Against Parmenian the Donatist 3.7–3.12

But Macarius, as you say, seems to you to deserve accusation, because you think he could have done this without the will of God. You have ancient defendants of this kind: accuse first Moses himself, the lawgiver, who, as he came down from Mount Sinai, almost before the tablets of the law had been set out, on which was written "You shall not kill," ordered three thousand men to be killed in one moment. Put off Macarius a little; first summon to judgment Phinehas, the priest's son, whom I mentioned a little before, if indeed you find any judge besides God. For what you accuse in his person was praised by God, because it was done in zeal for God. Suppress for a while the words that envy dictates against Macarius. Run back first to the prophet Elijah, who at the brook Kishon, obeying the will of God, killed four hundred and fifty. But perhaps you will say that those were justly killed, these unworthily. Vengeance never follows unless its cause has gone before. Moses avenged, as we said; Elijah avenged; Phinehas avenged; and you will not allow that Macarius avenged. If those who are said to have been killed had committed no offense, let Macarius be guilty in this, that he acted alone, without our knowledge but at your provocation: why is odium stirred against us, when the deeds are another's? And the cause is in you, because it is said to have happened on account of you, who were outside (though you seem to be outside even now), not on account of us, who dwell within and have never withdrawn from the root. But since we have spoken in order of the persons named above, let us see why Moses ordered three thousand men to be killed, why Phinehas two, and why Elijah four hundred and fifty, why Macarius two, whose names, as I said above, you fan daily with the fan of odium. It is plain that they took vengeance on those by whom the divine command was despised. For "You shall not make yourself a carved image" is God's voice, and "You shall not commit adultery" is the voice of the same God; "You shall not sacrifice to idols" the same God spoke, and "You shall not make a schism" and "Seek peace and you will obtain it" is the precept of the same God. In the times of Moses the people of Israel worshiped the head of a calf, which a sacrilegious flame had cast for them; therefore three thousand men deserved to be killed, because God's voice was plainly despised. Phinehas struck the adulterers with one blow: he deserved to be praised by God because he killed the despisers of the divine precepts. And the four hundred and fifty whom Elijah is read to have killed were killed because, against the command of God, in that they were false prophets, they had despised the precepts of God. And those in whose names you accuse Macarius are not far from the false prophets; for God said that you would be false prophets, which we shall prove in the next place; and since they would not regard peace, so as not to dwell in unity with their brothers, they stubbornly resisted against the precepts and against the will of God. So you see that similar things were done by Moses, Phinehas, Elijah and Macarius, since by all of them the precepts of the one God were avenged. But I see you in this place separating the times, so that the times before the gospel were one thing, those after the gospel another; in which you can say, because it is written, that Peter had now to sheathe the sword with which he had cut off the ear of the priest's servant, a servant whom Peter, as a devoted man, could have killed. But Christ had come to suffer, not to be defended; and if Peter had carried out his intention, in the passion of Christ a servant would have appeared to be avenged, not the people set free.

