads, "If someone is baptized by a dead person, what good was it for him to wash?" We later ascertained that even before the Donatist party existed, many codices"mostly, to be honest, African"did not have in this context the words "and touches him again."
