Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>184. <span class=\"smcap\">Augustine</span> answered: No one is indeed to be compelled\r\nto embrace the faith against his will; but by the\r\nseverity, or one might rather say, by the mercy of God, it is\r\ncommon for treachery to be chastised with the scourge of\r\ntribulation. Is it the case, because the best morals are chosen<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_352\">[Pg 352]</a></span>\r\nby freedom of will, that therefore the worst morals are not\r\npunished by integrity of law? But yet discipline to punish\r\nan evil manner of living is out of the question, except where\r\nprinciples of good living which had been learned have come\r\nto be despised. If any laws, therefore, have been enacted\r\nagainst you, you are not thereby forced to do well, but are\r\nonly prevented from doing ill.<a id=\"FNanchor_905_905\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_905_905\">[905]</a> For no one can do well\r\nunless he has deliberately chosen, and unless he has loved\r\nwhat is in free will; but the fear of punishment, even if it\r\ndoes not share in the pleasures of a good conscience, at any\r\nrate keeps the evil desire from escaping beyond the bounds of\r\nthought. Who are they, however, that have enacted laws by\r\nwhich your audacity could be repressed? Are they not those\r\nof whom the apostle says that \"they bear not the sword in\r\nvain; for they are the ministers of God, revengers to execute\r\nwrath on them that do evil?\"<a id=\"FNanchor_906_906\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_906_906\">[906]</a> The whole question therefore\r\nis, whether you are not doing ill, who are charged by the\r\nwhole world with the sacrilege of so great a schism. And yet,\r\nneglecting the discussion of this question, you talk on irrelevant\r\nmatters; and while you live as robbers, you boast that you\r\ndie as martyrs.<a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_907_907\">[907]</a> And, through fear either of the laws themselves,\r\nor of the odium which you might incur, or else because\r\nyou are unequal to the task of resisting, I do not say so many\r\nmen, but so many Catholic nations, you even glory in your\r\ngentleness, that you do not compel any to join your party.\r\nAccording to your way of talking, the hawk, when he has\r\nbeen prevented by flight from carrying off the fowls, might\r\ncall himself a dove. For when have you ever had the power\r\nwithout using it? And hence you show how you would do\r\nmore if you only could. When Julian, envying the peace of\r\nChrist, restored to you the churches which belonged to unity,\r\nwho could tell of all the massacres which were committed by\r\nyou, when the very devils rejoiced with you at the opening of\r\ntheir temples? In the war with Firmus and his party, let\r\nMauritania Cæsariensis itself be asked to tell us what the\r\nMoor Rogatus<a id=\"FNanchor_907_907\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_907_907\">[907]</a> suffered at your hands. In the time of Gildo,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_353\">[Pg 353]</a></span>\r\nbecause one of your colleagues<a id=\"FNanchor_908_908\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_908_908\">[908]</a> was his intimate friend, let\r\nthe followers of Maximianus be our witnesses to their sufferings.\r\nFor if one might appeal to Felicianus himself, who is\r\nnow with you, on his oath, whether Optatus did not compel\r\nhim against his will to return to your communion, he would\r\nnot dare to open his lips, especially if the people of Musti\r\ncould behold his face, who were witnesses to everything that\r\nwas done. But let them, as I have said, be witnesses to what\r\nthey have suffered at the hands of those with whom they\r\nacted in such wise towards Rogatus. The Catholic Church\r\nherself, though strengthened by the assistance of Catholic\r\nprinces ruling by land and sea, was savagely attacked by\r\nhostile troops in arms under Optatus. It was this that first\r\nmade it necessary to urge before the vicar Servanus that the\r\nlaw should be put in force against you which imposes a fine\r\nof ten pounds of gold, which none of you have ever paid to\r\nthis very day, and yet you charge us with cruelty. But\r\nwhere could you find a milder course of proceeding, than that\r\ncrimes of such magnitude on your part should be punished by\r\nthe imposition of a pecuniary fine? Or who could enumerate\r\nall the deeds which you commit in the places which you hold,\r\nof your own sovereign will and pleasure, each one as he can,\r\nwithout any friendship on the part of judges or any others in\r\nauthority? Who is there of our party, among the inhabitants\r\nof our towns, who has not either learned something of this\r\nsort from those who came before him, or experienced it for\r\nhimself? Is it not the case that at Hippo, where I am, there\r\nare not wanting some who remember that your leader Faustinus\r\ngave orders, in the time of his supreme power, in consequence\r\nof the scanty numbers of the Catholics in the place,\r\nthat no one should bake their bread for them, insomuch that\r\na baker, who was the tenant of one of our deacons, threw\r\naway the bread of his landlord unbaked, and though he was\r\nnot sentenced to exile under any law, he cut him off from all<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_354\">[Pg 354]</a></span>\r\nshare in the necessaries of life not only in a Roman state,<a id=\"FNanchor_909_909\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_909_909\">[909]</a>\r\nbut even in his own country, and not only in his own country,\r\nbut in his own house? Why, even lately, as I myself recall\r\nwith mourning to this day, did not Crispinus of Calama, one\r\nof your party, having bought a property, and that only copyhold,<a id=\"FNanchor_910_910\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_910_910\">[910]</a>\r\nboldly and unhesitatingly immerse in the waters of a\r\nsecond baptism no less than eighty souls, murmuring with\r\nmiserable groans under the sole influence of terror; and this\r\nin a farm belonging to the Catholic emperors, by whose laws\r\nyou were forbidden even to be in any Roman city?<a id=\"FNanchor_911_911\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_911_911\">[911]</a> But\r\nwhat else was it, save such deeds as these of yours, that made\r\nit necessary for the very laws to be passed of which you complain?\r\nThe laws, indeed, are very far from being proportionate\r\nto your offences; but, such as they are, you may thank\r\nyourselves for their existence. Indeed, should we not certainly\r\nbe driven on all sides from the country by the furious\r\nattacks of your Circumcelliones, who fight under your command\r\nin furious troops, unless we held you as hostages in the\r\ntowns, who might well be unwilling to endure under any circumstances\r\nthe mere gaze of the people, and the censure of\r\nall honourable men, from very shame, if not from fear? Do\r\nnot therefore say, \"Far be it, far be it from our conscience,\r\nto force any one to embrace our faith.\" For you do it when\r\nyou can; and when you do not do it, it is because you are\r\nunable, either from fear of the laws or the odium which would\r\naccompany it, or because of the numbers of those who would\r\nresist.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SECOND."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-613"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"0d5e30b52eb7cf8a02ec365381a84dcdbb0ef0d8e2212cb2d2129c5e922c7294","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_905_905","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Title leaves identify J. R. King, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1872; catalog identifies translator John Richard King (1835-1907). Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/American Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_905_905","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_905_905\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_905_905\"><span class=\"label\">[905]</span></a> See below, xciv. 217, and <i>c. Gaudentium</i>, <span class=\"smcap\">I.</span> xxv. 28 sqq.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_905_905","text_sha256":"cc77eeeb6fe535e170afeb6ee14ec655b585ea38d569f9c1b51bbaa6ae5b2a63","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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