2 John X. 27, -AP. LXXVIL] THE LETTERS OF PETILIAX, THE DOXATIST Himself, "They come unto you in slieep's I clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know i them." ' The sheep's clothing is seen in the! ■' praises of Christ; the fruits of their wolfish nature in their slanderous teeth.
Chap. 75. — 165. Petiliaxus said: "O wretched traditors! Thus indeed it was fitting that Scripture should be fulfilled. But m you I grieve for this, that you have shown vourselves worthy to fulfill the part of wickedness."
166. AuGUSTiN answered: I might rather say, O wretched traditors! if I were minded, or rather if justice urged me to cast up against all of you the deeds of some among your i.umber. But as regards what bears on all of you, O wretched heretics, I on my part will quote the remainder of your words; for it is written, " There must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you."- Therefore " it was fitting thus that Scripture should be fulfilled. But in you I grieve for this, that Aou have shown yourselves worthy to fulfill tiie part of wickedness."
Chap. 76. — 167. Petilianus said: "But to us the Lord Christ, in opposition to your deadly commands, commanded simple patience and harmlessness. For what says He? 'A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another; as I have loved you. that ye. also love one another.' And again, ' By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.' " ^ 16S. AuGUSTiN answered: If you did not transfer these v/ords, so widely differing from your character, to the surface of your talk, how could you be covering yourselves with sheep's clothing?
Chap. 77. — 169. Petilianus said: "Paul also, the apostle, whilst he was suffering fearful persecutions at the hands of all nations, endured even more grievous troubles at the hands of false brethren, as he bears witness of himself, being oftentimes afflicted: ' Li perils by the heathen, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils among false brethren.'-* And again he says, ' Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. '^ When, therefore, false brethren like yourselves assault us, we imitate the patience of our master Paul under our dangers."
170. x\uGUSTiN answered: Certainly those of whom you speak are false brethren, of whom the apostle thus complains in another place, where he is e.xtoUing the natural sincerity of Timothy: "I have no man," he says, " like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's." * Undoubtedly he was speaking of those who were with him at the time when he was writing that epistle; for it could not be that all Christians in every quarter of the earth were seeking their own, and not the things which were Jesus Christ's. It was of those, therefore, as I said, who were with him at the time when ne was writing the words which you have quoted, that he uttered this lamentation. For who else was it to whom he referred, when he says in another place, "Without were fightings, within were fears,"' except those whom he feared all the more intensely because they were within? If, therefore, you would imitate Paul, you would be tolerant of false brethren within, not a slanderer of the innocent without.
Chap. 78. — 171. Petilianus said: "For what kind of faith is that which is in you which is devoid of charity? when Paul himself says, ' Though I speak with the tongues of men, and have the knowledge of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.'"
172. AuGUSTiN answered: This is what I said just now, that you were desirous to be clad in sheep's clothing, that, if possible, the sheep might feel your bite before it had any consciousness of your approach. Is it not that praise of charity in which you indulge that commonlv proves your calumny in the clearest light of truth? Will you bring it about that those arms shall be no longer ours, because you endeavor to appropriate them first? Furthermore, these arms are endowed with life: from whatever quarter they are launched, they recognize whom they should destroy. If they have been sent forth from our hands, they will fix themselves in you; if they are aimed by you, they recoil upon yourselves. For in these apostolic words, which commend the excellence of charity, we are wont to show to you how profitless it is to man that he should * Phil. II. 20, 21.
* Phil. II. 20, 21.
7 2 Cor. vii. 5.
[Book II.'
be in possession of faitli or of the sacraments, when he has not charity, that, when you come to CathoHc unity, you may understand what it is that is conferred on you, and how great a thing it is of which you were at least to some extent in want; for Christian charity cannot be preserved except in the unity of the Church: and that so you may see that without it you are nothing, even though you may be in possession of baptism and faith, and through this latter may be able even to remove mountains. But if this is your opinion as well, let us not repudiate and reject in you either the sacraments of God which we know, or faith itself, but let us hold fast charity, without which we are nothing even with the sacraments and with faith. But we hold fast charity if we cling to unity; while we cling to unity, if we do not make a fictitious unity in a party by our own words, but recognize it in a united whole through the words of Christ.
