Sermon 162A

SERMON 162/A

FROM THE READING OF THE APOSTLE (GAL 5:16-21), WHERE HE SAYS:
"I SHOW YOU A MORE EXCELLENT WAY."
AGAINST THE DONATISTS

He can have all prophecy or all faith, and he who does not have charity.

It is good to speak of charity to those who love it, by which whatever is loved is loved well. For according to the Apostle, there is a most excellent way in charity. Just now it was read, we heard: "I show you," he said, "a more excellent way." Then he recounted many gifts, indeed distinguished and not to be undervalued; yet he said that these do not benefit men who do not have charity. Among these gifts he mentioned: speaking with the tongues of men and angels; having all prophecy, all knowledge, all faith, so as to remove mountains; giving all one's goods to the poor, giving one's body to be burned. All these are great and divine, but they must be set on the foundation of charity and spring from the root of charity. We would not dare to say that many of these gifts were in many who did not have charity, unless we were taught by examples, not of any men and sought from anywhere, but from the Holy Scriptures themselves, by which whoever does not have faith cannot have charity. But among the principal things that have been said, great there appears either prophecy or faith. What then of the others? If anyone having prophecy benefits not at all if he does not have charity, and anyone having faith cannot reach the kingdom of God, unless he has charity, what shall we say of the others? What is speaking in tongues compared to prophecy and faith? Or giving all one's goods to the poor, compared to prophecy? And giving one's body to be burned? Often reckless people do this in haste. Therefore there are two great things there, concerning which it is truly marvelous if we have been able to find any man having prophecy and not having charity, or having faith and not having charity.

Saul gives us an example of prophecy.

The Book of Kingdoms provides us an example of prophecy. Saul was a persecutor of the holy David. While he was persecuting him and sent agents to seize him for punishment, those who were sent to bring David to be killed found him among the Prophets, where also was holy Samuel, the son of barren Hannah, who had asked him from the Lord to be conceived, received him from the Lord, and gave him to the Lord once born. So at that time, Samuel was there, at the time when David was there, the most outstanding of the Prophets; for David was anointed by him. Therefore, when he suffered persecution from Saul, he fled to Samuel, just as nowadays, for example, someone who suffers some persecution outside may flee to the Church. So he had fled there where not only Samuel, the most outstanding of all prophets, was, but also many other prophets. Among them, as they were prophesying, those sent by Saul came, who, as I said, were to seize him for death. The Spirit of God rushed upon them, and they began to prophesy—they who had come to bring a holy and just man of God to the sword and to take him from the midst of the Prophets; suddenly filled with the Spirit of God, they became prophets. This perhaps was due to their innocence; for they had not come willingly to seize him, but were sent by their king. And perhaps they had come to the place where David was, but were not going to do what Saul had ordered; perhaps they too were going to stay there. For even today these things happen. Sometimes an agent is sent by a great power to seize someone from the church; he does not dare to act against God, and so that he does not incur the sword himself, he stays there where he was sent to seize. Someone, therefore, might say in amazement that these persons suddenly became prophets because they were innocent; their own prophecy testified to their innocence. They came sent, but were not going to do what that wicked man had ordered. Let us believe this of these. Others were sent; and the Spirit of God rushed upon them, and they too began to prophesy. Let us also count these among the innocent by merit. A third set was sent; and the same happened to them. Let them all have been innocent. When they delayed and what Saul had ordered was not being done, he came himself. Was he then also innocent? Was he too sent by some power and not perverted by his own will? And yet, the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he began to prophesy. Behold, Saul prophesies, having prophecy, but not having charity. A certain vessel was made, which might be touched by the Spirit, not that it might be cleansed by the Spirit.

The impure spirit can touch, and is not defiled.

