THE JUDGEMENT OF THE LEARNED and PIOUS St. Augustine, CONCERNING PENAL LAW AGAINST CONVENTICLES, AND FOR UNITY in RELIGION. Delivered in His 48th Epistle to Vincentius.  
LONDON, Printed for James Collins, and to be sold at the King's Arms 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 always had in the Church of Christ, and especially in that part which hath accounted itself the most Reformed; and, we see, that most Men are more led by the Authority of the Writer, than 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 Controversy: This cannot be laid to the Charge of Him, who died 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 Erroneous Opinion, namely, That Christians were not to be urged by Penalties in such Cases, but only by Arguments; and Confirmed Him in this Judgement, that Kings cannot serve God better, then by making Strict Laws 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 Convinced him, so it is hoped it may Convince these who are yet of that Erroneous Opinion, and encourage AUTHORITY to persist steadfast in the EXECUTION of such LAWS, which have in all Ages been so Advantageous to the Peace and Quiet of CHURCH and STATE.   

The JUDGEMENT of the Learned and Pious St. Augustine concerning PENAL LAWS against CONVENTICLES, and for UNITY in RELIGION.  
I Received a Letter, which I believed to be yours: He who brought it was a Catholic 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 Restrained and Corrected by the Powers which are Ordained by God: We Joy already in the Correction of many, who so earnestly Hold and Defend the Catholic Unity, and Rejoice in their Deliverance from former Error; that we, with great thankfulness admire them, who formerly, I know not by what force of Custom, could by no means be brought to think of a Change for the better, till, affrighted with the Terrot of the Laws, they set their hearts seriously to the Consideration of the Truth; lest, 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 far envy their Salvation, as to endeavour to take off my Colleagues, from using this Fatherly Care, by which we see so many brought to Accuse their former Blindness?  
These late Enemies of the Church, who disturbed our Peace and Quiet with divers kinds of Crafts and violent Assaults, if We should so far Contemn and Tolerate, as not to Provide and Use some Means to Terrify and Correct them, surely we should Return Evil for Evil: For, if any Man should see his Enemy (made Frantic by a high Favour) 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 ruin, then if he should take care to bind him fast from running? And yet he would then appear to the distempered 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 show 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 Madmen, with the Cords of those very Laws which you find fault with.  
There is another sort of Diseased persons who have not that turbulent boldness, but are oppressed with Sloth and Restiffness; who, when We persuade them to the Truth, say to Us, We cannot tell what to answer; but, it is hard for us to Leave the Tradition of our Fathers: Are not these to be awakened with fear, or smart of Temporal Punishments, that so Arising from their Lethargic 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 Custom, as by a deadly Sleep.  
But, these Penalties, you say, have done some no good: What then? Is Medicine to be neglected, because some men's 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 Rejoice.  
If these Men were Terrified, and not Taught, it might seem wicked Tyranny: Again, if they were Taught, and not Terrified, they being hardened by old Custom, 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 men's 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 Custom, 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 always our Friend who spares us, nor he always our Enemy who strikes us: Better are the wounds of a Friend, than 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 Madman, and awakens a Lethargic, is troublesome to both, but loves both: Who can Love us more than 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 Patriarches with hunger, the stubborn People with greater Pains. He takes not from the Apostle the Thorn in the Flesh, though Thrice entreated, 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 Compelled 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, compelled 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 struck 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 divers Instances doing the same? and hear Christ saying, No man comes to me unless the Father draws him; which is done in the hearts of all, who turn 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 Shepherd with his Rod driving back the straggling Sheep to the Fold? We read of Sarah Chastising her stubborn servant Hagar, expelling her and her Son; and yet St. Paul says, 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, do, 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 aim alike at the People's good; in one it was Domineering Pride, in the other Pure Charity: Jezabel killed the Lords Prophets, Elias slew the false Prophets: I suppose the Merits of the Doers were as divers, 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 Peter's Sword, by Christ's 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 than these three Crosses? What more unlike than the three that hung thereon? Paul was delivered to Prison to be bound, 1 Cor. 5. St. Paul Delivers a man to Satan, worse than any Jailor, 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 says, 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 always Praiseworthy 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 always 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 punished 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 aims at destruction, the other at health and recovery.  
