{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p><span class=\"smcap\">Chap. viii.</span>—32. But they, as we have sometimes said before\r\nin other places, do not charge themselves with what they do\r\nto us; while, on the other hand, they charge us with what\r\nthey do to themselves. For which of our party is there who\r\nwould desire, I do not say that one of them should perish, but\r\nshould even lose any of his possessions? But if the house of\r\nDavid could not earn peace on any other terms except that\r\nAbsalom his son should have been slain in the war which he<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_506\">[Pg 506]</a></span>\r\nwas waging against his father, although he had most carefully\r\ngiven strict injunctions to his followers that they should use\r\ntheir utmost endeavours to preserve him alive and safe, that\r\nhis paternal affection might be able to pardon him on his repentance,\r\nwhat remained for him except to weep for the son\r\nthat he had lost, and to console himself in his sorrow by reflecting\r\non the acquisition of peace for his kingdom?<a id=\"FNanchor_1233_1233\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_1233_1233\">[1233]</a> The same,\r\nthen, is the case with the Catholic Church, our mother; for when\r\nwar is waged against her by men who are certainly different\r\nfrom sons, since it must be acknowledged that from the great\r\ntree, which by the spreading of its branches is extended over\r\nall the world, this little branch in Africa is broken off, whilst\r\nshe is willing in her love to give them birth, that they may\r\nreturn to the root, without which they cannot have the true\r\nlife, at the same time if she collects the remainder in so large a\r\nnumber by the loss of some, she soothes and cures the sorrow of\r\nher maternal heart by the thoughts of the deliverance of such\r\nmighty nations; especially when she considers that those who\r\nare lost perish by a death which they brought upon themselves,\r\nand not, like Absalom, by the fortune of war. And if you\r\nwere to see the joy of those who are delivered in the peace\r\nof Christ, their crowded assemblies, their eager zeal, the gladsomeness\r\nwith which they flock together, both to hear and\r\nsing hymns, and to be instructed in the word of God; the\r\ngreat grief with which many of them recall to mind their\r\nformer error, the joy with which they come to the consideration\r\nof the truth which they have learned, with the indignation\r\nand detestation which they feel towards their lying\r\nteachers, now that they have found out what falsehoods they\r\ndisseminated concerning our sacraments; and how many of\r\nthem, moreover, acknowledge that they long ago desired to be\r\nCatholics, but dared not take the step in the midst of men of\r\nsuch violence,—if, I say, you were to see the congregations of\r\nthese nations delivered from such perdition, then you would\r\nsay that it would have been the extreme of cruelty, if, in the\r\nfear that certain desperate men, in number not to be compared\r\nwith the multitudes of those who were rescued, might be\r\nburned in fires which they voluntarily kindled for themselves,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_507\">[Pg 507]</a></span>\r\nthese others had been left to be lost for ever, and to be tortured\r\nin fires which shall not be quenched.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","A TREATISE CONCERNING THE CORRECTION OF THE DONATISTS; FORMING EPISTLE 185 IN MIGNE'S EDITION OF AUGUSTINE'S WORKS."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-786"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4cb653efabe67048adb7b7594964f3ebc874aa38879f0201d86ff21f2b5c9079","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_1233_1233","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_1233_1233","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_1233_1233\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_1233_1233\"><span class=\"label\">[1233]</span></a> 2 Sam. xviii. xxii.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_1233_1233","text_sha256":"94766e04399f4c8a3744ffa7b69d8a1ac18f755f9fe595fe17b4408b5ee89ced","verified":false,"work_id":null}