For the Spirit of God touches some hearts to prophesy, but does not cleanse them. And if it touches but does not cleanse, is the Spirit itself perhaps defiled? For it is of the divine substance to touch all things, yet nowhere be defiled. Nor be amazed if this light which is poured out from heaven touches all defiled things spread everywhere, yet nowhere is defiled by the defiled. Not only this light from heaven, but also that which is sent from a lamp, touches wherever you lead the light; and perhaps whoever passes through a sewer, himself if he touches it is defiled; but if he carries a lamp, the lamp's brightness passes over everything, nowhere contracting a stain. If God was able to grant this to corporeal lights, can the true, eternal, and unchangeable light itself anywhere be defiled? Or can the light of God be absent anywhere, of which it is said: "It touches from end to end strongly, and arranges all things sweetly"? Therefore, it touches what it wills, and cleanses what it wills; not everything it touches does it cleanse, but what it cleanses does it touch. Thus, the Spirit of God did not cleanse Saul the persecutor, but yet touched him to prophesy. Caiaphas, the chief priest, was a persecutor of Christ; yet he spoke a prophecy when he said: "It is expedient that one man should die, and not the whole nation perish." The Evangelist followed up this prophecy and said: "This he did not say of himself, but, being high priest, he prophesied." Caiaphas prophesied, Saul prophesied; they had prophecy, but they did not have charity. Did Caiaphas have charity, who persecuted the Son of God, whom charity brought to us? Did Saul have charity, who persecuted him by whose hand he had been delivered from his enemies, not only being envious but also ungrateful? Therefore, we have proven that prophecy can exist in someone and charity not be present. But this prophecy cannot benefit them, according to the Apostle: "If I have not charity," he says, "I am nothing." He does not say: Prophecy is nothing, or faith is nothing; but: I am nothing, if I do not have charity. Having great things amounts to nothing; although one may have great things, he is nothing; indeed, those great things that he has, he does not have to help him, but has them to his judgment. It is not great to possess great things, but to use great things well is great; moreover, he does not use them well, who does not have charity. Indeed, no one uses anything well, unless a good will; a good will cannot be, where charity is not.

We find that demons believed what we believe, and do not love what we love.

What about faith? Do we find someone who has faith but does not have charity? Many are those who believe but do not love. Nor should we count only humans; we find demons who believed what we believe but do not love what we love. For when the Apostle James reproved those who thought it sufficient to believe and did not wish to live well, which cannot be done without charity—since a good life pertains to charity, and one who has charity cannot live badly; because living well itself is nothing other than being filled with charity—therefore, when some boasted that they believed in God and did not wish to live well, and suitably to the great faith which they had received, he compared them to the demons, saying: You say that there is one God. You do well; the demons also believe and tremble. If, therefore, you only believe and do not love, you still have something in common with the demons. Peter said: You are the Son of God; and it was said to him: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. We also find demons who said: What have we to do with you, Son of God? The Apostles confess the Son of God, and the demons confess the Son of God; the confession appears the same, the love is different. They believe and love; they believe and fear; love expects a reward, fear expects punishment. Therefore, we find that someone can have faith and not have charity. Therefore, let no one boast about any gift of the Church, if perhaps they excel in the Church with some gift attributed to them, but let them see whether they have charity. For the same Apostle Paul spoke and enumerated many gifts of God in the members of Christ, which is the Church; and he said that individual gifts were attributed to the members, nor could it be that all have one gift. No one, however, will be left without a gift; he said, Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, interpreters, those who speak in tongues, those with the gift of healing, those who provide aid, those who govern, different kinds of tongues. These were spoken; and we see some in some, others in others. Let no one be saddened, therefore, that what is granted to another is not granted to them; let them have charity, let them not envy the one who has it, and with them, they have what they do not have. For whatever my brother has, if I do not envy and love him, is mine. I do not have it in me, but I have it in him; it would not be mine if we were not in one body and under one head.

Let us love one another, as the members love themselves in the body.

The left hand, for example, in the body has a ring, and the right does not; has that one remained without adornment? Consider the individual hands, and you will see one has it, the other does not; consider the connection of the body, to which both hands adhere, and see that which does not have it, has it in the one that does. The eyes see where to go, the feet go where the eyes look; nor can the feet see, nor the eyes walk. But the foot responds to you: I also have light, but not in myself, but in the eye; for the eye does not see for itself, and does not see for me. And the eyes say: We also walk, not in ourselves, but in the feet; for the feet do not carry themselves, and we are not carried. Therefore each member performs its own tasks, assigned to them, that the mind commands; all, however, established in one body, and preserving unity; nor do they arrogate to themselves what other members have if perhaps those members do not have; nor do they think it foreign to themselves what they have together in one body. Finally, brothers, if any member of the body encounters some discomfort, which members would deny their help? What seems so last in a man as the foot? And in the foot itself, what is so last as the sole? And in the sole itself, what is so last as the skin itself, where the earth is trodden? Yet this last part is so retained in the entire structure of the body, that if a thorn pricks it in that place, all members come together to help extract the thorn; immediately the knees bend, the spine curves, not the one that is stuck, but the one that holds the whole back; it sits down, that the thorn may be extracted; sitting down to do this, it concerns the whole body. How small is the place in discomfort! So small a place it is, as much as the thorn could prick; and yet the discomfort of that small and last place is not abandoned by the whole body; the other members feel no pain, and in that one place all feel pain. Hence, the Apostle gave an example of charity, urging us to love one another just as the members love themselves in the body: If one member suffers, he says, all the members suffer with it; and if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it. You are the body of Christ and members individually. If the members love themselves, having a head on earth, how much more should the members love themselves, whose head is in heaven? Certainly, the members do not love themselves if they are deserted by their head; but since that head is so head, and exalted, and placed in heaven at the right hand of the Father, yet labors on earth, not in itself, but in its members, so that it says at the end: I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was a stranger, when it will be said to him: When did we see you hungry and thirsty? and as if he answers: I was the head in heaven, but on earth my members were thirsty - finally he says: Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me, and again to those not doing it: Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me - we are connected to this head only through charity.

