Chapter XXI: Preface (19)

239. AUGUSTINE answered: What you say is true. For that priesthood in the body of Christ had an anointing, and its salvation is secured by the bond of unity. For indeed Christ Himself derives His name from chrism, that is, from anointing. Him the Hebrews call the Messiah, which word is closely akin to the Phoenician language, as is the case with very many other Hebrew words, if not with almost all.[1005] What then is meant by the head in that priesthood, what by the beard, what by the skirts of the garments? So far as the Lord enables me to understand, the head is none other than the Saviour of the body, of whom the apostle says, "And He is the head of the body, the Church."[1006] By the beard is not unsuitably understood fortitude. Therefore, on those who show themselves to be brave in His Church, and cling to the light of His countenance, to preach the truth without fear, there descends from Christ Himself, as from the head, a sacred ointment, that is to say, the sanctification of the Spirit. By the skirts of the garments we are here given to understand that which is at the top of the garments, whereby the head of Him who gives the clothing passes on its way. By this are signified those who are perfected in faith within the Church. For in the skirts is perfection. And I presume you must remember what was said to a certain rich man: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me."[1007] He indeed went away sorrowful, slighting what was perfect, choosing what was imperfect. But does it follow that there were wanting those who were so made perfect by such a surrender of earthly things, that the ointment of unity descended upon them, as from the head upon the skirts of the garments? For, putting aside the apostles, and those who were immediately associated with those leaders and teachers of the Church, whom we understand to be represented with greater dignity and more conspicuous fortitude in the beard, read in the Acts of the Apostles, and see those who "brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul."[1008] I doubt not that you are aware that it is so written. Recognise, therefore, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Recognise the beard of Aaron; recognise the skirts of the spiritual garments. Search the Scriptures themselves, and see where those things began to be done; you will find that it was in Jerusalem. From this skirt of the garment is woven together the whole fabric of unity throughout all nations. By this the Head entered into the garment, that Christ should be clothed with all the variety of the several nations of the earth, because in this skirt of the garment appeared the actual variety of tongues. Why, therefore, is the Head itself, whence that ointment of unity descended, that is, the spiritual fragrance of brotherly love,--why, I say, is the Head itself exposed to your resistance, while it testifies and declares that "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem?"[1009] And by this ointment you wish the sacrament of chrism to be understood, which is indeed holy as among the class of visible signs, like baptism itself, but yet can exist even among the worst of men, wasting their life in the works of the flesh, and never destined to possess the kingdom of heaven, and having therefore nothing to do either with the beard of Aaron, or with the skirts of his garments, or with any fabric of priestly clothing. For where do you intend to place what the apostle enumerates as "the manifest works of the flesh, which," he says, "are these; fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, poisonings, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God?"[1010] I put aside fornications, which are committed in secret; interpret uncleanness as you please, I am willing to put it aside as well. Let us put on one side also poisons, since no one is openly a compounder or giver of poisons. I put aside also heresies, since you will have it so. I am in doubt whether I ought to put aside idolatry, since the apostle classes with it covetousness, which is openly rife among you. However, setting aside all these, are there none among you lascivious, none covetous, none open in their indulgence of enmities, none fond of strife, or fond of emulation, wrathful, given to seditions, envious, drunken, wasting their time in revellings? Are none of such a character anointed among you? Do none die well known among you to be given to such things, or openly indulging in them? If you say there are none, I would have you consider whether you do not come under the description yourself, since you are manifestly telling lies in the desire for strife. But if you are yourself severed from men of this sort, not by bodily separation, but by dissimilarity of life, and if you behold with lamentation crowds like these around your altars, what shall we say, since they are anointed with holy oil, and yet, as the apostle assures us with the clearness of truth, shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Must we do such impious despite to the beard of Aaron and to the skirts of his garments, as to suppose that they are to be placed there? Far be that from us. Separate therefore the visible holy sacrament, which can exist both in the good and in the bad,--in the former for their reward, in the latter for judgment; separate it from the invisible unction of charity, which is the peculiar property of the good. Separate them, separate them, ay, and may God separate you from the party of Donatus, and call you back again into the Catholic Church, whence you were torn by them while yet a catechumen, to be bound by them in the bond of a deadly distinction. Now are ye not in the mountains of Zion, the dew of Hermon on the mountains of Zion, in whatever sense that be received by you; for you are not in the city upon a hill, which has this as its sure sign, that it cannot be hid. It is known therefore unto all nations. But the party of Donatus is unknown to the majority of nations, therefore is it not the true city.

* * * * *

CHAP. CV.--240. PETILIANUS said: "Woe unto you, therefore, who, by doing violence to what is holy, cut away the bond of unity; whereas the prophet says, 'If the people shall sin, the priest shall pray for them: but if the priest shall sin, who will pray for him?'"