For Macarius did not draw the sword that Peter had put back in its sheath (God proves this when he speaks to the valley of Zion, saying, "Your wounded are not wounded by the sword"); or else prove that anyone was struck by a sword at that time. Then he says, "Your dead are not dead in war." Therefore you should take care that it is not rash to call them martyrs who felt no war against Christians. For nothing of the kind was done or heard of that is usually said or done in a war against Christians, since a persecution is called a war, which was carried out under two beasts out of the four that Daniel saw coming up from the sea. The first was like a lion: this was the persecution under Decius and Valerian. The second like a bear: another persecution, which was under Diocletian and Maximian, at which time there were also impious judges waging war on the Christian name, among whom, more than sixty years ago, in the proconsular province was Anulinus, in Numidia Florus. It is known to all what their ingenious cruelty did. The war declared against Christians raged; in the temples of the demons the devil triumphed; the altars smoked with unclean savors, and since some could not come to the sacrilegious rites, they were forced to offer incense wherever they were. Every place was a temple for crime; old men near death were defiled; infancy was polluted unknowing; little ones were carried by their mothers to the abomination; parents were forced to commit bloodless murders of their children; some were forced to overturn the temples of the living God, others to deny Christ, others to burn the divine laws, others to offer incense. Not even you yourselves will be able to invent that any of these things was done by Macarius. Under the persecutor Florus Christians were forced to the temples of the idols; under Macarius the sluggish were driven to the basilica. Under Florus it was said that Christ should be denied and idols prayed to; on the contrary, under Macarius all were urged that the one God be prayed to alike in the church by all. So, since you see that there was no war against Christians (and God mentions that some died without war, when he says, "And your dead are not dead in war"), and that those can be doubtful martyrs who were not called either to the sacrilegious rites or to unclean incense or to the denial of the name of God; and since there is no passage to martyrdom except through confession, how do you call them martyrs who were not confessors? Or which of them was forced to deny and confessed Christ? If, then, there can be no martyrdom without the confession of Christ's name, and no one confessed, and what you say was done was done in vengeance for God's precepts, and you prove nothing done by us, since God both said that what happened would happen so, and his precepts were avenged: see that it is not only vain but also superstitious to place those who died without war where those are who, confessing Christ, were able to die for the name of God. Or if you want them to be martyrs, prove that they loved peace, in which are the first foundations of martyrdom, or loved the unity pleasing to God, or had charity with their brothers. For that all Christians are brothers we both proved in the first little book and without doubt shall prove in the fourth. Those whom you say should be called martyrs would not acknowledge their brothers; they had no charity. Nor let it be said as an excuse that they would not communicate with traitors, since it has been most plainly proved that these same men were sons of traitors. There is, then, no excuse, because it is most plainly established that they did not have charity, without which no martyrdom can either be named or exist, without which the greatest and most commanding power lacks effect, without which the knowledge of all tongues avails nothing, without which even the fellowship of angels can do nothing, as the apostle Paul says: "If I have in me the power to command mountains to move from place to place, and speak with the tongues of all nations, even of angels, and hand over my body to the flames, and do not have charity in me, I am nothing; but I will be a tinkling brass in the desert," so that the work of the voice is lost where no hearing meets it. If so great a man, if blessed Paul, if the vessel of election, though in commanding power and the fellowship of angels, declares that he is nothing unless he has charity, see whether those who were deserters of charity and could suffer something for that same desertion should not be called martyrs, but deserve another name.

The whole world rejoices in Catholic unity, except a part of Africa, in which a fire was kindled from a spark. You complain that some things or other were committed by the workers of unity. Italy does not complain of this, nor Gaul, nor Spain, nor Pannonia, nor Galatia, nor Greece, nor Asia with its many provinces. Since nothing there needed to be corrected, no corrector was sent there; since nothing there had been torn, no, so to speak, mender was sent there. And here in Africa, while the people had long remained in unity, the garment was whole; it was torn by the jealous hand of the enemy. The pieces hung, as it were, from the one origin of the garment, and the branches coming from one root were divided from each other. Why does one part set itself before the other part? Why does one piece raise itself above the other piece, when it cannot prove itself better? For what if the despised piece should say: "Why do you raise yourself so much? Did we not grow up equal, were we not in the hands of the makers together, were we not cleaned alike at the fuller's? The enemy wished to cut us off from each other; the adversary wished to deform our beauty. In part of the garment we are still one, but we hang in different directions." For what is torn is divided in part, not wholly, since it is rightly established that for us and for you the ecclesiastical way of life is one, and if the minds of men quarrel, the sacraments do not quarrel. In short, we too can say: "We believe alike, and we have been sealed with one seal, and we were not baptized otherwise than you; we read the divine testament alike, we pray to one God alike; the Lord's Prayer is one with us and with you." But since, as we said above, the part was torn and the parts hung on this side and that, mending was necessary. And yet the craftsman or worker in this matter, while he wishes to bring the garment back to its old appearance, pricks the neighboring threads. The mender displeases you, who wounds while he heals the tear; let him displease you who caused it that the mender could do wrong. And the things you say were committed against you by the workers of unity either belong to your parents, for whose sake they were done, or come down from the will of God; we, however, are strangers to them.