This is in the members of Christ what health is in the members of the body.

For thus, brothers, we see each individual member performing its own proper work in their offices, so that the eye sees but does not work; the hand, however, works but does not see; the ear hears, but neither sees nor works; the tongue speaks, but neither hears nor sees; and while they are distinct and separate in their individual offices, yet being bound together in the unity of the body, they have something in common in all. The offices are different, but the health is one. Thus, in the members of Christ, charity is what health is in the members of the body. The eye is placed in a better position, in a lofty place, and as if stationed in a citadel for counsel, whence it may look out, whence it may see, whence it may show; great honor is in the eyes, both in their position, their sharper sense, their agility, and a certain power that other members do not have. Accordingly, people often swear by their eyes rather than by any other member. No one has ever said to someone, "I love you as much as my ears"; and the sense of hearing is as close as, and next to, the eyes in sensitivity. What shall I say of the others? Men daily say, "I love you as my own eyes." And the Apostle, signifying the greater affection held for the eyes than for other members, when he said that he was beloved by the Church of God, said, "For I bear you witness, that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me." Therefore, nothing in the body is more sublime and more honorable than the eyes; and nothing in the body is perhaps more lowly than the little toe of the foot. While these things are so, it is still advantageous for the body to be a finger and to be healthy than to be an eye and suffer inflammation; for the health, which is common to all members, is more valuable than the individual offices. Thus, you see in the Church a person having some small gift, yet possessing charity; another person perhaps more eminent in the Church with some greater gift, and yet not having charity. One might be the little toe, the other might be the eye; the one who has the ability to maintain health pertains more to the unity of the body. Finally, whatever in the body is diseased is a trouble to the whole; and all the members apply their efforts so that what is diseased may be healed, and it is often healed. But if it is not healed and has taken on such decay that it cannot be healed, it is consulted for the benefit of the whole body that it be cut off from the unity of the body.

Donatus could not hold the unity of the Church because he did not have charity.

So there was a certain Donatus, like an eye in the body, thus it may be; we do not know what he was like, but absolutely he was as he was said to be; what did the excellence of honor and glory benefit him? He could not hold on to health because he lacked charity. Finally, these people have decayed so much that they had to be necessarily cut off; and what they say they possess, they are the worms of decay; cut-off worms, they cannot accept health. Indeed, a member accepts health as long as it is not cut off from the body; for health flows from the rest of the healthy parts to the place of the wound; but when a member where there is a wound has been cut off, no way or means is found for health to come to it. Therefore, they are also compared to pruned branches, and the evangelical reading concurs with the apostolic reading. For the Lord there also especially commended to us that we remain in Him through charity: I am, He says, the vine, you are the branches, my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that bears fruit, He prunes so that it may bear more fruit; and every branch that does not bear fruit in me, He cuts off. The fruit comes from that charity, for fruit comes only from the root. The Apostle also says: Being rooted and grounded in charity. Therefore, there is the root from which all fruit arises. Whoever begins to dissent from the root, even if it seems to remain somewhat, is either secretly cut off or openly to be cut off too; for he can by no means bear fruit. They were at one time in unity. They were cut off. From where were they cut off? From unity. But you say we have been cut off, they say. What are we to do? I say: You are cut off; you say: We are cut off. Let God judge. Have we deferred the question and sent it to God's judgment? Not plainly. In many matters, we do this where God's sentence has not yet been revealed; but when it appears, we use it and do not delay. I bring forth the scripture and see who has been cut off from where. If the Scripture bears witness to the part of Donatus, to a Church established in some part of the world, just as the part of Donatus is established in part of Africa, let them say that we are cut off, and let them say that they are rooted. But if the Scripture does not bear witness except to the Church spread throughout the whole world, why do we seek a human judge for our dispute? We have God; he does not yet preside in judgment, but he already presides in the Gospel.