Chap. 79. — 173. Petilianus said: "And again, 'Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own.' But you seek what belongs to other men. ' Is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth.' ' This is to say, in short, Charity does not persecute, does not inflame emperors to take away the lives of other men; does not plunder other men's goods; does not go on to murder men whom it has spoiled."
174. AuGUSTiN answered: How often must I tell you the same thing? If you do not prove these charges, they tell against no one in the world; and if you prove them, they have no bearing upon us; just as those things have no bearing upon you which are daily done by the furious deeds of the insane, by the luxury of the drunken, by the blindness of the suicides, by the tyranny of robbers. For who can fail to see that what I say is true? But now if charity were in you, it would rejoice in the truth. For how neatly it is said under covering of the sheep's clothing, "Charity beareth all things, endureth all things!" but when you come to the test, the wolf's teeth cannot be concealed. For when, in obedience to the words of Scripture, "forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, "^ charity would compel you, even if you knew of any evils within the Church, I do I I Cor. xiii. i-8 Eph. iv. 2, 3.
not say to consent to them, but yet to tolerate them if you could not prevent them, lest, on account of the wicked who are to be separat ed by the winnowing-fan at the last day, you should at the present time sever the bond of peace by breaking off from the society of good men, you, resisting her influence, and being cast out by the wind of levity, charge the wheat with being chaff, and declare that what you invent of the wicked holds good through the force of contagion even in the righteous. And when the Lord has said, "The field is the world, the harvest is the end of the world," though He said of the wheat and of the tares, "Let both grow together until the harvest," ^ you endeavor by your words to bring about a belief that the wheat has perished throughout the main portion of the field, and only continued to exist in your little corner, — being desirous that Christ should be proved a liar, but you the man of truth. And you speak, indeed, against your own conscience; for no one who in any way looks truly at the gospel will venture in his heart to say that in all the many nations throughout which is heard the response of Amen, and among whom Alleluia is sung almost with one single voice, no Christians are to be found. And yet, that it may not appear that the party of Donatus, which does not communicate with the several nations of the world, is involved in error, if any angel from heaven, who could see the whole world, were to declare that outside your communion good and innocent men were nowhere to be found, there is little doubt that you would rejoice over the iniquity of the human race, and boast of having told the truth before you had received assurance of it. How then is there in you that charity which rejoices not in iniquity? But be not deceived. Throughout the field, that is, throughout the world, there will be found the wheat of the Lord growing till the end of the world. Christ has said this: Christ is truth. Let charity be in you, and let it rejoice in the truth. Though an angel from heaven preach unto you another gospel contrary to His gospel, let him be accursed.-* Chap. 80. — 175. Petilianus said: "Lastly, what is the justification of persecution? I ask you, you wretched men, if it so be that you think that your sin rests on any authority of law.''
176. AuGUSTiN answered: He who sins, sins not on the authority of the law, but against the authority of the law. But since you ask what < Gal. i. 8.
Chap. LXXXIL] THE LETTERS OF PETILIAN, THE DONATIST.
is the justification of persecution, I ask you in turn wliose voice it is tiiat says in the psalm, "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off." ' Seek therefore tne reason or the measure of the persecution, and do not display your gross ignorance by finding fault in general terms with those who Dersecute the unrighteous.
"But I Jesus Chap. 81. — 177. Petilianus said answer you, on the other hand, that Christ never persecuted any one. And when the apostle found fault with certain parties, and suggested tliat He should have recourse to persecution (He Himself having come to create faith by inviting men to Him, rather than by compelling them), those apostles say, 'Many lay on hands in Thy name, and are not with us:' but Jesus said, 'Let them alone; if they are not against you, they are on your side.' " 1 78, AuGUSTiN answered: You say truly that you will bring forth out of your store with greater abundance things which are not written in the Scriptures. For if you wish to bring forth proofs from holy Scripture, will you bring forth even those which you cannot find therein? But it is in your own power to multiply your lies according to your will. For where is what you quoted written? or when was that either suggested to our Lord, or answered by our Lord? "Many lay on hands in Thy name, and are not with us," are words that no one of the disciples ever uttered to the Son of God; and therefore neither could the answer have been made by Him, "Let them alone: if they are not against you, they are on your side." But there is something somewhat like it which we really do read in the gospel, — that a suggestion was made to the Lord about a certain man who was casting out devils in His name, but did not follow Him with His disciples; and in that case the Lord does say, "Forbid him not: for he that IS not agamst us is for us."- But this has nothing to do with pointing out parties whom the Lord is supposed to have spared. And if you have been deceived by an apparent resemblance of sentiment, this is not a lie, but merely human infirmity. But if you wished to cast a mist of falsehood over those who are unskilled in holy Scripture, then may you be pricked to the heart, and covered with confusion and corrected. Yet there is a point which we would urge in respect of this very man of whom the suggestion was made to our Lord. For even as at that time, beyond the communion of the disciples, the holiness of Christ was yet of the greatest efficacy, even so now, beyond the communion of the Church, the holiness of the sacraments is of avail. For neither is baptism consecrated save in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But who will be so utterly insane as to declare that the name of the Son may be of avail even beyond the communion of the Church, but that this is not possible with the names of the Father and of the Holy Ghost? or that it may be of avail in healing a man, but not in consecrating baptism? But it is manifest that outside the communion of the Church, and the most holy bond of unity, and the most excellent gift of charity, neither he by whom the devil is cast out nor he who is baptized obtains eternal life; just as those do not obtain it, who through communion in the sacraments seem indeed to be within, and through the depravity of their character are understood to be without. But that Christ persecuted even with bodily chastisement those whom He drove with scourges from the temple, we have already said above.
Chap. 82. — 179. Petilianus said: "But the holy apostle said this: 'In any way, whatsoever it may be,' he says, 'let Christ be preached.' " 180. AuGusTiN answered: You speak against yourself; but yet, since you speak on the side of truth, if you love it, let what you say be counted for you. For I ask of you of whom it was that the Apostle Paul said this? Let us, if }'ou please, trace this a little further back. "Some," he says, "preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will, some of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. But some indeed preach Christ even of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. What then? notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." ^ We see that they preached what was in itself holy, and pure, and true, but yet not in a pure manner, but of envy and contention, without charity, without purity. Certainly a short time ago you appeared to be urging the praises of charity as against us, according to the witness of the apostle, that where there is no charity, whatever there is is of no avail; and yet you see that in those there is no charity, and there was with them the preaching of Christ, of which the apostle says here that he rejoices. For it is not that he re- ' Ps. ci. 5.
= Luke i.\. 49, 50.
I 3 Phil. i. 15-18.
[Book II.
joices in what is evil in tliem, but in what is good in the name of Jesus Christ. In him assuredly there was the charity which "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. ^' ' The envy, moreover, which was in them is an evil proceeding from the devil, for by this he has both killed and cast down. Where then were these wicked men whom the apostle thus condemns, and in whom there was so much that was good to cause him to rejoice? Were they within, or without? Choose which you will. If they were within, then Paul knew them, and yet they did not pollute him. And so you would not be polluted in the unity of the whole world by those of whom you make certain charges, whether these be true, or falsehoods invented by yourselves. Wherefore do you separate yourself? Why do you destroy yourself by the criminal sacrilege of schism? But if they \vere without, then you see that even in those who were without, and who certainly cannot belong to everlasting life, since they have not charity^ and do not abide in unity, then is yet found the holiness of the name of Christ, so that the apostle joyfully confirms their teaching, on account of the intrinsic holiness of the name, although he repudiates them. We are right, therefore, in not doing wrong to the actual name, when those come to us who were without; but we correct the individuals, while we do honor to the name.