What if, though harsh, they appear, as we said, to have been committed with the will of God? For we read in the prophet Ezekiel of the whitewashed wall, which God threatened with storm, rain, catapult stones and accusations: "There will be," he says, "false prophets, who will build a ruinous wall, saying, Peace, peace; and where is peace?" Remember how long ago the members of mother church were pulled apart from each other by you. For you could not lead astray each household all at once. Either the wife went away and the husband stayed, or the parents were led astray and the children would not follow, or the brother stood firm while the sister went over. By your persuasions both bodies and the names of family affection were divided; and you could not leave out what is prescribed. Certainly you said, "Peace be with you," while God says against you, "Peace, and where is peace?" That is to say: "Why do you greet with what you do not have? Why do you name what you have exterminated? You greet with peace, who do not love peace." "These," he says, "build a ruinous wall." The house of God is one; those who went outside and wished to make a party made a wall, not a house, because there is no other God to dwell in another house. Therefore the false prophets are said to have made a wall, in which, if a door is placed, whoever enters is outside. Nor can one wall have a cornerstone, which stone is Christ, receiving in himself two peoples, one from the Gentiles, the other from the Jews, who joins both walls with the bond of peace. For as many advantages as a house has, so many disadvantages has a wall: a house guards what is shut in, beats back the storm, sheds the rain, does not admit robber or thief or beast; so too the Catholic Church embraces all the sons of peace in her lap and bosom. On the contrary, the wall that has been built ruinous neither holds a cornerstone, and it has a door to no purpose; it does not guard what is shut in, it is soaked by the rain, beaten by storms, and can neither keep out the robber nor stop the thief who comes. A wall is part of a house, but it is not a house; and your party is like a church, but it is not the Catholic Church. "And they whitewash it," he says: that is, that you think yourselves alone holy. You complain that you suffered some things without us; so it is plain that you alone suffered something, because the time of peace is one thing, the time of persecution another. If you think it a persecution, say what all the provinces in which the Catholic Church is established suffered with you? But since it was vengeance, not persecution, the wall alone suffered, which God threatened with storm, rain, catapult stones and accusations. For thus he spoke: "Why have you built a ruin? Why have you whitewashed it? Why have you plastered it? This is against my will, says the Lord." The times of Leontius, Ursacius, Macarius and the rest, whoever they were, displease you. Correct the will of God, if you can, who said: "I will rise against the wall with my anger, and I will send a great storm and rain, floods and catapult stones, and I will strike the ruinous wall, and its joints will be loosened." But lest any of you say, "If unity is good, why could it not last when it was so often made?": because the matter itself was so ordered by God, who threatened storm, rain, stones and accusations, and these four things could not happen at one time. First there was the storm under Ursacius: the wall was shaken but did not fall, so that the rain might have something to work on. The rain followed under Gregory: the wall was soaked but not softened, so that the stones might have something to work on. After the rain followed the stones under the workers of unity: the wall was scattered, but it repaired itself again from its foundations. Three things have now been done: accusations are due to you, but how and when, he knows whom it pleased to announce these things through us.