Crispinus the Donatist appealed to the emperor.

Crispinus the heretic has just been judged. But what does he say? Have I been defeated by an evangelical statement? Claiming that he has not been defeated because the proconsul judged against him, not Christ. If, therefore, he holds the judgment of man in contempt, why did he appeal from the proconsul to the emperor? He himself demanded the judgment of the proconsul; he said: Hear me, I am not a heretic. Does the judgment of the one you demanded judgment from displease you? Why? Because he judged against you. If he had judged for you, he would have judged well; because he judged against you, he judged poorly. Before he judged, he was a good judge, to whom you said: I am not a heretic, hear me. But the proconsul judged, he says, according to the laws of the emperors, not according to the laws of the Gospel. If the proconsul judged according to the laws of the emperors; if, therefore, the emperors judge badly against you, why did you appeal from the proconsul to their judgment? Were there already emperors' laws against you, or were there not yet? If there were not yet, the proconsul did not judge according to them; if there were already, would the emperors judge for you against their own laws? Then I ask you: What are those emperors' laws against you? What was done? Teach me. For it is clear and undeniable that there are many emperors' laws against them. How did this happen? How did this come about? Did we perhaps persecute, and say many bad things to the emperors about you? This they indeed say to those whom they miserably deceive and mislead. For the cause, as it was carried out at that time, they completely hide from those they want to deceive. But, no matter how much they hide it, it is unearthed, it comes to light, it is published, it is brought to the knowledge even of the unwilling and the reluctant. Even though they close their eyes and are unwilling to see the light, the light itself may strike them. They cannot ignore the evident; they cannot turn away from what is obvious; they cannot conceal what is clear. Let us urge them with manifest truth. You demanded the emperor's judgment. They say, We are lying. Public records exist. The Donatists themselves, of the party of Majorinus, who was the first to be ordained against Caecilian, approached the then proconsul Anulinus and presented accusatory documents against Caecilian, signed with a seal, stating the crimes they had written down in that document against Caecilian, and requesting that the same accusation be sent to the emperor's court. There exists a report from Proconsul Anulinus writing to Emperor Constantine, that men from Majorinus' party came to him with documents of accusation against Caecilian, asking that these same documents be sent to the emperor; and he says he did what they asked. The emperor wrote to Bishop Melchiades and Marcus, transferring the ecclesiastical case to them, and removing it from himself. In the same letters, the emperor writes that he sent the documents sent by Anulinus; and in those same letters, it is unknown what those documents are, but in Anulinus' report, it is known, which today is contained in public records. Then the same Constantine writes to Anulinus to send the parties to Rome for episcopal judgment. Anulinus also reports in the end that he sent the parties. Therefore, you referred to the emperor; you brought the matter of the Church to human power. He was better than you: for you were referring to the emperor, he to the bishops. The case was heard in episcopal judgment, with them first accusing. The sentence was given in favor of Caecilian. They, not content with the ecclesiastical judgment, began to murmur, again seeking the imperial judgment after the episcopal judgment. He granted another ecclesiastical one at Arles; even from that judgment, they appealed to the emperor himself. Overcome by their importunity, he wanted to take up and investigate the case himself. He took it up, investigated it, judged Caecilian to be most innocent; and now, all the emperors' decrees are against them. What wonder? You dared to challenge the decision of him whose judgment you demanded? Why did you want to refer the judgment to him? You had the Church in Africa; did you not have it in the entire world? Where were they going from where they had already cut themselves off? They were no longer clinging to the Church; but the emperor was clinging to it, to whom the judgment was referred. Therefore, that most gentle man wanted the bishops to judge; and he yielded to them afterward, so that he might also judge. Hence the laws are against you; see if they are not against you. First, you yourselves were; you were the first accusers, you the last appellants, you the latest murmurers. But did you say you were defeated by the Gospel? You have been defeated by that judgment which you yourself chose.

Aug. exhorts to preserve the unity of the Church.