241. AUGUSTINE answered: I seemed too a little while ago, when we were disputing about the oil of the sinner, to anoint your forehead, in order that you might say, if you dared, whether you yourself were not a sinner. You have had the hardihood to say as much. What a portentous sin! For in that you assert yourself to be a priest, what else have you maintained by quoting this testimony of the prophet, save that you are wholly without sin? For if you have sin, who is there that shall pray for you, according to your interpretation of the words? For thus you puff yourselves off in the ears of the wretched people, quoting from the prophet: "If the people shall sin, the priest shall pray for them: but if the priest shall sin, who will pray for him?"[1011] to the intent that they may believe you to be without sin, and entrust the wiping away of their sins to your prayers. Truly ye are great men, exalted above your fellows, heavenly, godlike, angels indeed rather than men, who pray for the people, and will not have the people pray for you! Are you more righteous than Paul, more perfect than that great apostle, who was wont to commend himself to the prayers of those whom he taught? "Continue," he says, "in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak."[1012] See how prayer is made for an apostle, which you would have not made for a bishop. Do you perceive of how devilish a nature your pride is? Prayer is made for an apostle, that he may make manifest the mystery of Christ as he ought to speak. Accordingly, if you had a pious people under you, you ought to have exhorted them to pray for you, that you might not give utterance as you ought not. Are you more righteous than the evangelist John, who says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us?"[1013] Finally, are you more righteous than Daniel, whom you yourself quoted in this very epistle, going so far as to say, "The most righteous king cast forth Daniel, as he supposed, to be devoured by wild beasts?"--a thing which he never did suppose, since he said to Daniel himself, in the most friendly spirit, as the context of the lesson shows, "Thy God, whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee."[1014] But on this subject we have already said much. With regard to the question now before us, viz. that Daniel was most righteous, it is proved not by your testimony, though that might be sufficient for me in the argument which I hold with you, but by the testimony of the Spirit of God, speaking also by the mouth of Ezekiel, where he named three men of most eminent righteousness, Noah, Daniel, and Job, who, he said, were the only men that could be saved from a certain excessive wrath of God, which was hanging over all the rest.[1015] A man, therefore, of the highest righteousness, one of three conspicuous for righteousness, prays, and says, "Whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God."[1016] And you say that you are without sin, because forsooth you are a priest; and if the people sin, you pray for them: but if you sin, who shall pray for you? For clearly by the impiety of such arrogance you show yourself to be unworthy of the mediation of that Priest whom the prophet would have to be understood in these words, which you do not understand. For now that no one may ask why this was said, I will explain it, so far as by God's grace I shall be able. God was preparing the minds of men, by His prophet, to desire a Priest of such a sort that none should pray for Him. He was Himself prefigured in the times of the first people and the first temple, in which all things were figures for our ensample. Therefore the high priest used to enter alone into the holy of holies, that he might make supplication for the people, which did not enter with the priest into that inner sanctuary;[1017] just as our High Priest is entered into the secret places of the heavens, into that truer holy of holies, whilst we for whom He prays are still placed here.[1017] It is with this reference that the prophet says, "If the people shall sin, the priest shall pray for them: but if the priest shall sin, who will pray for him?" Seek therefore a priest of such a kind that he cannot sin, nor need that one should pray for him. And for this reason prayer is made for the apostles by the people;[1018] but for that Priest who is the Master and Lord of the apostles is prayer not made. Hear John confessing this, and saying, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins."[1019] "_We_ have," he says; and "for _our_ sins." I pray you, learn humility, that you may not fall, or rather, that in time you may arise again. For had you not already fallen, you never would have used such words.

* * * * *

CHAP. CVI.--242. PETILIANUS said: "And that none who is a layman may claim to be free from sin, they are all bound by this prohibition: 'Be not partakers of other men's sins.'"

243. AUGUSTINE answered: You are mistaken _toto coelo_, as the saying is, by reason of your pride, whilst, by reason of your humility, you are unwilling to communicate with the whole world. For, in the first place, this was not spoken to a layman; and, in the second place, you are wholly ignorant in what sense it was spoken. The apostle, writing to Timothy, gives this warning to none other than Timothy himself, to whom he says in another place, "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery."[1020] And by many other proofs it is made clear that he was not a layman. But in that he says, "Be not partaker of other men's sins,"[1021] he means, Be not partaker voluntarily, or with consent. And hence he immediately subjoins directions how he shall obey the injunction, saying, "Keep thyself pure." For neither was Paul himself partaker of other men's sins, because he endured false brethren, over whom he groans, in bodily unity; nor did the apostles who preceded him partake of the thievery and crime of Judas, because they partook of the holy supper with him when he had already sold his Lord, and been pointed out as the traitor by that Lord.

* * * * *

CHAP. CVII.--244. PETILIANUS said: "By this sentence, again, the apostle places in the same category those who have fellowship in the consciousness of evil. 'Worthy of death,' he says, 'are both those who do such things, and those who have pleasure in them that do them.'"[1022]

245. AUGUSTINE answered: I care not in what manner you have used these words, they are true. And this is the substance of the teaching of the Catholic Church, that there is a great difference between those who consent because they take pleasure in such things, and those who tolerate while they dislike them. The former make themselves chaff, while they follow the barrenness of the chaff; the latter are the grain. Let them wait for Christ, who bears the winnowing-fan, that they may be separated from the chaff.

* * * * *

CHAP. CVIII.--246. PETILIANUS said: "Come therefore to the Church, all ye people, and flee the company of _traditors_, if you would not also perish with them. For that you may the more readily know that, while they are themselves guilty, they yet entertain an excellent opinion of our faith, let me inform you that I baptize their polluted ones; they, though may God never grant them such an opportunity, receive those who are made mine by baptism,--which certainly they would not do if they recognised any defects in our baptism. See therefore how holy that is which we give, when even our sacrilegious enemy fears to destroy it."