Do you therefore take heed, and see how wickedly you act in the case of those whose acts as it seems you condemn, by treating as naught the sacrament of the name of Christ, which is holy in them. And you, indeed, as is shown by your words, think that those men of whom the apostle spoke were outside the limits of the Church. Therefore, when you fear persecution from the Catholics, of which you speak in order to create odium against us, you have confirmed in heretics the name of Christ to which you do despite by rebaptizing.
Chap. 83. — 181. Petilianus said: "If then there are not some to whom all this power of faith is found to be in opposition, on what principle do you persecute, so as to compel men to defile themselves:?''
182. AuGUSTiN answered: We neither persecute you, except so far as truth persecutes falsehood; nor has it anything to do with us if any one has persecuted you in other ways, just as it has nothing to do with you if any of your party do likewise; nor do we compel you to defile yourselves, but we persuade you to be cured.
I I Cor, xiii. 6.
Chap. 84.— 183. Petilianus said: "But if authority had been given by some law for persons to be compelled to what is good, you yourselves, unhappy men, ought to have been compelled by us to embrace the purest faith. But far be it, far be it from our conscience to compel any one to embrace our faith."
184, AuGUSTiN answered: No one is indeed to be compelled to embrace the faith against his will; but by the severity, or one might rather say, by the mercy of God, it is common for treachery to be chastised with the scourge of tribulation. Is it the case, because the best morals are chosen by freedom of will, that therefore the worst morals are not punished by integrity of law? But yet discipline to punish an evil manner of living is out of the question, except where principles of good living which had been learned have come to be despised. If any laws, therefore, have been enacted against you, you are not thereby forced to do well, but are only prevented from doing ill.- For no one can do well unless he has deliberately chosen, and unless he has loved what is in free will; but the fear of punishment, even if it does not share in the pleasures of a good conscience, at any rate keeps the evil desire from escaping beyond the bounds of thought. Who are they, however; that have enacted adverse laws by which your audacity could be repressed? Are they not those of whom the apostle says that "they bear not the sword in vain; for they are the ministers of God, revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evil 1"'^ The whole question therefore is, whether you are not doing ill, who are charged by the whole v/orld with the sacrilege of so great a schism. And yet, neglecting the discussion of this question, you talk on irrelevant matters; and while you live as robbers, you boast that you die as martyrs.'' And, through fear either of the laws themselves, or of the odium which you migat incur, or else because you are unequal to the task of resisting, I do not say so many men, but so many Catholic nations, you even glory in your gentleness, that you do not compel any to join your party. According to your way of talking, the hawk, when he has been prevented by flight from carrying off the fowls, might call himself a dove. For when have you ever had the power without using it? And hence you show how ynu 3 Rom. xiii. 4.
4 Augustin speaks of the Moor Rogatus, bishop of Cartenna in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Cjesariensis, in his ninetythird epistle, to Vincentius, c. iii. II. ^Ve learn from the eightyseventh epistle, to Emeritus, sec. 10, that the followers of Rojjatus called the other Donatists Firtniani^ because they had been subjected to much cruelty at their hands under the authority of Fir- ; Chap. LXXXV.] THE LETTERS OF PETILIAN, THE DONATIST.