Wicked Men killed the Prophets, and the Prophets put some Men to death. The Jews whipped Christ, and Christ whipped 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. Nabuchadnezzar 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, etc. 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 Laws of Emperors made against the Heathen Sacrifices, yet, there, the Penalty was Capital. But, in the Laws against Schismatics, such moderation was used, that the Laws seemed rather to Admonish, then Punish you: For, perhaps it may be said of you, what St. Paul said of the Jews, Rom. 10. I bear them witness that they have a Zeal of God, but not according to knowledge; for, they being ignorant of God's 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 Stomach and Crossness fight against the Plain truth; the wickedness of these perhaps is worse than Idolatry: But, this cannot easily be proved, 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 than some other Sects, for you do not Rage and Range about with Troops of Cruel Soldiers plundering: But, no Beast is called tame, if he hurts no body, because he wants Teeth or Claws. 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 Laws of the Emperors against Schismatics and Heretics, 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 prevailed, whom yet they knew to be an Apostate and Idolater: so that they must confess, that either they did shamefully Lie, 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 Emperor 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 Precedent amongst them for the former?  
When your Predecessors Accused Caecilian Bishop of Carthage, as a Criminous Person, before the Emperor, you did not then Petition for your lost Goods, but you slandered 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 Punished by the Secular Powers, Why do you blame us for doing that, which you yourselves did before, and we do not blame you for doing it, but for doing it Maliciously, to ruin 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 Emperor, of the Enemies of our Communion; when as your Predecessors put in a Libel to the Emperor Constantine against Caecilian, and contrary to the Canons of the Church; You Complained of him to the Emperor, before he had been Convicted by his Colleagues. The Emperor proceeding more Regularly, Remitted the Cause back to the Bishops; but, you would not then submit, but appealed to the Emperor again; accusing not Caecilian only, but all the Bishops, whom the Emperor 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 failed 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 passed against Caecilian, upon your Accusation and Proof of of the Crimes laid against him, you would have been called Friends of the Church, Defenders of Peace and Unity: but, when this Sentence is passed against you, who falsely accused the Bishop, and would not be entreated to submit to the Unity of the Church, you cried out of Persecution. You Contend, That no man ought to be Compelled 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 Constantine's Decree against your Ancestors is of force against you; and, that all Princes, especially the Christian, aught to follow that Pattern, when ever your Obstinacy compels 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 suffered, by the Temptation of Vainglory, to resist the Truth. It is no Persecution to be Compelled 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 knows 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 Cities, that were Donatists and Separatists, now become good Catholic Christians, heartily Detesting their Devilish Schism, 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 Emperor's Laws, made by Constantine, and continued even to our present Emperor.  
These Examples propounded to me by my Colleagues, made me to change my Opinion, for I was first of that Opinion; That no man ought to be Compelled 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 Compelled by Laws, for this I thought could do nothing, but make open Heretics or Schismatics, Hypocritical and Counterfeit Catholics: 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 Laws, 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 Church's Unity, being sufficiently satisfied of their duty, but deferred their return, only out of fear of displeasing their own Party? How many are hardened against the Truth, by long Custom 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 Governors? How many continue in their several Schisms, 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 compelled to the Unity of the Church.  
To all these the Terror of the Imperial Laws hath been so profitable, that now some ingeniously confess, We had a mind to return to the Church before, God be thanked for these Laws, which have given us occasion to do it speedily, and cut off all our former delays. 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 recompense in another World; God be thanked, who hath thus quickened our negligence, by the Terror of the Law, and made us solicitous to seek, what formerly we did not care to find. Others say, We were Affrighted by false Rumours from entering 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 compelled: 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 Worse. Others say, We thought it had been no matter where we Professed the Faith of Christ; but, God be Thanked that we have been Compelled to the Unity of the Church, and brought from our Schism to serve the one God in Unity.  
Should I oppose the Execution of these Good Laws, and deprive the World of so much Benefit and Advantage? No: Let the Kings of the Earth serve Christ, by making LAW for Christ.  
The Terror of Temporal Powers, when it Opposes the Truth, is to the Patient Sufferer a Glorious Trial, to the Weak a dangerous Temptation; but, when it Presses the Truth upon those who are in Error, it is to the Wife and Sincere a Profitable Admonition, to the Senseless and Regardless an unprofitable Affliction.  
CONSTANTINE, the first Christian Emperor, finding the Church Disturbed by several Schisms, made a LAW against all CONVENTICLES; by which LAW the Memory of Heretics and Schismatics was Destroyed: Historiae tripartitae, lib. 3. c. 11. Sozomen. Eut. Histor. lib. 2. c. 30.  
GRATIAN the Emperor gave LIBERTY to all, to Communicate in what RELIGION they pleased, which divided the Churches again, which he could not Quiet but by a Law against Heretics, and those who Divided from the Church. Hist. Tripart. l. 9 cap. 5. & 7.  
FINIS.