247. AUGUSTINE answered: Against this error I have said much already, both in this work and elsewhere. But since you think that in this sentence you have so strong a confirmation of your vain opinions, that you deemed it right to end your epistle with these words, that they might remain as it were the fresher in the minds of your readers, I think it well to make a short reply. We recognise in heretics that baptism, which belongs not to the heretics but to Christ, in such sort as in fornicators, in unclean persons or effeminate, in idolaters, in poisoners, in those who are fond of contention, in the envious, in drunkards, in revellers; and in men like these we hold valid the baptism which is not theirs but Christ's. For of men like these, and among them are included heretics also, none, as the apostle says, shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.[1023] Nor are they to be considered as being in the body of Christ, which is the Church, simply because they are materially partakers of the sacraments. For the sacraments indeed are holy, even in such men as these, and shall be of force in them to greater condemnation, because they handle and partake of them unworthily. But the men themselves are not within the constitution of the Church, which grows in its members through connection and contact with Christ, to the exaltation of God. For that Church is founded on a rock, as the Lord says, "Upon this rock I will build my Church."[1024] But they build on the sand, as the same Lord says, "Every one that heareth these sayings, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand."[1025] But that you may not suppose that the Church which is upon a rock is in one part only of the earth, and does not extend even to its furthest boundaries, hear her voice groaning from the psalm, amid the evils of her pilgrimage. For she says, "From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. For Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy."[1026] See how she cries from the end of the earth. She is not therefore in Africa alone, nor only among the Africans, who send a bishop from Africa to Rome to a few Montenses,[1027] and into Spain to the house of one lady.[1028] See how she is exalted on a rock. All, therefore, are not to be deemed to be in her which build upon the sand, that is, which hear the words of Christ and do them not, even though both among us and among you they have and transmit the sacrament of baptism. See how her hope is in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,--not in Peter or in Paul, still less in Donatus or Petilianus. What we fear, therefore, to destroy, is not yours, but Christ's; and it is holy of itself, even in sacrilegious hands. For we cannot receive those who come from you, unless we destroy in them whatsoever appertains to you. For we destroy the treachery of the deserter, not the stamp of the sovereign. Accordingly, do you yourself consider and annul what you said: "I," say you, "baptize their polluted ones; they, though may God never grant them such an opportunity, receive those who are made mine by baptism." For you do not baptize men who are infected, but you rebaptize them, so as to infect them. But we do not receive men who are made yours by baptism; but we destroy that error of yours whereby they are made yours, and we receive the baptism of Christ, by which they are baptized. Therefore it is not without significance that you introduce the words, "Though may God never grant them such an opportunity." For you said, "They, though may God never grant them such an opportunity, receive those who are made mine by baptism." And in this, while you intend the meaning to be, "May God never give them the opportunity of receiving such as are mine," I suppose that, without knowing what it meant, you said, "May God never make them mine that you should receive them." For we pray that those may not be really yours who come over at the present moment to the Catholic Church. Nor do they come over so as to be ours by right of baptism, but by fellowship with us, and that with us they may belong to Christ, in virtue of their baptism.

FOOTNOTES:

[683] Written about the beginning of 402 A.D.

[684] John i. 33.

[685] Rom. iv. 5.

[686] Jer. xvii. 5.

[687] I Cor. iv. 15.

[688] Phil. i. 17, 18.

[689] Phil. ii. 21.

[690] Matt. xxiii. 3.

[691] Matt. vii. 17, 16.

[692] Matt. xii. 35.

[693] Ecclus. xxxiv. 25; see on I. ix. 10.

[694] Matt. viii. 21, 22.

[695] See Matt. xii. 45.

[696] Rom. vi. 9.

[697] Acts viii. 13, 18, 19.

[698] 1 Tim. v. 6.

[699] Matt. xxvii. 4, 5.

[700] John xvii. 12.

[701] Ps. cix. 8, 9.

[702] 2 Macc. vii. 9. The words in brackets are not in the original Greek.

[703] Ps. xxii. 16-18.

[704] Ps. xxii. 27, 28.

[705] Ps. ii. 8.

[706] Majorinus, ordained by the Numidian bishops in 311 A.D.

[707] Gal. iii. 29.

[708] Rom. viii. 17.

[709] Gen. xxii. 18.

[710] Luke xxiv. 46, 47.

[711] 1 Cor. v. 5.

[712] 1 Tim. i. 20.

[713] John ii. 15-17.

[714] John x. 37.

[715] John viii. 44.

[716] Matt. xxiii. 33-35.

[717] Ps. xiv. 5, from the LXX. only.

[718] Ps. xiv. 6.

[719] Another reading is, "_nos_ esse viperas."

[720] See below, c. xx. 46; and _Contra Crescon_. III. xlix. 54.

[721] Ps. xxii. 27.

[722] Gen. xxii. 18.

[723] Rom. iv. 3.

[724] Ps. lvii. 5.

[725] Ps. xix. 5.

[726] Luke xxiv. 44-47.

[727] Ps. xiv. 5-8, from the LXX., the last verse only being in the Hebrew.

[728] Wisd. i. 11.

