with listening, when we speak of them in an unexpected and unusual manner, as I have said as if they really existed (since we indeed do not know), his attention will be restored from his weariness. But let this be brief, especially because it is inserted out of order, lest the very remedy increase the disease of weariness which we wish to relieve; and what remains should be hastened through, and a speedy termination be promised and held out.-H. de Romestin, Certain Smaller Treatises of St. Augustine, 28–30.

No. 172. Donatist Sacraments valid but not efficacious

From Augustine, Ep. lxi. [401] § 2 (Op. ii. 149;
P.L. xxxiii. 229).

[§ 2] When, therefore, any come to us from the party of Donatus, we do not welcome the evil which belongs to them, viz. their error and schism; these, the only obstacles to our concord, are removed from between us, and we embrace our brethren, standing with them, as the Apostle says, "in the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace," 1 and acknowledging in them the good things which are divine, as their holy Baptism, the blessing conferred by Ordination, their profession of self-denial, their vow of celibacy, their faith in the Trinity, and such-like; all which things were indeed theirs before but "profited them nothing, because they had not charity." 2 For what truth is there in the profession of Christian charity by him who does not embrace Christian unity? When, therefore, they come to the Catholic Church, they gain thereby not what they already possessed, but something which they had not before-namely, that those things which they possessed begin then to be profitable to them. For in the Catholic Church they obtain the root of charity in the bond of peace and in the fellowship of unity; so that all the sacraments of truth which they hold serve not to condemn, but to deliver them.-Letters of St. Augustine, i. 241: tr. J. G. Cunningham.

1 Ephes. iv. 3.

2

I Cor. xiii. 3.

VOL. II.

No. 173.-Christ the Principal Agent in the Sacraments

From Augustine, Contra litt. Petil. [402], iii. § 59 (Op. ix. 326 sq.; P.L. xliii. 378 sq.).

[§ 59] Do not, therefore, any longer say, "The conscience of one that gives in holiness is what we look for to cleanse the conscience of the recipient," lest you should be asked: When a stain on the conscience of the giver is concealed, who cleanses the conscience of the recipient? And when you shall have answered, Either God or an angel (since there is no other answer which you possibly can make), then should follow a consequence whereby you would be confounded: Those then are justified with greater holiness who are baptized by undetected evil men, so as to be cleansed by God or by an angel, than those who are baptized by men who are genuinely and manifestly good, who cannot be compared with God or with the angels. But prevail upon yourselves to say what is said by Truth and by the Catholic Church, that not only when the minister of baptism is evil, but also when he is holy and good, hope is still not to be placed in man, but in Him that justifieth the ungodly, in whom, if any man believe, his faith is counted for righteousness. For when we say Christ baptizes, we do not mean by a visible ministry, as Petilianus believes, or would have men think that he believes, to be our meaning, but by a hidden grace, by a hidden power in the Holy Spirit, as it is said of Him by John the Baptist, "the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." Nor has He, as Petilianus says, now ceased to baptize; but He still does it not by any ministry of the body, but by the invisible working of His majesty. For in that we say "He Himself baptizes," we do not mean "He Himself holds and dips in the water the bodies of the believers"; but He himself invisibly cleanses, and that He does to the whole Church without exception.-Augustine, On the Donatist Controversy 461 sq. tr. J. R. King.

No. 174.--The Objectivity of the Sacraments From Augustine, Contra litt. Petil. [402], iii. § 88 (Op. i. 246; P.L. xliii. 291).

[§ 88] And if you do not say this for fear of being ridiculed for your madness even by the insane themselves, what answer will you be able to make when you are asked why men should have required to be baptized after receiving baptism from John, while no one needs to be baptized after receiving it from Optatus, unless it be that the former were baptized with the baptism of John, while, whenever any one is baptized with the baptism of Christ, whether he be baptized by Paul or by Optatus, there is no difference in the nature of his baptism, though there is so great a difference between Paul and Optatus? Return, then, O ye transgressors, to a right mind, and do not seek to weigh the sacraments of God by considerations of the characters and deeds of men. For the sacraments are holy through Him to whom they belong; but when taken in hand worthily, they bring reward; when unworthily, judgment.— Augustine, On the Donatist Controversy, 310: tr. J. R. King.