But we do not refuse the sentence of the Gospel: clearly, even if it did not speak, we would read, we would discover, we would show. Let the Gospel be read; let us see where the Lord Jesus Christ says the Church is. Certainly, our ears and hearts should be open to it; let us listen to Him, let Him tell us where the Church is. If He says that His Church is in Africa, let us all flock to Donatus’s side; if He says that His Church is throughout the whole world, let the severed members return to the body; for the branches are not so broken off that they cannot be grafted back in. You have the apostle Paul saying: "But you say: The branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Well. They were broken off because of unbelief; but you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. For the Jews were broken off like natural branches, and the Gentiles were grafted in as a wild olive shoot into the olive tree. From these grafted branches and from this grafted wild olive tree, we are all made partakers of the olive tree. But, as the Apostle had threatened the boasting branches of the wild olive, they became so proud, that along with the natural ones who had been cut off before, they themselves deserved to be cut off for their pride. But what does the Apostle say? "And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in again; and you, if you do not continue in the faith, will be cut off." No one should boast while in the vine, no one outside the vine should despair: if you boast while in the vine, take heed lest you be cut off; if they are placed outside the vine, let them not despair, let them dare to be grafted in. For they are not to be grafted in by their own hand. For he said: "God is able to graft them in again." They should not say: "How can it be, a thing cut off, a broken branch, that it should be grafted in again?" You say rightly that it cannot be done, if you ask human ability, not if you ask divine majesty. For what? Can any of the husbandmen do what the Lord has already done? He took the wild olive tree and grafted it into the olive tree; and the wild olive tree, grafted into the olive tree, did not bear bitter berries, but olives. Let one of them now do the same, let him graft the wild olive tree into the olive tree; he will see that nothing comes forth but the berries of the wild olive tree. Thus God was able, not to graft the olive tree into the wild olive tree, but to graft the wild olive tree into the olive tree, and to make the wild olive tree a partaker of the fatness of the olive tree, so that stripped of bitterness, it may be clothed with fatness; and will He not be able to graft you in again, cut off through pride, through humility? Well, you say, you encourage me, but first show me myself cut off; lest perhaps you should encourage yourself to come to me, rather than me to be grafted into you. I dare to say: Hear me; and yet I fear to say: Hear me; for I fear lest he scorn mankind. Rather, I encourage him to scorn mankind; for if he scorned mankind, he would not be on Donatus’s side; Donatus was a human being. Therefore, if we speak our own words, let us be scorned; if we speak the words of Christ, let Him be heard, for He is not heard in vain, and He is not scorned in vain; for He is heard to reward, not heard to punish. Let us listen to Him: let the Lord Himself tell us.

A schismatic falsely claims to be a Catholic.

He shows the Church in countless places; nevertheless, let me mention one instance. After the resurrection, as you know, brothers, he showed himself to his disciples, showed them his scars, allowed them to touch, not just to see. However, those who were holding, touching, and recognizing him still hesitated for joy, as the Gospel teaches us, which must be believed, which it is unlawful not to believe. But the Lord, to those still hesitating for joy and doubting, brought confirmation from the Scriptures, and said: These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures, and he said to them: This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Are you not there? I am there. Why do you expect a man to judge you from a tribunal? Listen to Christ from the Gospel. To all nations, he says, beginning from Jerusalem. Are you there? Do you communicate with all nations? Do you communicate with that Church which is spread through all nations, beginning from Jerusalem? If you communicate, you are there, you are in the vine, you are not cut off; for that is the vine that grew and filled the whole earth, the body of Christ, the Church of Christ, whose head is in heaven. But if you communicate only with Africans, and secretly send from Africa those who console pilgrims, do you not find that you have remained in part, cut off from the whole? What did you say in the judgment of the proconsul? I am Catholic. That is the voice; it is recited from the Acts. Hold everything as a Catholic; for 'holon' means whole and the Church is called Catholic because it is throughout the whole. Was it called χαθαμεριχή and not Catholic? "Μέρος" means part, "ὅλον" means whole; it is called "Catholic" from the Greek word according to the whole. So are you in communication with the universe? No, you say. Then you are in part; how are you Catholic? There is a great difference between whole and part, hence the name Catholic. For you took the name from the party of Donatus; the Catholic took the name from the whole world. But we say it is in the whole universe, and does God perchance not say so? I mentioned the Gospel, I quoted from the Gospel. To all nations, he says, beginning from Jerusalem. Did it not come to Africa from there? If it began from Jerusalem, by filling everything, it came to you, not by drying up. Who says: A stream was drawn from the source, to come to me; it dried up on the way, and came to me? If it dried up on the way, how did it reach you? Certainly, by filling everything, it reached you. Ungrateful stream, why do you blaspheme the source? If it did not flow, you would not be filled. But I fear, that you have dried up; for every stream cut off from the source must necessarily dry up. They speak harshly against the Church out of dryness; they would speak mildly if they were watered. I am Catholic. What does it mean to be Catholic? A man from Numidia? Ask the Greeks at least. Surely, "Catholic" is not a Punic word, but a Greek word; seek an interpreter. Rightly you err in language, who does not consent with all languages.