[729] Rom. iv. 5.

[730] Rom. iii. 26.

[731] John xx. 19, 21.

[732] Matt. vii. 15, 16.

[733] Matt. xxiv. 23.

[734] 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15.

[735] Gen. vi. 3.

[736] Matt. xxv. 41.

[737] 1 Cor. vi. 3.

[738] "Perdiderunt," which Migne thinks may be a confusion for "perierunt."

[739] Novissimus.

[740] 1 Cor. xv. 9.

[741] 2 Cor. xi. 26.

[742] Portenta.

[743] Down to this point Augustine had already answered Petilianus in the First Book, as he says himself below, III. 1. 61.

[744] Matt. x. 23.

[745] Matt. x. 16, 28.

[746] 1 Pet. iii. 15.

[747] Matt. v. 39.

[748] 1 Kings xviii.

[749] Wisd. xii. 23.

[750] Acts ix. 4, 5.

[751] Ps. cv. 15.

[752] Vivacem Christum.

[753] Rom. xiii. 2, 4.

[754] 1 John iii. 15.

[755] Acts ix. 4-18.

[756] John xiii. 10, 11.

[757] John xv. 3, 4.

[758] John xiv. 27.

[759] 1 Tim. i. 7.

[760] Mark x. 35-39.

[761] Matt. v. 10.

[762] Optatus Gildonianus is the person to whom he refers.

[763] Gildo, from subservience to whom Optatus received the name Gildonianus, was "Comes Africæ." The play on the meanings of "Comes," in the expression "quod Comitem haberet Deum," is incapable of direct translation. Cp. xxxvii. 88; ciii. 237.

[764] Ps. l. 18.

[765] Gal. vi. 5.

[766] Rom. xiv. 14.

[767] 1 Cor. vi. 10.

[768] Matt. xxv. 34, 41.

[769] John xiii. 10.

[770] Matt. xxviii. 19.

[771] Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36-43.

[772] Matt. iii. 12.

[773] Wisd. i. 5.

[774] Eph. iv. 5.

[775] Optatus.

[776] Gildo.

[777] See above, on xxiii. 53.

[778] Ps. cxxxii. 9.

[779] John xi. 51.

[780] Tit. i. 12, 13.

[781] Acts xvii. 23, 27, 28.

[782] Rom. xiii. 1.

[783] John xix. 11.

[784] John iii. 27.

[785] Matt. iii. 11.

[786] John xx. 22.

[787] Acts ii. 2-4.

[788] Isa. lxvi. 24.

[789] Matt. v. 14.

[790] 2 Sam. xii. 12.

[791] Ps. xix. 3-6, from the LXX.

[792] Eph. iv. 5.

[793] Matt. iii. 11.

[794] John xx. 22.

[795] Acts i. 5.

[796] Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.

[797] Matt. v. 9.

[798] See above, xxiii. 53.

[799] Acts i. 15, ii. 4, x. 44.

[800] Optatus Gildonianus.

[801] Gen. xxii. 18.

[802] Gal. vi. 5.

[803] Acts xix. 1-7.

[804] 1 Cor. x. 1, 2.

[805] Matt. xiii. 17.

[806] Matt. xi. 9, 11.

[807] Mark i. 2; cp. Mal. iii. 1.

[808] Mark i. 7.

[809] Matt. xxvi. 17.

[810] In his treatise on the Sermon on the Mount, Book II. iv. 12, Augustine again compares the "celebratio octavarum dierum, quas in regeneratione novi hominis celebramus" with the circumcision on the eighth day; and in _Serm._ 376 he says that the heads of the rebaptized were uncovered on the eighth day, as a token of liberty. Cp. _Epist._ II. xvii. 32, and Bingham, _Orig. Sacr._ XII. iv. 3.

[811] Augustine apparently supposed that the sacrifice of the paschal lamb was still observed among the Jews of the dispersion; cp. _Retract._ I. x. 2. It was, however, forbidden them to sacrifice the Passover except in the place which the Lord should choose to place His name there; and hence the Jews, though they observe the other paschal solemnities, abstain from the sacrifice of the lamb.

[812] Matt. xxi. 25.

[813] Gildo; see above, xxiii. 53.

[814] See Isa. xlvi. 8.

[815] Luke xv. 32.

[816] Acts i. 7, 8.

[817] Dan. ii. 35.

[818] 1 John ii. 19.

[819] Apparently from Wisd. iii. 6.

[820] Prov. ii. 22.

[821] Matt. xiii. 24-30.

[822] Gen. xxii. 18.

[823] Ps. lxxiii. 26.

[824] Ps. xvi. 5.

[825] John xi. 51.

[826] Prov. ii. 22.

[827] Ps. ii. 8.

[828] Ps. xxii. 27.

[829] 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15.

[830] 1 Cor. i. 12, 13.

[831] Ps. cxix. 42.

[832] Acts i. 8.

[833] Ps. xix. 4.

[834] Ps. cxix. 122.

[835] Matt. xxi. 43.

[836] See Ps. cv. 44.

[837] Gal. iii. 27.

[838] Gal. vi. 4.

[839] Ps. xxiii.

[840] Ps. cxliv. 9.

[841] Ps. xcvi. 1.

[842] 1 Cor. xi. 29.

[843] 1 Cor. iv. 3.

