Psalmus Contra Partem Donati

I. A Psalm Against the Party of Donatus. All who rejoice in peace, now judge the truth. An abundance of sins is wont to disturb the brethren. Because of this, our Lord wished to forewarn us, comparing the kingdom of heaven to a net cast into the sea, gathering many fish of every kind from here and there. When they had drawn them to the shore, then they began to separate them: they put the good into vessels, the rest, the bad, into the sea. Whoever knows the Gospel, let him recognize with fear. He sees the net as the Church, he sees this world as the sea; but the mixed kind of fish is the just man with the sinner; the end of the world is the shore: then is the time to separate; those who have now broken the nets have greatly loved the sea; the vessels are the seats of the saints, which they cannot reach. All who rejoice in peace, now judge the truth. A good hearer perhaps asks who broke the net. Very proud men, who claim to be just. Thus they made a schism and an altar against an altar. They delivered themselves to the devil, while they fight about the tradition and the crime which they committed they wish to transfer onto others. They themselves handed over the books, and they dare to accuse us.

so that they commit a worse crime than they had committed before. Those who could excuse the case of the books out of fear—because Peter denied Christ when he was terrified of death—how will they now excuse the deed of setting up altar against altar, and, having torn apart the peace of Christ, place their hope in a man? What persecution did not do, they themselves have done in peace. All who rejoice in peace, now judge the truth. Our guardian, great God, you alone can free us from these false prophets, who seek to devour us. They conceal a wolfish heart under a sheep’s skin. The name of the righteous is the sheep’s skin; the schism is in the wolfish heart. They are accustomed to deceive those who do not know the Scriptures; for they hear the word “traitors” and do not know what was done before. If I say to them, “Prove it,” they have nothing to answer. They say they have believed their own; I say they have been deceived, because we too have believed our own, who say that they have handed over the books. Do you wish to know who speak falsely? Those who are not in unity. The case was long ago settled, because you do not stand in peace.

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. Our elders spoke and made books about it, those who then knew the case, so that they could prove it while it was fresh: There were certain traitors of the books of the holy law, bishops from Numidia, and not just anyone from the people. When they came to Carthage to ordain a bishop, they found Caecilianus already ordained in his see. They were angry, because they themselves could not ordain. There were Botrus and Caelestius, very hostile to Caecilianus, impious thieves, proud, about whom it is long to relate. They all joined together to fabricate a crime against him; they say that his ordainer had handed over the holy books. Thus they broke the nets of peace and now wander through the sea. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. Behold how good and joyful it is for brothers to dwell in unity! Hear the voice of the prophet, so that you may be in unity. Who proved to us the ancient crime of tradition? Who objected in judgment? Who sat to judge? With what witnesses did he convict, who dared to affirm? But they willingly fabricated this, because they knew they had done it themselves. For rumor already spoke of the tradition of the books, but those who had done it lay hidden in that disturbance; from there they defamed others, so that they could hide themselves. Through them the other leaders from that party erred, because they thought it shameful not to believe their colleagues. Now, brothers, let the error be ended, and let us be in unity.

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. They did what they wanted then in that blindness. They did not sit as judges, nor as priests according to custom, as they are accustomed to judge when gathered for great cases; no accuser and defendant stood in the inquiry, no witness, no document by which they could prove the crime, but fury, deceit, and uproar, which reign in falsehood. Let the records be brought forth to us, such as are customary in a council; let us see what thing compelled an altar to be set up against an altar. If the priest was evil, he ought to have been deposed beforehand; if he could not be deposed, he ought to have been tolerated within the net, just as you now tolerate so many openly evil men, and you who bear with pious fury would have borne with one for the sake of peace. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. It would be a great joy for us if you had been unwilling to err then; but if the truth was not seen then, at least now see it from experience. You now have many wicked men who greatly displease you, yet you do not separate these from your communion. I do not speak of those sins which you can even deny: I speak of clubs, fires, deaths, which your men commit in the light, and yet you endure them either through error or fear. How much would it have been for your fathers to bear with one for the sake of unity, if the uproar was so great that they could not degrade him? Add that he was innocent and they could prove nothing. But lest a crime be sought where they saw themselves to be, they pretended to be too righteous, when they wanted to throw everything into confusion.

