Chapter 58.—70. For when he quoted a passage from the gospel as making against us, where our Lord says, "They will come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves; ye shall know them by their fruits,"2463
—I answered and said, "Then let us consider their fruits;" and then I at once went on to add the following words: "You bring up against them their delivery of the
sacred books. This very charge we urge with greater probability, against their accusers themselves. And not to carry our search too
far: in the same city of Constantina, your predecessors
ordained Silvanus
bishop at the very outset of his
schism. He, while he was still a sub-
deacon, was most unmistakably
entered as a
traditor in the archives of the city. If you, on your side, bring forward documents against our predecessors, all that we ask is equal terms, that we should either believe both to be true, or both to be false. If both are true, you are unquestionably
guilty of
schism, who have pretended that you
avoid offenses in the
communion of the whole
world, though these were common among you in your own fragmentary
sect. But again, if both are false, you are unquestionably
guilty of
schism, who, on account of the false charges of
traditors, are staining yourselves with the heinous offense of severance from the
Church. But if we have something to urge in
accusation, while you have nothing, or if our charges are true, while yours are false, it is no longer matter of discussion how thoroughly your mouths are closed. What if the holy and true
Church of
Christ were to convince and overcome you, even if we held no documents in support of our cause, or only such as were
false, while you had possession of some genuine
proof of delivery of the
sacred books, what would then remain for you, except that, if you would, you should show your
love of
peace, or otherwise should hold your
tongues? For whatever in that case you might bring forward in evidence, I should be able to say with the greatest ease and with the most
perfect truth, that then you are bound to
prove as much to the full and Catholic
unity of the
Church, already spread abroad and established
throughout so many
nations, to the end that you should remain within, and that those whom you
convict should be expelled. And if you have endeavored to do this, certainly you have not been able to make good your
proof; and, being vanquished or enraged, you have separated yourselves, with all the heinous guilt of
sacrilege, from the
guiltless men who could not
condemn on insufficient
proof. But if you have not even endeavored to do this, then with most accursed and unnatural
blindness you have
cut yourselves off from the
wheat of
Christ, which grows throughout His whole
fields, that is, throughout the whole
world until the end, because you have taken offense at a few tares in Africa."
2464
| 2464 See Book I. cc. 21, 22, 23, 24.
|
To this, which I have quoted from my former epistle, Petilianus has made no answer whatsoever. And, at all events, you see that in these few words is comprised the whole question which is at issue between us. For what should he endeavor to say, when, whatever course he chose, he was sure to be debated?
71. For when documents are brought forward relating to the traditors, both by us against the men of your party, and by you against the men of our party, (if indeed any really are brought forward on your side, for to this very day we are left in total ignorance of them; nor indeed can we believe that Petilianus would have omitted to insert them in his letter, seeing that he has taken so much pain to secure the quotation and insertion of those portions of the
Chronicles which bear on the matter in opposition to me),—but still, as I began to say, if such documents are brought forward both by us and by you, documents of whose existence we are wholly ignorant to this very day,—surely you must acknowledge that either both are true, or both false, or ours true and yours false, or yours true and ours false; for there is no further alternative that can be suggested.
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