The judgment of the learned and pious St. Augustine concerning penal lavves against conventicles : and for vnity in religion : deliver'd in his 48th epistle to Vincentius. Epistolae. Number 48. English Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. 1670 Approx. 27 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A26211 Wing A4210 ESTC R4058 11791928 ocm 11791928 49241 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A26211) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 49241) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ;524:9) The judgment of the learned and pious St. Augustine concerning penal lavves against conventicles : and for vnity in religion : deliver'd in his 48th epistle to Vincentius. Epistolae. Number 48. English Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. [4], 14 p. Printed for James Collins ..., London : 1670. Reproduction of original in Union Theological Seminary Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Concord. 2005-10 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-05 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2006-05 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE JUDGMENT OF THE LEARNED and PIOUS St. Augustine , CONCERNING PENAL LAVVES AGAINST CONVENTICLES , AND FOR VNITY in RELIGION . Deliver'd in His 48 th Epistle to Vincentius . LONDON , Printed for James Collins , and to be sold at the Kings Armes in Ludgate-street , and at his Shop the Kings-head in Westminster-Hall , 1670. To the READER . IT will not be thought Impertinent to publish this short Epistle , after so many Learned Discourses upon this Subject , if we consider the several Advantages which this may have above those , in these particular respects . First , because of the Great Esteem , which this Holy and Learned Prelate hath alwayes had in the Church of Christ , and especially in that part which hath accounted it self the most Reformed ; and , we see , that most Men are more led by the Authority of the Writer , then the Strength of the Argument : Besides , whereas those who have Written amongst us are charged by the Adverse Party to be Partial , by reason of their Interest in the Present Controversie : This cannot be laid to the Charge of Him , who dyed so many hundred years before OUR PRESENT DEBATE . But , that which is most Considerable , is His great Experience of the Happy Success of those LAWS , ( made in His Time , ) by Christian Princes , against CONVENTICLES and FACTIOUS ASSEMBLIES ; whereby whole Cities were reduced to the True Christian Faith and Unity : Which happy experience made Him Recant His Former Erronious Opinion , namely , That Christians were not to be urged by Penalties in such Cases , but onely by Arguments ; and Confirm'd Him in this Judgment , that Kings cannot serve God better , then by making Strict Lawes for the Profession , and Exercise of Christian Religion , in the Unity and Communion of the CHURCH , as you may see in the ensuing Discourse . Which experience , as it Convinc'd him , so it is hoped it may Convince these who are yet of that Erronious Opinion , and incourage AVTHORITY to persist stedfast in the EXECUTION of such LAWS , which have in all Ages been so Advantageous to the Peace and Quiet of CHURCH and STATE . The JUDGMENT of the Learned and Pious St. Augustine concerning PENAL LAWS against CONVENTICLES , and for VNITY in RELIGION . I Receiv'd a Letter , which I believed to be yours : He who brought it was a Catholick Christian , who , I think , durst not tell me a Lie : but , whether it were yours or not , I thought it fit to give an Answer . You may well think me now more desirous of ease and rest , then when you first knew me at Carthage , when Rogatus was alive , whom you succeeded . But , the Donatists are too unquiet , who ought to be Restrain'd and Corrected by the Powers which are Ordain'd by God : We Joy already in the Correction of many , who so earnestly Hold and Defend the Catholick Unity , and Rejoyce in their Deliverance from former Error ; that we , with great thankfulness admire them , who formerly , I know not by what force of Custome , could by no means be brought to think of a Change for the better , till , affrighted with the Terrot of the Lawes , they set their hearts seriously to the Consideration of the Truth ; least , if they should suffer punishments not for Righteousness , but for Stubborness , and Foolish Presumption , their Patience would be fruitless and vain ; and , they should find afterwards no other Reward from God , but the Punishments due to Wickedness , because they had Despised his Gentle Admonition and Fatherly Correction ; and , by this Consideration being made Teachable , they found the Truth . Should I so farr envy their Salvation , as to endeavour to take off my Collegues , from using this Fatherly Care , by which we see so many brought to Accuse their former Blindness ? These late Enemies of the Church , who disturb'd our Peace and Quiet with diverse kinds of Crafts and violent Assaults , if We should