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. He who seeks empty honors does not wish to reign with Christ, like the prince of this evil, from whose party they are called. For Donatus then wished to obtain all of Africa; then he sought overseas judges from the emperor. But this petition, though just, did not arise from charity. Truth itself proclaims this, which I wish now to relate. For the emperor consented, and sent priests who would sit at Rome and could then hear Caecilian together with him. The case was argued, nothing was proven: he dared even to appeal and, after the seat of his colleagues, to be heard by the emperor. Hence that petition is shown not to have been from charity. Then, defeated everywhere, he began to rebaptize Christians. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. If you wish to follow justice, consider the whole case. Why was what Donatus later did not done before? The priests throughout the African region were in disagreement: overseas priests could judge the matter there. Why did you rush into schism and set up altar against altar, so that you could no longer hear what was later judged and would be compelled to appeal from your own judges, while you sought to confirm the kingdom of error by any means? And now you too know everything, but pretend not to know, and when the truth presses you, you say the fathers erred, as if someone forbids you now to withdraw from error. But pride has bound you in the chair of pestilence.

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. He who has the love of Christ cannot hate peace. Or you, peoples, now listen and be in concord with us, you who do not hold the chair for which you fight unjustly. If your bishops from some one region had a dispute among themselves, whom would you wish to judge except bishops from other regions who were not involved in that dispute? But when they had examined the case and pronounced in favor of one party, you would never have communion with those who would not consent to them. Why then did you have communion with those who did this before? For they themselves did not consent to the judgment of the overseas bishops, who judged in our favor; for they are joined to us today. If Christ the judge says this, what have you to reply? All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. If the light of the heart is in you, you can see the truth. There are the prayers of Donatus and the acts, by which prove what has been said. If you do not wish to believe them, bring forward something yourselves. If we do not believe them either, there will be endless strife. Let us therefore embrace peace. What is it to us what was done before? You object tradition: we reply that you did it. You cry out about Macarius: and we about the Circumcellion. That matter of ours is already past: yours do not cease even today. Our threshing-floor has chaff: you want this alone to be; for you do not want peace. They threaten with a club:

And would that they threatened and did not beat daily. If these men of yours expel them, they have no one through whom to rule. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. If Macarius exceeded the measure written in the Christian law, or was reporting the king's law, so that he fought for unity, I do not say that he sinned not at all, but that your men are worse. For who commanded them to rage so through Africa? Neither Christ nor the emperor is proven to have permitted this: private clubs and fires and lawless madness. Because it is written: sheathe the sword, they do not think it a crime to use a club, not so that a man dies, but so that he is badly battered and later dies from it, already tormented by sickness. But yet if they are merciful, they kill even with one club. They call them Israelite clubs, which they said with honor, so that they more greatly ravage the name itself than the body they beat with them. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. Do not, brothers, now blame the time of Macarius on us. If they were cruel, they also greatly displease us; but if they speak false things about them, God can judge. Let us love the peace of Christ, let us rejoice in unity. If there are evil men in the church, they can harm us in nothing. If they cannot be with us, let them be excluded with peace preserved.

If they cannot be shut out, let them at least be shut out from the heart. The holy Ezekiel said that some are marked, who groan over the sins of their brothers and do not separate themselves from them. Thus we, on account of evil brothers, are not to separate ourselves from the mother, as the impious then did, setting up an altar outside, so that they might now have worse men than those they pretend to have fled. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. Everyone who reads the Scriptures knows what I wish to disclose. John the Baptist then said openly to the Jews, that Christ could winnow them as his own threshing-floor. He sent workers into the harvest, disciples to preach, through whom the threshing-floor was gathered and winnowed from the cross. Then the just, like grain, filled the churches chastely, selling what they possessed and bidding farewell to the world. They were like seed, scattered throughout the whole world, so that another harvest might arise, to be winnowed at the end. This harvest grows among tares, because heresies are everywhere; its chaff are the unjust, who are not in unity. If Macarius was among them, why do you wish to rebaptize us?

