III. That the Donatists are sinners.
We have now to search for the sinner, at whose hands we should fear to receive unction, or whose sacrifice ought to be disowned.
Let human mistrust give way, and the arguments of both sides keep silence. God alone shall point out who is a sinner. We read in the forty-eighth Psalm in the second division that the Holy Ghost has said:
'But to the sinner God said.'
Here we have to give the whole attention of our mind, and see who is the sinner. |184
For, if after we have read:
"'But to the sinner God said,'
some such words as these were to follow:
'Thou hast snatched up arms, thou hast marched out of the camp, thou hast stood against the foe in battle array,'
then the soldier would have reason to fear, because he might seem to be the sinner. Or, if He said:
'Thou hast got together merchandise, thou hast gone on journeys, thou hast held fairs, thou hast bought and sold for the sake of profit,'
then the man of business would have to fear, because he might seem to be the sinner. Or, if He said:
'Thou hast built a ship, thou hast fitted it out with rigging and sails, thou hast seized the winds favourable for a voyage,'
then the sailor would have to fear, because he might seem to be the sinner.
Or, if after we have read:
'But to the sinner God said,'
these words were to follow:
'Dissension and schism have been displeasing to thee, |185 thou hast agreed with thy brother and with the One Church, which is in all the world, thou hast communicated with the Seven Churches and with the Shrines of the Apostles. Thou hast embraced Unity'----
if these things were to be read immediately afterwards, then we should have to fear that we were the sinners.
But when God says:
'Why dost thou declare My commandments and take My covenant in thy mouth? For discipline thou hast despised, and thou hast cast My words behind thee. Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a scandal against thy mother's son. Thou didst see a thief and didst run with him, and with adulterers thou hast been a partaker' ;
then all these things have been said to you. Clear yourselves from all of them, if you can!
IV. That the Donatists are despisers of discipline.
So discipline has been held in contempt by you. To what end then dost thou. who dost not obey the covenant, recite the covenant, in which has been set forth the discipline which you will not observe? For you cannot say that you observe something, against which you bear arms!
God says: