237. AuGUSTiN answered: As representing I.e body of Christ, which is the Church of t le living God, the pillar and mainstay of the truth, dispersed throughout the world, on account of the gospel which was preached, ac-( ording to the words of the apostle, " to every ( reature which is under heaven:'' ' as repre-M.-nting the whole world, of which David, w hose words you cannot understand, has said, '' The world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved; '' - whereas you contend that it not only has been moved, but has been utterly 'estroyed: as representing this, I answer, I o not persecute the innocent. But David lid, " The oil of the sinner," not of the aditor; not of him who offers incense, not of the persecutor, but '' of the sinner." What t len will you make of your interpretation?
-ce first whether you are not yourself a sini>t-r. It is nothing to the point if you should -ay, I am not a traditor, I am not an offerer (if incense, I am not a persecutor. I myself, bv the grace of God, am none of these, nor the world, which cannot be moved. But say, if you dare, I am not a sinner. For David says, "The oil of the sinner." For so long as any sin, however light, be found in you, what ground have you for maintaining that you are not concerned in the expression that is used, " The oil of the sinner"? For I would ask whether you use the Lord's prayer in your devotions? For if you do not use that prayer, which our Lord taught His disciples for their use, where have you learned another, proportioned to your merits, as exceeding the merits of the apostles? But if you pray, as our great Master deigned to teach us, how do you say, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us? " For \n tliis petition we are not referring to those sins which have already been forgiven us in baptism. Therefore these words in the prayer either exclude you from being a petitioner to God, or else they make it manifest that you too are a sinner. Let ' Co!, i. 23.
Ps. xciii. I.
those then come and kiss your head who have been baptized by you, whose heads have perished through your oil. But see to yourself, both what you are and what you think about yourself. Is it really true that Optatp.s, whom pagans, Jews, Christians, men of our party, men of your party, all proclaim throughout the whole of Africa to have been a thief, a traitor, an oppressor, a contriver of schism; not a 'friend, not a client, but a tool of him 3 whom one of your party declared to have been his count, companion, and god, — is it true that he was not a sinner in any conceivable interpretation of the term? What then will they do whose heads were anointed by one guilty of a capital offense? Do not those very men kiss your heads, on whose heads you pass so serious a judgment by this interpretation which you place upon the passage? Truly I would bid you bring them forth, and admonish them to heal themselves. Or is it rather your heads which should be healed, who run so grievously astray? What then, you will ask, did David really say: Why do you ask me: rather ask himself. He answers you in the verse above: " The righteous shall smite me in kindness, and shall reprove me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint myhead."-* What could be plainer? what more manifest? I had rather, he says, be healed by a rebuke administered in kindness, than be deceived and led astray by smooth flattery, coming on me as an ointment on my head. The self-same sentiment is found elsewhere in Scripture under other words: " Better are the wounds of a friend than the proffered kisses of an enemy. "^ Chap. 105. — 238. Petilianus said: "But he thus praises the ointment of concord among brethren: ' Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.'*^ Thus, he says, is unity anointed, even as the priests are anointed."
239. AuGUSTiN answered: Wiiat 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 nnme from chrism, that is, from anointing. Him the Hebrews call the Messiah, which word is closely akin sGildo. •! Ps. cxii. 5; tp. I-XX and Hieron.
5 Prov. x.tvii. 6; cp. LXX. and Hieron. " Ps. cxxxiii.
N [Book II.
to the Phoenician language, as is the case with very many other Hebrew words, if not with almost all.' 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."^ 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, through which the head of Him who gives the clothing enters. 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. "3 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 down at the apostles^ feet. Neither said any of them that aught 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." "» I doubt not that you are aware that it is so written. Recognize, therefore, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Recognize the beard of Aaron; ^Compare Tract, xv. 27 in Joaniiein: "Messiah was anointed. The Greek for ' anointed ^ is ' Christ,' the Hebrew Messiah; whence also in Phcenician we have ' Messe ' for ' anoint.' For these languajres, the Hebrew, Phoenician and Syrian, are closely cognate, as well as geographically bordering on each other." See also Max Miiller's Lectures en the Science of Language, series I. Lect. VIII. " The ancient language of Phoenicia, to judge from inscriptions, was most closely allied to Hebrew."
recognize the skirts of the spiritual garments. Search the Scriptures themselves, and see j where those things began to be done; you I 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 ^'?s And by this ointment you Vv'ish the sacrament of chrism to be understood, which is mdeed 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, heresies, envyings, 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?"^ 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, v/hich is openly rife among you. However, setting aside all these, are there none among you lascivious, none covetous, none open m 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 i Luke xxiv. 47.
'^ Cial. V. 19-21.
Chap. CVI.] THE LETTERS OF PETILIAN, THE DONATIST.
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 '' Aaron and to the skirts of his garments, as to suppose that they are to be placed there? I- at be that from us. Separate therefore the •isible 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. 106. — 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 sliall sin, the priest shall pray for them: but if the priest shall sin, who will pray for him? ' " 241. AuGUSTiN 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 understanding of the words? For thus you blazon yourselves among the wretched peo]:)Ie, (juoting from the prophet: "If the peoi)le shall sin, the priest shall pray for them: l)ut if the priest shah sin, who will pray for him?"' to » Apparently misquoted from i Sam. ii. 25.
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 al)ove your fellows, heavenl)^ 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."' 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 ouglit 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? " 3 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." •» 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 sufiicient 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.5 A man, therefore, of the highest righteousness, one of three conspicuous for righteousness, prays, and says, " While 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."* And you say that you are without sin, because forsooth you are a priest; and if - Col. iv. 2-4. 5 Ezek. xiv. 14.
4 Dan. vi. 16.
[Book li.
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;' 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/ 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;- 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." ^ ^' JFc 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. 107. — 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. AuGUSTiN answered: You are mistaken fofo cceIo, 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 ' Lev. xvi.! Heh.
■ '-' Cor.
3 I Tohu ii. I, 2.
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."" 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," 5 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. 108. — 244. Petilianus said: "By this sentence, again, the apostle places in the same category those who have fellowship in the consciousness of evil. ' ^Vorthy of death,' he says, ' are both those who do such things, and those who consent with those that do them.'"^ 245. AuGUSTiN 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. 109. — 246. Petilianus said: " Come therefore to the Church, all ye people, and flee the company of tradiiors, 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 recognized any defects in our baptism. See therefore how holy that is which we give, when even our sacrilegious enemy fears to destroy it."
247. AuGUSTiN answered: Agamst 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 k& itw •» I Tim. iv. 14.
5 I T im. V. 22.
6 Rom. i. ^2.
Chap. CIX,] I confirmation of your vain opinions, that you 1 deemed it right to end your epistle with these I words, that they migln remain as it were the iresher in the minds of your readers, I think,t well to make a short reply. We recognize m heretics that baptism, which belongs not to ilie heretics but to Christ, in such sort as in fornicators, in unclean persons or effeminate, i in idolaters, in poisoners, in those who retain enmity, in those who are fond of contention, in the credulous, in the proud, given to seditions, 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.' 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 increases in the increase of God in its members through connection and contact with Christ. For that Church is founded on a rock, as the Lord says, "Upon this rock I will build my Church." "" But they build on the sand, as the same Lord says, " Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand." 3 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 have I cried unto Thee; when my heart was distressed Thou didst lift me up upon the rock; Thou hast led me, Thou, my hope, hast become a tower of courage from the face of the enemy.'*" See how she