Optatus of Milevis, Against the Donatists (1917) Book 2. pp.57-119.
[No chapter 25 is marked in the text or margin]
BOOK THE SECOND
Which is the One True Catholic Church and Where is it to be found? The Five Endowments of the Church belong to Catholicism, not to the schism. The donatists have been guilty of shamelessly scraping the heads of Priests, and of Murders, of giving the Eucharist to Dogs, and of casting away the Holy Chrism.
I. Which and where is the Catholic Church? It is spread all over the world.
We have shown who were the Betrayers, and have pointed out the origin of the Schism in such a manner that we have almost seen it take place before our eyes. The difference between heresy and schism has also been explained. It is now our business to show (as we promised that we would do in the second place) which is the One Church, called by Christ His Dove and His Bride.
The Church, then, is One, and her holiness is not measured by the pride of individuals, but is derived |58 from the Sacraments. It is for this reason that she alone is called by Christ His Dove and His own beloved Bride.
The Church cannot be amongst all the heretics and schismatics. It follows that [according to you] she must be in one place only.
You, my brother Parmenian, have said that she is with you alone. This, I suppose, can only be because, in your pride, you strive to claim some special holiness for yourselves, so that the Church may be where it pleases you, and may not be where it pleases you not. And so, in order that she may be with you in a little piece of Africa, in a corner of one small region, is she not to be with us in another part of Africa? Is she not to be in Spain, in Gaul, in Italy, where you are not? If you maintain that she is with you only, is she not to be in Pannonia, in Dacia, Moesia, Thrace, Achaia, Macedonia and in all Greece, where you are not? In order that you may be able to argue that |59 she is with you, is she not to be in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Pamphylia, Phrygia, Cilicia and in the three Syrias, and in the two Armenias, and in all Egypt and in Mesopotamia, where you are not? And is she not to be throughout innumerable islands and so many other provinces which can hardly be counted, where you are not?
Where in that case will be the application of the Catholic Name, since on this very account was the Church called Catholic, because she is in accordance with reason, and is scattered all over the world? |60
For if you limit the Church just as it may please you, into a narrow corner, if you withdraw whole peoples from her communion, where will that be which the Son of God has merited, where will that be which the Father has freely granted Him, saying, in the second Psalm:
'I will give to Thee the nations for Thine inheritance; and the ends of the earth for Thy possession'?
To what purpose do you break so mighty a promise, so that the breadth of all the kingdoms is compressed by you into a sort of narrow prison? Why do you strive to stand in the way of so great a largesse? Why do you fight against the Saviour's Merits? Permit the Son to possess that which has been granted to Him; permit the Father to fulfil that which He has promised.
Why do you put bounds, why set limits? There is nothing in any part of the earth which has been withheld from His dominion, since the whole earth has been promised by God the Father to the Saviour. The whole earth has been granted to Him together |61 with its nations. The whole world is Christ's as His undivided possession. God proves this when he says:
'I will give unto Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and for Thy possession the bounds of the earth.'
And in the seventy-first Psalm, it has been written of the Saviour Himself,
'He shall reign from sea to sea, and from the waters to the bounds of the world.'
When the Father gives, He makes no exception; you, that you may give Him one fraction, endeavour to take away the whole measure. And, still, you endeavour to persuade men that the Church is amongst you alone, taking away from Christ that which He has won----denying that God has performed His promises. What ingratitude! What folly! What presumption is yours! Christ invites you, with all others, into the company of the Heavenly Kingdom and exhorts you to be co-heirs with Him; and you strive to rob Him of the inheritance given Him by the Father, allowing Him a part of Africa and refusing Him the whole world, which the Father has bestowed upon Him.
Why do you desire to make the Holy Ghost appear a liar, who in the forty-ninth Psalm tells of the goodness of Almighty God, saying:
'The Lord, the God of Gods has spoken and has called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof'? |62
Therefore the earth has been called to become flesh. And, as it has been written, so has it been done, and the earth owes praises to its Creator.
Once more this is mentioned, where the Holy Spirit exhorts us in the hundred and twelfth Psalm with the words:
'The Name of the Lord must be praised from the rising of the sun even to its going down.'
And again, in the ninety-fifth Psalm:
'Sing ye to the Lord a new song.'