[844] Job ii. 3, 4.

[845] Matt. v. 5-7.

[846] Ps. i. 1.

[847] Matt. xxiii. 2, 3.

[848] Isa. lxvi. 3.

[849] Hos. ix. 4.

[850] Tit. i. 15.

[851] In the Council of Bagai.

[852] Ps. xiv. 3, from the LXX.

[853] Matt. vii. 21.

[854] Matt. vi. 10.

[855] 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.

[856] Matt. vii. 22, 23.

[857] 1 Cor. xiii. 2.

[858] Luke x. 20.

[859] Acts i. 8.

[860] Matt. vii. 22.

[861] 1 Tim. i. 8.

[862] Ps. lxxii. 8.

[863] Acts xxii. 25.

[864] Ex. xx. 13-17.

[865] Matt. xxi. 43.

[866] Matt. v. 19, 20.

[867] Matt. xxiii. 2, 3.

[868] 1 Cor. vi. 18.

[869] Matt. xii. 31, 32.

[870] Acts. i. 8.

[871] The older editions have, "Quam multum et quantum luctum dederint Deo (Erasmus alone _ideo_) laudes amatorum vestrorum:" "How much and how great grief have the praises of your lovers caused to God?" Migne restored the reading translated above ("Quam multis ... _Deo laudes_ armatorum vestrorum"), _Deo laudes_ being the cry of the Circumcelliones. Cp. Aug. in Ps. cxxxii. 6: "A quibus plus timetur _Deo laudes_ quam fremitus leonis;" and _ib._: "_Deo laudes_ vestrum plorant homines."

[872] Gen. xxii. 18.

[873] Ps. cxli. 5, from the LXX.

[874] Matt. v. 3-9.

[875] Luke xxiv. 36, 45-47.

[876] Matt. xxii. 39.

[877] Eph. v. 29.

[878] Gal. v. 17.

[879] 2 Tim. iv. 2.

[880] Eph. iv. 1-3.

[881] See Jer. viii. 11.

[882] Ps. xlvi. 9.

[883] Dan. ii. 35.

[884] Eph. ii. 14.

[885] Matt. v. 10.

[886] Matt. xxiii. 13, 15, 23, 24, 27, 28.

[887] Matt. x. 16.

[888] John x. 27.

[889] Luke xxiv. 39, 46, 47.

[890] Matt. vii. 15, 16.

[891] 1 Cor. xi. 19.

[892] John xiii. 34, 35.

[893] 2 Cor. xi. 26.

[894] 1 Cor. xi. 1.

[895] Phil. ii. 20, 21.

[896] 2 Cor. vii. 5.

[897] 1 Cor. xiii. 1-8.

[898] Eph. iv. 2, 3.

[899] Matt. xiii. 38, 39, 30.

[900] Gal. i. 8.

[901] Ps. ci. 5.

[902] Luke ix. 49, 50.

[903] Phil. i. 15-18.

[904] 1 Cor. xiii. 6.

[905] See below, xciv. 217, and _c. Gaudentium_, I. xxv. 28 sqq.

[906] Rom. xiii. 4.

[907] Augustine speaks of the Moor Rogatus, bishop of Cartenna in Mauritania Cæsariensis, in his ninety-third epistle, to Vincentius, c. iii. 11. We learn from the eighty-seventh epistle, to Emeritus, sec. 10, that the followers of Rogatus called the other Donatists _Firmiani_, because they had been subjected to much cruelty at their hands under the authority of Firmus.

[908] Optatus of Thaumugade, the friend of Gildo.

[909] Augustine mentions again in his thirty-fifth epistle, to Eusebius, sec. 3, that Hippo had received the Roman citizenship. His argument is that, even if not a native of the place, the deacon should have been safe from molestation wherever Roman laws prevailed.

[910] Emphyteuticam. The land, therefore, was held under the emperors, and less absolutely in the power of the owner than if it had been freehold.

[911] Augustine remonstrates with Crispinus on the point, _Epist._ lxvi.

[913] See Ecclus. xv. 16, 17.

[914] Matt. v. 10; 1 Pet. ii. 20.

[915] Acts v. 29.

[916] Prov. xiv. 28.

[917] Luke xxiv. 46, 47.

[918] Acts i. 8.

[919] Ex. xxxii. 28, 31.

[920] Mal. i. 11.

[921] Ps. cxiii. 3.

[922] Ps. l. 14.

[923] 1 John iii. 15.

[924] Matt. iv. 6, 7.

[925] John xviii. 10, 11; Matt. xxvi. 52.

[926] Ps. cxx. 6, 7.

[927] See _Contr. Cresc._ l. III. c. lxvii., l. IV. cc. lx. lxi.

[928] John xii. 24.

[929] Veracissime. Another reading is "feracissime," "most abundantly."

[930] Matt. v. 39.

[931] 2 Cor. xi. 20, 23.

[932] Deut. xix. 21.

[933] 2 Mac. vii.

[934] Dan. iii.

[935] Matt. ii. 16.

[936] Dan. vi.

[937] Matt. xxvii. 26.

[938] 1 Cor. ii. 6-8.

[939] John xvi. 2.

[940] 1 Kings xxi.

[941] Matt. xiv. 8, 9.

[942] Matt. xxvii. 24-26.

