{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>195. <span class=\"smcap\">Augustine</span> answered: Why then do you not restrain\r\nthe weapons of the Circumcelliones with such words as these?\r\nShould you think that you were going beyond the words of\r\nthe gospel if you should say, All they that take the cudgel\r\nshall perish with the cudgel? Withhold not then your\r\npardon, if our ancestors were unable to restrain the men by\r\nwhom you complain that Marculus was thrown down a precipice;\r\nfor neither is it written in the gospel, He that useth\r\nto throw men down a precipice shall be cast therefrom. And\r\nwould that, as your charges are either false or out of date, so\r\nthe cudgels of those friends of yours would cease! And yet,\r\nperhaps, you take it ill that, if not by force of law, at any\r\nrate in words, we take away their armour from your legions\r\nin saying that they manifest their rage with sticks alone.\r\nFor that was the ancient fashion of their wickedness, but now\r\nthey have advanced too far. For amid their drunken revellings,\r\nand amid the free licence of assembling together, wandering\r\nin the streets, jesting, drinking, chambering in company\r\nwith women who have no husbands, they have learned not\r\nonly to brandish cudgels, but to wield swords and whirl slings.\r\nBut why should I not say to them (God knows with what\r\nfeelings I say it and with what feelings they receive it!), Madmen,\r\nthe sword of Peter, though drawn from motives not yet\r\nfree from fleshly impurity, was yet drawn in defence of the\r\nbody of Christ against the body of His persecutor, but your\r\narms are portioned out against the cause of Christ; but the\r\nbody of which He is the head, that is, His Church, extends\r\nthroughout all nations? He Himself has said this, and has\r\nascended into heaven, whither the fury of the Jews could not\r\nfollow Him; and it is your fury which attacks His members\r\nin the body, which on His ascension He commended to our\r\ncare. In defence of those members all men rage against you,\r\nall men resist you, as many as being in the Catholic Church,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_361\">[Pg 361]</a></span>\r\nand possessing as yet but little faith, are influenced by the\r\nsame motives as Peter was when he drew his sword in the\r\nname of Christ. But there is a great difference between your\r\npersecution and theirs. You are like the servant of the Jews'\r\nhigh priest; for in the service of your princes you arm yourselves\r\nagainst the Catholic Church, that is, against the body\r\nof Christ. But they are such as Peter then was, fighting even\r\nwith the strength of their bodies for the body of Christ, that\r\nis, the Church. But if they are bidden to be still, as Peter\r\nthen was bidden, how much more should you be warned that,\r\nlaying aside the madness of heresy, you should join the unity\r\nof those members for which they so fight? But, being wounded\r\nby such men as these, you hate us also; and, as though you\r\nhad lost your right ears, you do not hear the voice of Christ\r\nas He sits at the right hand of the Father. But to whom\r\nshall I address myself, or how shall I address myself to them,\r\nseeing that in them I find no time wherein to speak? for even\r\nearly in the morning they are reeking with wine, drunk, it\r\nmay be already in the day, it may be still from overnight.\r\nMoreover, they utter threats, and not they only, but their own\r\nbishops utter threats concerning them, being ready to deny\r\nthat what they have done has any bearing on them. May the\r\nLord grant to us a song of degrees, in which we may say,\r\n\"My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am\r\nfor peace: but when I speak, they are for war.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_926_926\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_926_926\">[926]</a> For thus\r\nsays the body of Christ, which throughout the whole world is\r\nassailed by heretics, by some here, by others there, and by all\r\nalike wherever they may be.<a id=\"FNanchor_927_927\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_927_927\">[927]</a></p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","BOOK SECOND."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-624"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"bfe8f6ea53bf968ebdd9a94157b8edcbdc780a8ecb7588d4f162917008325172","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_927_927","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_927_927","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_927_927\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_927_927\"><span class=\"label\">[927]</span></a> See <i>Contr. Cresc.</i> l. <span class=\"smcap\">III.</span> c. lxvii., l. <span class=\"smcap\">IV.</span> cc. lx. lxi.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_927_927","text_sha256":"80d1a3034a2b960380d16e7a497c29adcb7c08231da1085ba8668798dae4b33c","verified":false,"work_id":null}