Chapter 74.—163. Petilianus said: "But these things do not alarm us Christians; for of the evil deeds which you are destined to commit we have before a warning given us by the Lord Christ. ‘Behold,’ He says, ‘I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.’2175
You fill up the measure of the madness of
wolves, who either lay or are preparing to lay
snares against the
Churches in precisely the same way in which
wolves, with their mouths wide open against the fold, even with destructive eagerness, breathe forth panting
anger from their jaws, suffused with
blood."
164. Augustin answered: I should be glad to utter the same sentiment against you, but not in the words which you have used: they are too inappropriate, or rather mad. But what was required was, that you should show that we were wolves and that you were sheep, not by the emptiest of evil-speaking, but by some distinct proofs. For when I too have said, We are sheep, and you are wolves, do you think that there is any difference caused
by the fact that you express the idea in swelling words? But listen whilst I prove what I assert. For the Lord says in the gospel, as you know full well, whether you please it or not, "My sheep hear my voice, and follow me."2176
There are many sayings of the
Lord on different subjects; but supposing, for example, that any one were in doubt whether the same
Lord had risen in the body, and His words were to be quoted where He says, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not
flesh and
bones, as ye see me have;"—if even after this he should be
unwilling to acquiesce in the belief that His body had risen from the dead, surely such a man could not be reckoned among the
sheep of the
Lord, because he
would not hear His voice. And so too now, when the
question between us is, Where is the
Church? whilst we quote the words that follow in the same passage of the
gospel, where, after His resurrection, He gave His body even to be handled by those who were in doubt, in which He showed the future wide extent of the
Church, saying, "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved
Christ to
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and
remission of
sins should be
preached in His
name throughout all
nations, beginning at
Jerusalem;"
2177
| 2177 Luke xxiv. 39, 46, 47.
|
whereas you will not communicate with all
nations, in whom these words have been fulfilled, how are you the
sheep of this
Shepherd, whose words you not only do not obey when you have heard them, but even
fight against them? And so we show to you from this that you are not
sheep. But listen further whence we show you that, on the contrary, you are
wolves. For necessarily, when it is shown by His own words where the
Church is to be found, it is also clear where we must
look for the fold of
Christ. Whenever, therefore, any
sheep separate themselves from this fold, which is expressly pointed out and shown to us by the unmistakeable declaration of the
Lord,—and that, I will not say because of charges falsely brought, but on account of charges brought, as no one can deny, with great uncertainty against their fellow-men, and consequently
slay those
sheep which they have torn and
alienated from the
life of
unity and
Christian love—is it not evident that they are
ravening
wolves? But it will be said that these very men themselves
praise and
preach the
Lord Christ. They are therefore those of whom He says Himself, "They come unto you in
sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them."
2178
The
sheep’s clothing is seen in the praises of Christ; the fruits of their wolfish nature in their slanderous teeth.
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