[943] Ps. ii.

[944] Matt. xxvii. 24.

[945] Some editions have Varius in the place of Geta, referring to Aurelius Antoninus Heliogabalus, of whom Lampridius asserts that he derived the name of Varius from the doubtfulness of his parentage. The MSS. agree, however, in the reading "Getano," which was a name of the second son of Severus, the brother of Caracalla.

[946] Optatus defends the cause of Macarius at great length in his third book against Parmenianus. Of Ursacius he says in the same place: "You are offended at the times of a certain Leontius, of Ursacius, Macarius, and others." And Augustine, in his third book against Cresconius, c. xx., introduces an objection of the Donatists against himself: "But so soon as Silvanus, bishop of Cirta, had refused to communicate with Ursacius and Zenophilus the persecutors, he was driven into exile," Usuardus, deceived by a false story made up by the Donatists, enters in his Martyrology that a pseudo-martyr Donatus suffered on the 1st of March, under Ursacius and Marcellinus, to this effect: "On the same day of the holy martyr Donatus, who suffered under Ursacius the judge and the tribune Marcellinus."

[947] 1 Kings xxi.

[948] Prov. xviii. 21.

[949] Constitutio quam impetraverunt. Some editions have "quam dederunt Constantio;" but there is no place for Constantius in this history of the Donatists, nor was any boon either sought or obtained from him in their name. The Louvain editors therefore restored "constitutio," which is the common reading of the MSS.

[950] Matt. vii. 3.

[951] Gen. xx.

[952] Gen. xxvi. 11.

[953] Gen. xlvii.

[954] Gen. xxxix., xli.

[955] Gen. xlii. 15.

[956] Ex. ii. 10.

[957] 1 Sam. xxvii.

[958] 1 Kings xviii. 44-46.

[959] 2 Kings iv. 13.

[960] Dan. iii.-vi.

[961] John xvi. 2.

[962] Phil. iii. 5, 6.

[963] Acts xxiii. 12-33.

[964] The reign of Constantine lasted about thirty-two years, from 306 to 337 A.D. Julian died, after an independent reign, subsequent to the death of Constantius, of only one year and seven months, at the age of thirty, in a war against the Persians, in 363 A.D.

[965] Gen. ix. 5.

[966] Ps. ii. 10-12.

[967] Ps. ii. 7, 8.

[968] Isa. ii. 18; Zech. xiii. 2.

[969] Simulacri; and so the MSS. The older editions have "adorandi simulacra;" but the singular is more forcible in its special reference to the image on the plain of Dura. Dan. iii.

[970] Dan. ii.-vi.

[971] This is illustrated by the words of Augustine, _Epist. 105, ad Donatistas_, sec. 7: "Do ye not know that the words of the king were, 'I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion from generation to generation' (Dan. iv. 2, 3)? Do you not, when you hear this, answer _Amen_, and by saying this in a loud voice, place your seal on the king's decree by a holy and solemn act?" In the Gothic liturgy this declaration was made on Easter Eve (when the third chapter of Daniel is still read in the Roman Church), and the people answered "_Amen_."

[972] Nam nemo vivit invitus; et tamen puer ut hoc volens discat, invitus vapulat. Perhaps a better reading is, "Nam nemo _vult_ invitus; et tamen puer ut volens discat," etc., leaving out "hoc," which is wanting in the Fleury MSS.: "No one wishes against his will; and yet a boy, wishing to learn, is beaten against his will."

[973] Gal. vi. 5.

[974] Luke xxiv. 47.

[975] Ps. cxviii. 8, 9.

[976] Acts xxiii. 12-33.

[977] Acts i. 8.

[978] Matt. xvi. 26.

[979] 1 Pet. ii. 20.

[980] Matt. v. 3.

[981] 2 Cor. vi. 10.

[982] Matt. xvi. 25.

[983] Matt. xix. 29.

[984] 1 Cor. xiii. 3.

[985] Acts i. 8.

[986] See above, c. lxxxiii.

[987] Matt. x. 28.

[988] Ps. lvii. 4.

[989] Job xiv., according to the LXX.

[990] Ps. li. 7.

[991] Ps. cxviii. 8, 9.

[992] Jer. xvii. 5.

[993] Matt. xxiii. 25.

[994] Jer. xv. 15-18, according to the LXX.

[995] 2 Cor. vii. 5.

[996] 2 Cor. xi. 29.

[997] Rev. xvii. 15.

[998] Acts viii. 13.

[999] Col. i. 23.

[1000] Ps. xciii. 1.

[1001] Gildo.

[1002] Ps. cxli. 5, from the LXX.

[1003] Prov. xxvii. 6, from the LXX.

[1004] Ps. cxxxiii.

[1005] Compare _Tract. 15 in Joannem_, n. 27: "Messiah was anointed. The Greek for 'anointed' is 'Christ,' the Hebrew, Messiah; whence also in Phoenician we have 'Messe' for 'anoint.' For these languages, the Hebrew, Phoenician, and Syrian, are closely cognate, as well as geographically bordering on each other." See also Max Müller's _Lectures on the Science of Language_, series I. p. 267: "The ancient language of Phoenicia, to judge from inscriptions, was most closely allied to Hebrew."

[1006] Col. i. 18.

