Chapter 1.—1. I must express my satisfaction, and congratulations, and admiration, my son Boniface,2468
| 2468
The correspondence between Augustin and Boniface is limited to Epp. 185, 189 and 220. The sixteen smaller letters are spurious. For note to Boniface and translations of 189 and 220, see vol. I of this series pp. 552 and 573.
|
in that, amid all the cares of
wars and arms, you are eagerly anxious to know concerning the things that are of
God. From hence it is clear that in you it is actually a part of your military valor to serve in
truth the
faith which is in
Christ. To place, therefore, briefly before your
Grace the difference between the errors of the Arians and the Donatists, the Arians say that the
Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost are different in substance; whereas the Donatists do not
say this, but acknowledge the
unity of substance in the
Trinity. And if some even of them have said that the Son was inferior to the
Father, yet they have not denied that He is of the same substance; whilst the greater part of them declare that they hold entirely the same belief regarding the
Father and the Son and the Holy
Ghost as is held by the Catholic
Church. Nor is this the actual
question in dispute with them; but they carry on their unhappy
strife solely on the
question of
communion,
and in the perversity of their error maintain rebellious hostility against the
unity of
Christ. But sometimes, as we have heard, some of them, wishing to conciliate the Goths, since they see that they are not without a certain amount of
power, profess to
entertain the same belief as they. But they are refuted by the
authority of their own
leaders; for Donatus himself, of whose party they
boast themselves to be, is never said to have held this belief.
2. Let not, however, things like these disturb thee, my beloved son. For it is foretold to us that there must needs be heresies and stumbling-blocks, that we may be instructed among our enemies; and that so both our faith and our love may be the more approved,—our faith, namely, that we should not be deceived by them; and our love, that we should take the utmost pains we can to correct the erring ones themselves; not only watching that they should do no
injury to the weak, and that they should be delivered from their wicked error, but also praying for them, that God would open their understanding, and that they might comprehend the Scriptures. For in the sacred books, where the Lord Christ is made manifest, there is also His Church declared; but they, with wondrous blindness, while they would know nothing of Christ Himself save what is revealed in the Scriptures, yet form their notion of His Church from the vanity of human falsehood, instead
of learning what it is on the authority of the sacred books.
3. They recognize Christ together with us in that which is written, "They pierced my hands and my feet. They can tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture;" and yet they refuse to recognize the Church in that which follows shortly after: "All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the
Lord’s; and He is the Governor among the nations."2469
| 2469
Ps. xxii. 16-18, 27, 28.
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They recognize
Christ together with us in that which is written, "The
Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee;" and they will not recognize the
Church in that which follows: "Ask of me, and I shall give Thee the
heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for Thy possession."
2470
They recognize
Christ together with us in that which the
Lord Himself says in the
gospel, "Thus it behoved
Christ to
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day;" and they will not recognize the
Church in that which follows: "And that repentance and
remission of
sins should be
preached in His name among all
nations, beginning at
Jerusalem."
2471
And the
testimonies in the
sacred books are without number, all of which it has not been necessary for me to
crowd together into this book. And in all of them, as the
Lord Christ is made manifest, whether in accordance with His
Godhead, in which He is equal to the
Father, so that, "In the beginning was the Word, and; the Word was with
God, and the Word was
God;" or according to the
humility of the
flesh which He took upon Him, whereby "the Word was made
flesh and dwelt
among us;"
2472
so is His
Church made manifest, not in Africa alone, as they most impudently venture in the madness of their
vanity to assert, but spread abroad throughout the
world.
4. For they prefer to the testimonies of Holy Writ their own contentions, because, in the case of Cæcilianus, formerly a bishop of the Church of Carthage, against whom they brought charges which they were and are unable to substantiate, they separated themselves from the Catholic Church,—that is, from the unity of all nations. Although, even if the charges had been true which were brought by them against Cæcilianus, and could at length be proved to us, yet,
though we might pronounce an anathema upon him even in the grave,2473
| 2473
This epistle was produced in the fifth conference of the fifth ecumenical Synod (553), when the point was under debate whether Theodorus of Mopsuesta could be condemned after his death.
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we are still bound not for the sake of any man to leave the
Church, which rests for its
foundation on
divine witness, and is not the figment of litigious opinions, seeing that it is better to
trust in the
Lord than to put
confidence in man.
2474
For we cannot allow that if Cæcilianus had erred,—a supposition which I make without prejudice to his
integrity,—
Christ should therefore have forfeited His inheritance. It is easy for a man to believe of his fellow-men either what is true or what is false; but it marks abandoned impudence to desire to
condemn the
communion of the whole
world on account of charges alleged against a man, of which you cannot establish the
truth in the face of the
world.
5. Whether Cæcilianus was ordained by men who had delivered up the sacred books, I do not know. I did not see it, I heard it only from his enemies. It is not declared to me in the law of God, or in the utterances of the prophets, or in the holy poetry of the Psalms, or in the writings of any one of Christ’s apostles, or in the eloquence of Christ Himself. But the evidence of all the several scriptures with one accord proclaims the Church spread abroad
throughout the world, with which the faction of Donatus does not hold communion. The law of God declared, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."2475
The
Lord said by the mouth of His
prophet, "From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, a pure
sacrifice shall be offered unto my name: for my name shall be great among the
heathen."
2476
The
Lord said through the Psalmist, "He shall have
dominion also from
sea to
sea, and from the
river unto the ends of the
earth."
2477
The
Lord said by His
apostle, "The
gospel is come unto you, as it is in all the
world, and bringeth forth fruit."
2478
The Son of
God said with His own mouth, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and even unto the uttermost part of the
earth."
2479
Cæcilianus, the
bishop of the
Church of Carthage, is
accused with the contentiousness of men; the
Church of
Christ, established among all
nations, is recommended by the voice of
God. Mere
piety,
truth, and
love forbid us to receive against Cæcilianus the
testimony of men whom we do not find in the
Church, which has the
testimony of God; for those who do not follow the testimony of God have forfeited the weight which otherwise would attach to their testimony as
men.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