so farr Contemn and Tolerate , as not to Provide and Use some Means to Terrifie and Correct them , surely we should Return Evil for Evil : For , if any Man should see his Enemy ( made Frantick by a high Feavor ) striving to run down a Precipice , Should he not then rather be Judged to return Evil for Evil , if he should willingly suffer him to run on to ruine , then if he should take care to bind him fast from running ? And yet he would then appear to the distemper'd Man most troublesome , and most his Enemy , when he was most Merciful , and kind to save him : But certainly , when this man had recovered his Health and Wits , he would give him the more Thanks , because he was , as he thought then , so severe . O that I could shew you how many , even of the Plundering Troopers , now become very good Christians , condemning their former Life , and miserable Error , whereby they thought , whatsoever they did , through their Unquiet Rashness , was for the Glory of God ; who , had never been brought to this present soundness of Belief , unless they had been bound like Mad-men , with the Cords of those very Lawes which you find fault with . There is another sort of Diseased persons who have not that turbulent boldness , but are oppress'd with Sloth and Restiffness ; who , when We perswade them to the Truth , say to Us , We cannot tell what to answer ; but , it is hard for us to Leave the Trad●tion of our Fathers : Are not these to be awakened with fear , or smart of Temporal Punishments , that so Arising from their Lethargick Sleep , they may Awake unto Salvation ? How many are there amongst us , of them , who , joying now with us , accuse their former sloth , and confess we did well to molest them thus ; lest otherwise they should have perished by the Disease of an Old Custome , as by a deadly Sleep . But , these Penalties , you say , have done some no good : What then ? Is Medicine to be neglected , because some Mens Plague is incurable ? it seems you take no notice of any , but those , who are so hard , that they cannot receive this Discipline ; of such , the Prophet speaks , Jer. 2.30 . In vain have I smitten your Children , they have received no Correction : and yet they were Corrected in Love , not in Hatred . But , you ought to consider also , the many , of whose safety we Rejoyce . If these Men were Terrify'd , and not Taught , it might seem wicked Tyranny : Again , if they were Taught , and not Terrify'd , they being hardned by old Custome , would be slowly moved to take the Right Way of Salvation . Many , whom we know , when we Manifested to them the Truth by Reason and Scriptures , answered us , they desired to be received into the Communion of the Church , but they feared the displeasure of some of their Party ; These Mens Infirmities must be borne with a while , nor may we forget that of our Saviour , John 13.36 . Thou canst not follow me now , but thou shalt follow me after . But when sound Teaching is added to this useful Terror , so that the Light of Truth may expel the Darkness of Error , and the Force of Fear may break the Bonds of Evil Custome , we do Joy , as I said , in the Salvation of many , blessing us , and Praising God for making good that his Promise , That the Kings of the earth shall serve our Lord Christ , by thus curing the Diseased , and healing the Weak . He is not alwayes our Friend who spares us , nor he alwayes our Enemy who strikes us : Better are the wounds of a Friend , then the kisses of an Enemy , Prov. 27.6 . It is better to love with Severity , then to deceive with Lenity ; It is better to take the Bread from the hungry , if feeding him makes him neglect Righteousness ; then to give him Bread to continue him unjust . He that binds a Mad-man , and awakens a Lethargick , is troublesome to both , but loves both : Who can Love us more then God does ? yet he does not only teach us kindly , but also profitably terrifies us ; To his gentle Lenitives adding the bitter Medicament of Tribulation : He exercised the Pious and Religious Patriarchs with hunger , the stubborn People with greater Pains . He takes not from the Apostle the Thorn in the Flesh , though Thrice intreated , that he might perfect Strength in Weakness . Let us Love our Enemies , for this is just , and Gods Command , that we may be like our Heavenly Father , who makes his Sun to shine upon the good and bad . But , as we commend his Gifts , so let us think of his Stripes , wherewith he scourges every Son whom he loves . Think you that no man ought to be Compell'd to Goodness ? when you read how the Father of the Family sent out his Servants to Compel them to come in whom they found , Luke 17.23 . When you read of Saul , afterwards Paul , compell'd by Christ himself with great violence , to receive and defend the Truth ? Is Money dearer to Men then the sight of their Eyes , yet Christ strook him blind , and did not restore him to his sight , till he was Incorporated into Holy Church ; and , Do you think that there is no Force to be used to Free Men