[1007] Matt. xix. 21.

[1008] Acts iv. 32-35.

[1009] Luke xxiv. 47.

[1010] Gal. v. 19-21.

[1011] Apparently misquoted from 1 Sam. ii. 25.

[1012] Col. iv. 2-4.

[1013] 1 John i. 8.

[1014] Dan. vi. 16.

[1015] Ezek. xiv. 14.

[1016] Dan. ix. 20.

[1017] Lev. xvi.; Heb. ix. 7.

[1018] Acts xiv. 22.

[1019] 1 John ii. 1, 2.

[1020] 1 Tim. iv. 14.

[1021] 1 Tim. v. 22.

[1022] See Rom. i. 32.

[1023] Gal. v. 19-21.

[1024] Matt. xvi. 18.

[1025] Matt. vii. 26.

[1026] Ps. lxi. 2, 3.

[1027] That the Donatists were called at Rome _Montenses_, is observed by Augustine, _de Hoeresibus_, c. xxix., and _Epist._ liii. 2; and before him by Optatus, Book II. That they were also called _Cutzupitani_, or _Cutzupitæ_, we learn from the same epistle, and from his treatise de _Unitate Ecclesæ_, c. iii.

[1028] Lucilla.

BOOK THIRD.

IN THIS BOOK AUGUSTINE REFUTES THE SECOND LETTER[1029] WHICH PETILIANUS WROTE TO HIM AFTER HAVING SEEN THE FIRST OF AUGUSTINE'S EARLIER BOOKS. THIS LETTER HAD BEEN FULL OF VIOLENT LANGUAGE; AND AUGUSTINE RATHER SHOWS THAT THE ARGUMENTS of PETILIANUS HAD BEEN DEFICIENT AND IRRELEVANT, THAN BRINGS FORWARD ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF HIS OWN STATEMENTS.

CHAP. I.--1. Being able to read, Petilianus, I have read your letter, in which you have shown with sufficient clearness that, in supporting the party of Donatus against the Catholic Church, you have neither been able to say anything to the purpose, nor been allowed to hold your tongue. What violent emotions did you endure, what a storm of feelings surged within your heart, on reading the answer which I made, with all possible brevity and clearness, to that portion of your letter which alone at that time had come into my hands! For you saw that the truth which we maintain and defend was confirmed with such strength of argument, and illustrated with such abundant light, that you could not find anything which could be said against it, whereby the charges which we make might be refuted. You observed, also, that the attention of many who had read it was fixed on you, since they desired to know what you would say, what you would do, how you would escape from the difficulty, how you would make your way out of the strait in which the word of God had encompassed you. Hereupon you, when you ought to have shown contempt for the opinion of the foolish ones, and to have gone on to adopt sound and truthful sentiments, preferred rather to do what Scripture has foretold of men like you: "Thou hast loved evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness."[1030] Just as if I in turn were willing to recompense unto you railing for railing; in which case, what should we be but two evil speakers, so that those who read our words would either preserve their self-respect by throwing us aside with abhorrence, or eagerly devour what we wrote to gratify their malice? For my own part, since I answer every one, whether in writing or by word of mouth, even when I have been attacked with insulting accusations, in such language as the Lord puts in my mouth, restraining and crushing the stings of empty indignation in the interests of my hearer or reader, I do not strive to prove myself superior to my adversary by abusing him, but rather to be a source of health in him by convicting him of his error.

2. For if those who take into consideration what you have written have any feelings whatsoever, how did it serve you in the cause which is at issue between us respecting the Catholic communion and the party of Donatus, that, leaving a matter which was in a certain sense of public interest, you should have been led by private animosity to attack the life of an individual with malicious revilings, just as though that individual were the question in debate? Did you think so badly, I do not say of Christians, but of the whole human race, as not to suppose that your writings might come into the hands of some prudent men, who would lay aside all thoughts of individuals like us, and inquire rather into the question which was at issue between us, and pay heed, not to who and what we were, but to what we might be able to advance in defence of the truth or against error? You should have paid respect to these men's judgment, you should have guarded yourself against their censure, lest they should think that you could find nothing to say, unless you set before yourself some one whom you might abuse by any means within your power. But one may see by the thoughtlessness and foolishness of some men, who listen eagerly to the quarrels of any learned disputants, that while they take notice of the eloquence wherewith you lavish your abuse, they do not perceive with what truth you are refuted. At the same time, I think your object partly was that I might be driven, by the necessity of defending myself, to desert the very cause which I had undertaken; and that so, while men's attention was turned to the words of opponents who were engaged not in disputation, but in quarrelling, the truth might be obscured, which you are so afraid should come to light and be well known among men. What therefore was I to do in opposing such a design as this, except to keep strictly to my subject, neglecting rather my own defence, praying withal that no personal calumny may lead me to withdraw from it? I will exalt the house of my God, whose honour I have loved, with the tribute of a faithful servant's voice, but myself I will humiliate and hold of no account. "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of unrighteousness."[1031] I will therefore turn my discourse from you, Petilianus, for a time, and direct it rather to those whom you have endeavoured to turn away from me by your revilings, as though my endeavour rather were that men should be converted unto me, and not rather with me unto God.