They were speaking in all languages, who were filled by the Holy Spirit. What did it signify?

When the Spirit came down from heaven and filled those who had believed in Christ, they spoke in all languages; and this was a sign at that time of having received the Holy Spirit, if anyone spoke in the languages of all. Is the Holy Spirit not given to the faithful now? Far be it from us to believe this, otherwise we would have no hope. And they certainly confess that the Holy Spirit is given to the faithful; and we say this, we believe this, we most especially and solely acknowledge that it happens in the Catholic Church. But if they are Catholics, the Holy Spirit is given there; if we are Catholics, the Holy Spirit is given here; let us not now inquire what difference there is, who are Catholics; it is evident that the Holy Spirit is given. Why do those who receive the Holy Spirit now not speak in all languages, unless because it was then prefigured in a few what would later be shown in all? For what did the Holy Spirit predict, stirring the hearts of those whom he had then filled, and teaching them all languages? Scarcely does a man learn two or three, either from teachers or from regions in which he stays through some familiarity; very rarely three or four languages. They spoke in all languages, who were filled by the Holy Spirit; and truly they spoke at once, not gradually learning. What then did the Spirit show at that time? Tell me, why does he not do this now, unless because he was doing something symbolically? What did he signify, if not that the Gospel would be in all languages in the future? I dare to say, even now the Church speaks in all languages; for in all languages the Gospel proclaims; and what I was saying of members, I also say of languages. And just as the eye says: The foot walks for me, so also the foot says: The eye sees for me; thus I say too: My tongue is Greek, my tongue is Hebrew, my tongue is Syrian; for one faith holds all, one bond of charity includes all. That which was demonstrated by the Lord, was foretold beforehand by the Prophets: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Behold how far the Church has grown, which is called Catholic by all. And see because all languages have gone through all lands: There are no languages nor speeches in which their voices are not heard.

The Church spread everywhere calls to all, that they may return and be grafted in.

Therefore, this Church I hold, but you do not; if therefore you are cut off, acknowledge from where you are cut off. Return, and be grafted in, lest you wither and be cast into the fire. The Prophets speak, the Apostles speak, the Lord speaks about the Church spread throughout the whole world: against you all these speak judgment. From the proconsul to the imperial judgement: from the Gospel, where? Perhaps to Donatus? Will Donatus judge against Christ, or does Christ judge Donatus? What will Donatus say to you? I preached my Christ from Africa. What will he say? Perhaps: I opposed myself for Christ, and I succeeded Christ? This remains for him to say, because he dared to cut men off from the body, because he succeeded Christ. Behold the judgment of Christ, behold the Gospels. Through all nations, he says, beginning from Jerusalem. It began from Jerusalem: there the Holy Spirit came; there were the Apostles, when it came upon them; from there the Gospel began to be preached, from there to be spread through all nations, from there afterward it came to Africa. Where it came afterward, did it abandon them? By no means did it abandon, if they do not wish it. For we African too; certainly the Gospel, which came to Africa, remains here in catholic Africans, just as it remains in all nations. For there are heretics through all nations, some there, some here; and unknown Africans are not those who are in those nations. They are cut off from the vine. For the Catholic knows all; they themselves do not know. For indeed the vine, from which the branches are cut off, knows all the branches, both those that remain in it, and those that are cut off from it. For indeed the Catholic Church is spread everywhere. Those branches, where they are cut off, there they remained; they could not come to other parts and other parts. But this, spread everywhere, holds its own everywhere, mourns the cut off everywhere; it cries out to all, that they should return and be grafted in. Its cry is not heard, but yet the breasts of charity do not cease to flow with exhortation. It is solicitous for the cut off; it cries out in Africa to the Donatists, it cries out in the East against the Arians, against the Photinians, against others and others. For as it is spread everywhere, it finds everywhere against whom to cry out; for they were in it, and they are cut off from it. The branches began to be unfruitful, and they are cut off; if they do not remain in unbelief, they will be grafted in again. Hear these things, brothers, with fear, lest you become proud; with charity, so that you may also pray for them. Turned to the Lord.