would do more if you only could. Wnen Julian, envying the peace of Christ, restored to you tae churches which belonged to unity, who could tell of all the massacres which were committed by you, when the very devils rejoiced with you at the opening of their temples? In the war with Firmus and his party, let Mauritania Csesariensis itself be asked to tell us what the Moor Rogatus ' suffered at your hands. In the time of Gildo, because one of your colleagues- was his intimate friend, let the followers of Maximianus be our witnesses to their sufferings. For if one might appeal to Felicianus himself, w^ho is now with you, on his oath, whether Optatus did not compel him against his will to return to your communion, he would not dare to open his lips, especially if the people of ^lusti could behold his face, who were witnesses to everything that was done. But let them, as I have said, be witnesses to what they have suffered at the hands of those with whom they acted in such wise towards Rogatus. The Catholic Church herself, though strengthened by the assistance of Catholic princes ruling by land and sea, was savagely attacked by hostile troops in arms under Optatus. It was this that first made it necessary to urge before the vicar Seranus that the law should be put in force against you which imposes a fine of ten pounds of gold, which none of you have ever paid to this very day, and yet you charge us with cruelty. But where could you find a milder course of proceeding, than that crimes of such magnitude on your part should be punished by the imposition of a pecuniary fine? Or who could enumerate all the deeds which you commit in the places which you hold, of your own sovereign will and pleasure, each one as he can, without any friendship on the part of judges or any others in authority? Who is there of our party, among the inhabitants of our towns, who has not either learned something of this sort from those who came before him, or experienced it for himself? Is it not the > case that at Hippo, where I am, there are not; wanting some who remember that your leader Faustinus gave orders, in the time of his supreme power, in consequence of the scanty numbers of the Catholics in the place, that no one should bake their bread for them, insomuch that a baker, who was the tenant of one of our deacons, threw away the bread of his landlord unbaked, and though he was not sentenced to exile under any law, he cut him off from all share in the necessaries of life not - Optatus of Thaumugade (Thamogade), the friend of Ciildo.
only in a Roman state, ^ but even in his own country, and not only in his own country, but in his own house? Why, even lately', as I myself recall with mourning to this day, did not Crispinus of Calama, one of your party, having bought a property, and that only copyhold," boldly and unhesitatingly immerse in the waters of a second baptism no less than eighty souls, murmuring with miserable groans under the sole influence of terror; and this in a farm belonging to the Catholic emperors, by whose laws you were forbidden even to be in any Roman city?^ But what else was ii, save such deeds as these of yours, that made it necessary for the very laws to be passed of which you complain? The laws, indeed, are very far from being proportionate to your offenses; but, such as they are, you may thank yourselves for their existence. Indeed, should we not certainly be driven on all sides from the country by the furious attacks of your Circumcelliones, who iigh' under your command in furious troops, unless we held you as hostages in the towns, who might well be unwilling to endure under any circumstances the mere gaze of the people, and the censure of all honorable men, from very shame, if not from fear? Do not therefore say, "Far be it, far be it from our conscience, to force any one to embrace our faith." For you do it when you can; and when you do not do it, it is because you are unable,, either from fear of the laws or the odium which would accompany it, or because of the numbers of those who would resist.
Chap. 85. — 185. Petilianus said: "For the Lord Christ says, 'No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.'' But why do we not permit each several person to follow his free will, since the Lord God Himself has given free will to men, showing to them, however, the way of righteousness, lest any one by chance should perish from ignorance of it? For He said, "I have placed before thee good and evil. I have set fire and water before thee; choose which thou wilt.' From which choice, you wretched men, you have chosen for yourselves not water, but rather fire. 'But yet,' He says, 'choose the good, that thou mayest live,'' 3 Augustin mentions again in his thirty-fifth epistle, to Eusebius, sec. 3. that Hippo had rcciived the Koman citizenship. His arguinent is that, even if not a native of the place, the deacon should have been safe from molestation wherever Roman laws prevailed.
4 Kmphyteuticam. 'I'he land, therefore, w.-is held under the emperors, and less absolutely in the power of the owner than if it had been freehold.
5 Augustin remonstrates with Crispinus on the point, Epist. ixvi.
I 5 74 l^HE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book II.
You who will not choose the good, have, by your own sentence, declared that you do not wish to live."
1 86. AuGUSTiN answered: If I were to propose to you the question how God the Father draws men to the Son, when He has left them to themselves in freedom of action, you would perhaps find it difificult of solution. For how does He draw them to Him if He leaves them to themselves, so that each should clioose what he pleases? And yet both these facts are true; but this is a truth which few