* * * * *

CHAP. II.--3. Hear therefore, all ye who have read his revilings, what Petilianus has vented against me with more anger than consideration. To begin with, I will address you in the words of the apostle, which certainly are true, whatever I myself may be: "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small matter that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self." With regard to what immediately follows, although I do not venture to apply to myself the words, "For I am conscious of nothing in myself,"[1032] yet I say confidently in the sight of God, that I am conscious in myself of none of those charges which Petilianus has brought against my life since the time when I was baptized in Christ; "yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God. And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another."[1033] "Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."[1034] Again I say, "Let no man glory in men;" nay, oftentimes I repeat it, "Let no man glory in men." If you perceive anything in us which is deserving of praise, refer it all to His praise, from whom is every good gift and every perfect gift; for it is "from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."[1035] For what have we which we did not receive? and if we have received it, let us not boast as though we had not received it.[1036] And in all these things which you know to be good in us, be ye our followers, at any rate, if we are Christ's;[1037] but if, on the other hand, you either suspect, or believe, or see that any evil is in us, hold fast to that saying of the Lord's, in which you may safely resolve not to desert His Church because of men's ill deeds: Whatsoever we bid you observe, that observe and do; but whatsoever evil works you think or know to be in us, those do ye not.[1038] For this is not the time for me to justify myself before you, when I have undertaken, neglecting all considerations of self, to recommend to you what is for your salvation, that no one should make his boast of men. For "cursed be the man that trusteth in man."[1039] So long as this precept of the Lord and His apostle be adhered to and observed, the cause which I serve will be victorious, even if I myself, as my enemy would fain have thought, am faint and oppressed in my own cause. For if you cling most firmly to what I urge on you with all my might, that every one is cursed who places his trust in man, so that none should make his boast of man, then you will in no wise desert the threshing-floor of the Lord on account of the chaff which either is now being dispersed beneath the blast of the wind of pride, or will be separated by the final winnowing;[1040] nor will you fly from the great house on account of the vessels made to dishonour;[1041] nor will you quit the net through the breaches made in it because of the bad fish which are to be separated on the shore;[1042] nor will you leave the good pastures of unity, because of the goats which are to be placed on the left when the Good Shepherd shall divide the flock;[1043] nor will you separate yourselves by an impious secession, because of the mixture of the tares, from the society of that good wheat, whose source is that grain that dies and is multiplied thereby, and that grows together throughout the world until the harvest. For the field is the world,--not only Africa; and the harvest is the end of the world,[1044]--not the era of Donatus.

* * * * *

CHAP. III.--4. These comparisons of the gospel you doubtless recognise. Nor can we suppose them given for any other purpose, except that no one should make his boast in man, and that no one should be puffed up for one against another, or divided one against another, saying, "I am of Paul," when certainly Paul was not crucified for you, nor were you baptized in the name of Paul, much less in that of Cæcilianus, or of any one of us,[1045] that you may learn, that so long as the chaff is being bruised with the corn, so long as the bad fishes swim together with the good in the nets of the Lord, till the time of separation shall come, it is your duty rather to endure the admixture of the bad out of consideration for the good, than to violate the principle of brotherly love towards the good from any consideration of the bad. For this admixture is not for eternity, but for time alone; nor is it spiritual, but corporal. And in this the angels will not be liable to err, when they shall collect the bad from the midst of the good, and commit them to the burning fiery furnace. For the Lord knoweth those which are His. And if a man cannot depart bodily from those who practise iniquity so long as time shall last, at any rate, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity itself.[1046] For in the meantime he may separate himself from the wicked in life, and in morals, and in heart and affections, and in the same respects depart from his society; and separation such as this should always be maintained. But let the separation in the body be waited for till the end of time, faithfully, patiently, bravely. In consideration of which expectation it is said, "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, upon the Lord."[1047] For the greatest palm of toleration is won by those who, among false brethren that have crept in unawares, seeking their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ, yet show that they on their part seek not to disturb the love which is not their own, but Jesus Christ's, by any turbulent or rash dissension, nor to break the unity of the Lord's net, in which are gathered together fish of every kind, till it is drawn to the shore, that is, till the end of time, by any wicked strife fostered in the spirit of pride: whilst each might think himself to be something, being really nothing, and so might lead himself astray, and wish that sufficient reason might be found for the separation of Christian peoples in the judgment of himself or of his friends, who declare that they know beyond all question certain wicked men unworthy of communion in the sacraments of the Christian religion: though whatever it may be that they know of them, they cannot persuade the universal Church, which, as it was foretold, is spread abroad throughout all nations, to give credit to their tale. And when they refuse communion with these men, as men whose character they know, they desert the unity of the Church; whereas they ought rather, if there really were in them that charity which endureth all things, themselves to bear what they know in one nation, lest they should separate themselves from the good whom they were unable throughout all nations to fill with the teaching of evil alien to them. Whence even, without discussing the case, in which they are convicted by the weightiest proofs of having uttered calumnies against the innocent, they are believed with greater probability to have invented false charges of giving up the sacred books, when they are found to have themselves committed the far more heinous crime of wicked division in the Church. For even, if whatever imputations they have cast of giving up the sacred books were true, yet they in no wise ought to have abandoned the society of Christians, who are commended by holy Scripture even to the ends of the world, on considerations which they have been familiar with, while these men showed that they were not acquainted with them.

* * * * *