No. 175-Augustine on Repressive Legislation, 408

From Augustine, Ep. xciii. §§ 2, 17 (Op. ii. 232, 237 sq.; P.L. xxxiii. 321–9).

[§ 5] You are of opinion that no one should be compelled [S to follow righteousness; and yet you read that the householder said to his servants, Compel them to come in." You also read how he who was at first Saul and afterwards Paul, was compelled, by the great violence with which Christ coerced him, to know and to embrace the truth; for you cannot but think that the light which our eyes enjoy is more precious to men than money or any other possession. This light, lost suddenly by him when he was cast to the ground by the heavenly voice, he did not recover until he became a member of the holy Church. You are also of opinion that no coercion is to be used with any man in order to his deliverance from the fatal consequences of

error; and yet you see that in examples which cannot be disputed, this is done by God, who loves us with more real regard for our profit than any other can, and you hear Christ saying, "No man can come unto Me, except the Father draw him," 1 which is done in the hearts of all those who, through fear of the wrath of God, betake themselves to Him. You know also that sometimes the thief scatters food before the flock that he may lead them astray, and sometimes the shepherd brings wandering sheep back to the flock with his rod.

[§ 17] I have therefore yielded to the evidence afforded by these instances which my colleagues have laid before me. For originally my opinion was that no one should be coerced into the unity of Christ, that we must act only by words, fight only by arguments, and prevail by force of reason, lest we should have those whom we knew as avowed heretics feigning themselves to be Catholics. But this opinion of mine was overcome not by the words of those who controverted it, but by the conclusive instances to which they could point. For, in the first place, there was set over against my opinion my own town; which, although it was once wholly on the side of Donatus, was brought over to the Catholic unity by fear of the Imperial edicts, but which we now see filled with such detestation of your ruinous perversity, that it would scarcely be believed that it had ever been involved in your error.--Letters of St. Augustine, i. 399, 409 sq. tr. J. G. Cunningham.

No. 176.-Grace

From Augustine, De Spiritu et littera [412], § 5 (Op. x. 4; P.L. xlv. 204).

[§ 5] We, however, on our side, affirm that the human will is so divinely aided in the pursuit of righteousness, that, in addition to the fact of man's being created with a free-will, and besides the doctrine which instructs him how he ought to live, he receives the Holy Ghost, by whose gift there springs up in his mind a delight in, and a love of, that supreme and unchangeable good which is God, even in the present state, while he still "walks by faith" and not

1 Luke xiv. 23.

yet "by sight"; in order that by this gift to him of the earnest, as it were, of the free gift, he may conceive an ardent desire to cleave to his Maker, and burn to approach to a participation in that true light, that it may go well with him from Him to whom he owes all that he is. A man's free-will, indeed, only avails to induce him to sin, if he knows not the way of truth; and, even after his duty and his proper aim shall begin to become known to him, unless he take delight and feel a love therein, he neither does his duty, nor sets about it, nor effects a righteous life. Now, in order that such a course may engage our affections, God's "love is shed abroad in our hearts not through the free-will which arises from ourselves, but "through the Holy Ghost which is given us."--The Anti-Pelagian Writings of St. Augustine, i. 160: tr. P. Holmes.

No. 177.-Augustine to Marcellinus on the
Punishment of Donatists, 412

From Augustine, Ep. cxxxiii. [412], § 2 (Op. ii. 396 E;
P.L. xxxiii. 509).

[§ 2] Fulfil, Christian judge, the duty of an affectionate father; let your indignation against their crimes be tempered by considerations of humanity; be not provoked by the atrocity of their sinful deeds to gratify the passion of revenge, but rather be moved by the wounds which these deeds have inflicted on their own souls to exercise a desire to heal them. Do not lose now that fatherly care which you maintained when prosecuting the examination, in doing which you extracted the confession of such horrid crimes, not by stretching them on the rack, not by furrowing their flesh with iron claws, not by scorching them with flames, but by beating them with rods-a mode of correction used by schoolmasters, and by parents themselves in chastising children, and often also by bishops in the sentences awarded by them. Do not, therefore, now punish with extreme severity the crimes which you searched out with lenity. The necessity for harshness is greater in the investigation than in the infliction of punishment; for even the gentlest men use diligence and stringency in searching out a hidden crime, that they may find to whom they may show mercy.