And so that no one should doubt this meaning, God added, saying: "What I say is not about mud or brick or wall, but about the false prophets who lead my people astray." See to which party this word "lead astray" applies. All were with us; you rushed in when we were absent; but to have those you wanted to have, you could only lead astray, and what the words of your seduction are is known to all. It is yours to say, "Look behind you"; yours to say, "Redeem your souls"; yours to say to faithful men and to clergy, "Be Christians." But when you say, "Look behind you," you act against the gospel, where it is said, "No one who holds the handle of the plow and looks behind him will enter the kingdom of heaven." And do you want to know what the one deserved who looked behind him, and what the one who looked ahead? Remember the fugitives from Sodom, Lot and his wife: she, looking behind her, was changed into a pillar of salt; he who looked ahead escaped. What is it, then, that you say, "Look behind you"? For when you say, "Redeem your souls," where did you buy them, to sell them? Who is that angel or other who holds a market of souls? When you say, "Redeem your souls," you renounce the Redeemer, since Christ alone is the redeemer of souls, which the devil possessed before his coming. These Christ our Savior redeemed with his blood, as the apostle says, "For you have been bought with a great price." It is plain that all have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. Christ did not sell those whom he redeemed; souls bought by Christ could not be sold, so as to be redeemed again by you, as you wish. Or how can one soul have two masters? Or is there another redeemer? What prophets announced that another would come? What Gabriel spoke again to another Mary? What virgin gave birth again? Who did new or other mighty works? If there is no one but the one who redeemed the souls of all believers, what is it you say, "Redeem your souls"? Now what kind of thing is it that you say to Christian men, even clergy, "Be Christians"? And with a kind of wonder you dare to say to each one, "Gaius Seius, Gaia Seia, are you still a pagan?" Him who has professed that he has turned to God you call a pagan; him who was dipped, whether by us or by you, not in our name nor in yours but in the name of Christ, you call a pagan (for there are some who were baptized by you and afterward passed over to our communion); him who has prayed to God the Father through his Son before the altar you call a pagan. For whoever has believed has believed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and you call him a pagan after his profession of faith. If any Christian, God forbid, has sinned, he can be called a sinner; he cannot be a pagan again. But you want all these things to be of no account; and if the one you lead astray consents to you, one consent and the stretching out of your hand and a few words now make for you a Christian out of a Christian, and that man seems a Christian to you who has done what you want, not one whom faith has brought.

And if assent to your seduction is given a little slowly, you do not lack those arguments either, with which you can persuade even the unwilling of what you want, as if easily, when you say that it was heard from the mouth of those who had long been in your fellowship that whoever tasted or received of the sacrifice of the arriving unity would seem to taste of an idol sacrifice. We do not deny that this was said by some, who, it is plain, afterward did with complete confidence what they had a little before been frightening the people away from. But one reason drew out these words, another invited them to the deed. For a false opinion had filled their ears and those of all the people, so that those who are reported to have said this said it. For it was said at that time that Paul and Macarius would come to be present at the sacrifice, so that, when the altars were solemnly prepared, they would bring out an image, which they would first place on the altar, and so the sacrifice would be offered. When ears received this, minds were struck, and the tongue of each was moved to these words, so that everyone who had heard it said, "Whoever tastes of it tastes of an idol sacrifice." And it would have been rightly said, if a like truth had followed such a rumor. But when the men named above came, nothing of the kind was seen of what the rumor had falsely said a little before. Christian eyes saw nothing to shudder at; sight proved none of the things by which hearing had been disturbed. Purity was seen, and the solemn custom was observed in its usual rite, since they saw that nothing in the divine sacrifices was changed or added or taken away. The peace commended by God pleased those who wished it; therefore none of those who passed over from your fellowship to peace should be blamed. Those who had been disturbed by a sinister opinion were strengthened by simple and pure truth. Nor let it be said that they made sweet from bitter or bitter from sweet. The bitterness that seemed to have been announced by falsehood settled and stayed in the bosom of opinion; the truth seen by the eyes, having its sweetness in itself, was separated from the bounds of false opinion. So neither was sweet made from bitter nor bitter from sweet, because what was seen is both other and outside, and what seemed to be heard had been far off. Therefore you see that you made an insult without cause, inventing at will what you wanted, so as to tear Macarius and Taurinus. You have lost your reputation for wisdom, since envy corrupted your senses and closed the approaches of understanding to you.