from Dangerous Errors , when you see God who loves us ( no one better ) by diverse Instances doing the same ? and hear Christ saying , No man comes to me unless the Father drawes him ; which is done in the hearts of all , who turne to God for fear of his displeasure . Have ye not sometimes known a Thief , scattering Meat before the Sheep , to draw them away and steal them ; and , a Shepheard with his Rod driving back the stragling Sheep to the Fold ? We read of Sarah Chastising her stubborn servant Hagar , expelling her and her Son ; and yet St. Paul sayes , That as then Ishmael , he that was after the Flesh , persecuted him that was after the Spirit , Gal. 4. So it is now : By which you may understand , that the Church rather suffers Persecution , by the Pride and Wickedness of Carnal Men , whom she endeavours to amend by Temporal Punishments and Corrections : Whatsoever therefore the TRUE MOTHER does in this Case , though it may seem harsh and bitter , she does not render evil for evil , but endeavours , by wholesome Discipline , to expel Sin ; not out of hatred , or desire to hurt , but out of a love to heal . When good and bad Men , doe , and suffer the same things , they are to be differenced , not by their Deeds or Sufferings , but by their Causes . Pharaoh exercised the People of God with hard Labour , Moses Chastised the same People when they did wickedly ; These did both the same things , but they did not aime alike at the Peoples good ; in one it was Domineering Pride , in the other Pure Charity : Jezabel kill'd the Lords Prophets , Elias slew the false Prophets : I suppose the Merits of the Doers were as diverse , as those of the Sufferers . View the times of the New Testament , when Meekness and Charity were not only to be kept in the Heart , but are to Shine before Men , when Peters Sword , by Christs own order , was Commanded into the Sheath , and we thereby Taught , that the Sword must not be drawn , no , not for Christ ; yet , there we read , God delivered up his Son to Death ; The Son gave up Himself to Death : And , it said of Judas , That Satan entered into him , that he should deliver him to be Crucified . Why is God good and j●st , and Man guilty and sinful in this Act , but because in the same thing which they both did , there was not the same cause for which they did it ? There were three Crosses in the same place , on one hung the Thief that was to be saved , on another the Thief who was to be damned , Christ in the midst , who was to save one and condemn the other . What more like then these three Crosses ? What more unlike then the three that hung thereon ? Paul was delivered to Prison to be bound , 1 Cor. 5. St. Paul Delivers a man to Satan , worse then any Jaylor , for the destruction of his Flesh , that the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. Let us learn to Discern Difference or Intentions in the same Actings ; nor let us shut ou● eyes , and Slander , and Accuse Good Men for Persecutors , 1 Tim. 1.20 . when the same Apostle sayes , That he delivered some to Satan , that they might learn not to Blaspheme : Did he render evil for evil ? Did he not rather Judge it a good Work to amend Ill Men by the Evil One ? If it were alwayes Praise-worthy to suffer , it had been enough for our Lord to have said , ●lessed are they who suffer : he needed not to have added , for Righteousness sake . If it were alwayes a Fault to make any man suffer , it would never be Just to inflict Punishment : Sometimes therefore he is Unjust who suffers , and he Just who afflicts . Certainly at all times have the Evil persecuted the Good , and the Good punisht the Wicked : those unjustly , to hurt ; these , to amend by Discipline : Those Cruelly , these Mercifully ; those serving their Lust , these their Charity : For , he that Kills , considers not how he Butchers , but , he that Cures , takes heed how he Cuts ; the former aimes at destruction , the other at health and recovery . Wicked Men kill'd the Prophets , and the Prophets put some Men to death . The Jews whipt Christ , and Christ whipt the Jews . The Apostles were delivered to the Secular Powers , and the Apostles delivered some to the Power of Satan : In all these we must consider who Suffers for the TRUTH , who for INIQUITY ; who Afflicts to Hurt , who afflicts to amend . Nebuchadnezzar made a Decree , That whosoever would not worship his Idols should be put to death : he made another Decree afterward , That whosoever should Blaspheme the God of Shedrac , &c. should be put to death . The first was a wicked Law , punishing the God●y , the second was a Pious Law Correcting the ungodly . Who of us , nay , Who of you , does not Commend the Lawes of Emperours made against the Heathen Sacrifices , yet , there , the Penalty was Capital . But , in the Lawes against Schismaticks , such moderation was used , that the Lawes seem'd rather to Admonish , then Punish you : For , perhaps it may be said of you , what St. Paul said of the Jewes , Rom. 10. I bear them witness that