{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>45. <span class=\"smcap\">Augustine</span> answered: Defend yourselves from the\r\ncharge of the persecution which those men suffered at the\r\nhands of your party who separated themselves from you with\r\nthe followers of Maximianus, and therein you will find our\r\ndefence. For if you say that you committed no such deeds,\r\nwe simply read to you the records of the proconsular province\r\nand the state. If you say that you were right in persecuting\r\nthem, why are you unwilling to suffer the like yourselves?\r\nIf you say, \"But we caused no schism,\" then let this be\r\ninquired into, and, till it is decided whether it be so or not,\r\nlet no one make accusation against persecutors. If you say\r\nthat even schismatics ought not to have suffered persecution, I\r\nask whether it is also the case that they ought not to have been<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_279\">[Pg 279]</a></span>\r\ndriven out of the basilicas, in which they lay snares for the\r\nleading astray of the weak, even though it were done by duly\r\nconstituted authorities? If you say that this also should not\r\nhave been done, first restore the basilicas to the followers of\r\nMaximianus, and then discuss the point with us. If you say\r\nthat it was right, then see what they ought to suffer at the\r\nhands of duly constituted authority, who, in resisting it, \"resist\r\nthe ordinance of God.\" Wherefore the apostle expressly says,\r\n\"For he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister\r\nof God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that doeth evil.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_753_753\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_753_753\">[753]</a>\r\nBut even if this had been discovered after the truth had been\r\nsearched out with all diligence, that not even after public\r\ntrial ought schismatics to undergo any punishment, or be\r\ndriven from the positions which they have occupied, for their\r\ntreachery and deceit; and if you should say that you are\r\nvexed that the followers of Maximianus should have suffered\r\nsuch conduct at the hands of some of you,—why does not the\r\nwheat of the Lord cry out with the more freedom from the whole\r\nfield of the Lord, that is, from the world, and say, Neither are\r\nwe at all affected by what the tares and the chaff amongst\r\nus do, seeing that it is contrary to our wish? If you confess\r\nthat it is sufficient to clear you of responsibility, that all the\r\nevil that is done by men of your party is done in opposition\r\nto your wishes, why then have you separated yourselves?\r\nFor if your reason for not separating from the unrighteous\r\namong the party of Donatus is that each man bears his own\r\nburden, why have you separated yourselves from those throughout\r\nthe world whom you think, or profess to think, to be unrighteous?\r\nIs it that you might all share equally in bearing\r\nthe burden of schism?</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SECOND."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-474"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"c609896ad2f887c9e501618a3f509d91bd44384b2152fe8ac193bccb487734c5","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"ROM","chapter":13,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Rom. xiii. 2","verse":2,"verse_end":2}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_753_753","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_753_753","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_753_753\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_753_753\"><span class=\"label\">[753]</span></a> Rom. xiii. 2, 4.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_753_753","text_sha256":"62f1b57c0b4486795796fa3a88e794d28424b7b563d74a6636733c08a97e60b9","verified":false,"work_id":null}