they have a Zeale of God , but not according to knowledge ; for , they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness , and going about to establish their own , have not submitted to the Righteousness of God : For , What do you else but establsh your own Righteousness , when you say , None can be Godly but those of your own P●rty ? you are altogether alike , except those amongst you , who know the Truth , and yet out of Stomack and Crossness fight against the Plain truth ; the wickedness of these perhaps is worse then Idolatry : But , this cannot easily be prov'd , for this lodges in their own breast , therefore all are Prosecuted with the like gentle Correction . You who are called Donatists , from Donatus , seem milder then some other Sects , for you do not Rage and Range about with Troops of Cruel Souldiers plundering : But , no Beast is called tame , if he hurts no body , because he wants Teeth or Clawes . You say , You would not hurt ; I think you cannot : you dare not with your small numbers attempt the strength of your Adversaries . I am sure that Sect , which you were of formerly , have severely executed the Lawes of the Emperours against Schismaticks and Hereticks , against you and other Sectaries , this we can prove upon Record : Nay , you were not separated from them , when in their Petition to Julian , they said , That with him nothing but Justice prevail'd , whom yet they knew to be an Apostate and Idolater : so that they must confess , that either they did shamefully Lye , in saying so , or else that Idolatry was Justice . But , suppose there was a Mistake in the word , What think you of the Fact ? if nothing , which you call unjust , must be desired of Princes , Why did you then ask of Julian that which the World counted unjust : But , you may , say you , Petition the Emperour for the recovery of your own , you must not accuse any , or desire to restrain their Liberty , because we find no Example amongst the Apostles for this : And , Where do you find any President amongst them for the former ? When your Predecessors Accused Caecilian Bishop of Carthage , as a Criminous Person , before the Emperour , you did not then Pet●tion for your lost Goods , but you slander'd an Innocent , ( as we think , and the event proved ▪ ) Then this , What could be more wicked ? but , if you did deliver a Criminal indeed , to be Punish'd by the Secular Powers , Why do you blame us for doing that , which you your selves did before , and we doe not blame you for doing it , but for doing it Malitiously , to ruine an Innocent , not to Correct a Guilty one . We justly complain of you , who account it a Crime in us , to Complain to a Christian Emperour , of the Enemies of our Communion ; when as your Predecessors put in a Libel to the Emperour Constantine against Caecilian , and contrary to the Canons of the Church ; You Complain'd of him to the Emperour , before he had been Convicted by his Collegues . The Emperour proceeding more Regularly , Remitted the Cause back to the Bishops ; but , you would not then submit , but appeal'd to the Emperour again ; accusing not Caecilian only , but all the Bishops , whom the Emperour had appointed Judges of the Cause ; and , when the Emperor had determined , ye would not then yield to Truth and Peace . What could Constantine determine against Caecilian and his Party , had they been Convicted by their Accusers , but the same that he did determine against those his Accusers , who fail'd in the Proof of their Accusations ? He determined in the Cause , That the Goods of those who were Convicted of False Accusation , should be Confiscate . If this Sentence had been past against Caecilian , upon your Accusation and Proof of of the Crimes laid against him , you would have been call'd Friends of the Church , Defenders of Peace and Unity : but , when this Sentence is past against you , who falsly accus'd the Bishop , and would not be entreated to submit to the Unity of the Church , you cryed out of Persecution . You Contend , That no man ought to be Compel'd to the Communion of the Church : We must not return evil for evil . Was it not well said of you long since , What we Will , is good and holy ? It is not unreasonable to believe , That Constantines Decree against your Ancestors is of force against you ; and , that all Princes , especially the Christian , ought to follow that Pattern , when ever your Obstinacy compells them to it . It is better to be urged to the Embracing of the Truth , by the fear of losing your Earthly Possessions , then to be suffer'd , by the Temptation of Vain-glory , to resist the Truth . It is no Persecution to be Compel'd to that which is good : It is true , no man can be made good against his will ; but , the fear of Suffering may make him leave off his Animosity against the Truth , or make him willing to receive the Truth , which he formerly knew not , and persist in it , when he knowes it . This would perhaps be said to you in vain , if we could not make it evident by many examples ; We know many , not single persons only , but whole Citties , that were Donatists and Separatists , now become good Catholick Christians , heartily Detesting their Devillish Schisme , and as heartily loving the Unity and Communion of the Church . All which were made such Converts , through the fear , which you dislike , of the Emperours Lawes , made by Constantine , and continued even to our present Emperour . These Examples propounded to me by my Collegues , made me to change my Opinion , for I was first of that Opinion ; That no man ought to be Compel'd to the Unity of Christ ; That this was to be done only by Argument , and Force of Disputation ; That Men were to be Convict by Reason , not Compel'd by Lawes , for this I thought could do nothing , but make open Hereticks or Schismaticks , Hypocritical and Counterfeit Catholicks : but , this Opinion I was Convinced to be an Error , not so much by strength of Argument , as by Experience and Example . Mine own City , which was formerly wholly Schismatical , of Donatus Party , is now Converted to the Unity of the Church by the fear of the Imperial Lawes , and do so perfectly detest their former stubborness , that you can hardly believe them ever to have been guilty . Many other Cities more I knew so Converted , that I found by experience in this Cause , the truth of that which is written , Prov. 9. Give Instruction to a Wise Man , and he will be yet wiser . For , How many do we know who had a mind to return to the Churches Vnity , being sufficiently satisfied of their duty , but deferr'd their return , onely out of fear of displeasing their own Party ? How many are hardened against the Truth , by long Custome and Continuance in Error ? How many have therefore thought their Party to be the True Church , because Security hath made them slothful , and careless to know the Truth ? How many have been hindered from Communion with the Church by false Reports and Slanders of the Holy Service , and our Governours ? How many continue in their several Schismes , upon this Opinion , That it is indifferent of what Party they be , so long as they Profess Christianity , if they were born and bred up in Donatus Party , there they continued , and thought that they ought not to be compell'd to the Unity of the Church . To all these the Terror of the Imperial Lawes hath been so profitable , that now some ingeniously confess , We had a mind to return to the Church before , God be thanked for these Lawes , which have given us occasion to do it speedily , and cut off all our former delayes . Others say , We believed the Church to have the Truth , but old Custom detained us in our Error , God be thanked who hath thus broken those Bonds , and brought us to the Bond of Peace . Others say , We knew not the Truth , nor had we any mind to learn it , but the fear of these Laws hath made us inquisitive after it , least by a foolish perseverance in our errors , we should lose our Temporal estates , without any recompence in another World ; God be thanked , who hath thus quickned our negligence , by the Terror of the Law , and made us sollicitous to seek , what formerly we did not care to find . Others say , We were Affrighted by false Rumours from entring into the Church , which we should never have known to be false , if we had not come to Church ; and , we should never have come to Church , if we had not been compell'd : God be thanked , who hath cast out this Fear , by the fear of the Law , and taught us , by experience , to see what foolish and vain stories , LYING FAME Casts out upon the CHURCH . Henc● we believe , That what the Authors of this Sect Accused the Church of , was false , since we see their Posterity hath Feigned Things more False and VVorse . Others say , VVe thought it had been no matter where we Profest the Faith of Christ ; but , God be Thanked that we have been Compell'd to the Unity of the Church , and brought from our Schism to serve the one God in Vnity . Should I oppose the Execution of these Good Laws , and deprive the VVorld of so much Benefit and Advantage ? No : Let the Kings of the Earth serve Christ , by making LAVVES for Christ . The Terror of Temporal Powers , when it Opposes the Truth , is to the Patient Sufferer a Glorious Tryal , to the VVeak a dangerous Temptation ; but , when it Presses the Truth upon those who are in Error , it is to the VVife and Sincere a Profitable Admonition , to the Senceless and Regardless an unprofitable Affliction . CONSTANTINE , the first Christian Emperor , finding the Church Disturbed by several Schismes , made a LAVV against all CONVENTICLES ; by which LAVV the Memory of Hereticks and Schismaticks was Destroyed : Historiae tripartitae , lib. 3. c. 11. Sozomen . Eut. Histor . lib. 2. c. 30. GRATIAN the Emperour gave LIBERTY to all , to Communicate in what RELIGION they pleas'd , which divided the Churches again , which he could not Quiet but by a Law against Hereticks , and those who Divided from the Church . Hist . Tripart . l. 9. cap. 5. & 7. FINIS .