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. Place two threshing-floors in your heart, so that you may see what I say. Certainly the earlier ones also had saints, as the scriptures show. For God said He had left seven thousand men, and there are many priests and kings who were just in the Law. There you have so many prophets, you have many also from the people. Tell me which of the just then separated an altar for himself. That wicked people committed many crimes, sacrifices were made to idols, so many prophets were killed, and yet none of the just withdrew from unity. The just endured the unjust, awaiting the winnower who was to come; they were mingled in one temple, but they were not mingled in heart; they said so many things against them, yet they had one altar. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. What does this seem to you? The second harvest of the Church, which grows throughout the whole world, must endure more: it has also the Lord’s example in the traitor Judas. He bore him among the good, He sent him also to preach. The evil servant preached, but Christ was in the faith, because those who believed in the judge did not care about the herald. When He gave the holy supper, He did not exclude him even then, and He could have been betrayed by him, even if he had left before. But an example was given to us to tolerate evil brothers, so that, when they cannot be shut out, we are separated only in heart.

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. I ask you, answer us: why do you wish to rebaptize? You expel your fallen priests from communion, and yet no one after them has dared to rebaptize, and those whom they baptized you communicate with today. What did they receive from them, if they had nothing to give? Read how adulterers are punished in the holy law; for they cannot say they sinned from fear. If only the saints baptize, then rebaptize after these. Why do you slander us, because we are in unity, who were not yet born in that persecution? It is written that the sins of fathers do not pertain to sons, but no one gives good fruit if he is cut off from the vine. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. You know what the Catholic is and what is cut off from the vine. If there are any among you who are cautious, let them come, let them live in the root; before they wither too much, let them be freed from the fire. We do not rebaptize for this reason, because it is one sign in the faith, not because we see you as saints, but only to hold to the form, because the shoot that is cut off from the vine has the same form. But what good is the form to it, if it does not live from the root? Come, brothers, if you wish, so that you may be grafted into the vine. It is a grief when we see you lying cut off like that. Count the priests from the very see of Peter, and in that order of fathers see who succeeded whom: it is the rock which the proud gates of hell do not overcome.

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. If someone like this should come to you, full of the Catholic faith, as we are accustomed to hear about those holy men of old, and if he should say to you: 'Brother, why do you wish to rebaptize me? I do not know what was done before; now, however, I am in the faith of Christ. If what I do not know defiles me, then show what sort you are now: I look at your face, I do not know what is in your heart. If what I do not know defiles me, perhaps you defile me, and if I believe you to be holy, see with whom you communicate. If what we do not know defiles, you can no longer be holy, whom so many sins defile, which your people commit in secret. But if you do not care about what you do not know, neither do I care about what was done before.' — and yet you dare to rebaptize such a Christian. All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. Woe to you who so unjustly contend for your sees. You cry out that you alone are holy, but you say something else in your heart, because you see that you too have many evil men everywhere. Can you say: 'We are mixed in the net'? For it is answered to you that you have already broken it. Nor can you say that you endure the chaff; again we answer: you would have done this before. For they were not worse than that traitor Judas, with whom the apostles first received the sacrament of the supper, when they already knew among themselves that he was guilty of such a crime; yet the filth in another's heart did not defile them. And yet you dare to rebaptize Christian brothers.

All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly. Listen, brothers, to what I say, and do not be angry with me. For what you hear is not false; you can also consider it. What if Mother Church herself should address you with peace and say: 'O my children, why do you complain against your mother? Why have you abandoned me? I wish now to hear from you. You accuse your brothers, and I am greatly torn. When the nations oppressed me, I endured much with sorrow; many abandoned me, but they did so in fear. But no one compelled you to rebel against me in this way. You say you are with me, but you see that it is false: I am called Catholic, and you are of the party of Donatus. The Apostle commanded me to pray for the kings of the world; you are envious that the kings are now in the Christian faith. If you are children, why are you envious because my prayers have been heard? For when they sent gifts, you refused to accept them, and you forgot the prophets who foretold long ago that great kings of the nations would send gifts to the Church. When you rejected those gifts, you showed that you are not of her, and you compelled Macarius to avenge his own grief. But what have I done to you, your mother throughout the whole world? I expel the evil ones I can; those I cannot, I am forced to bear; I bear them until they are healed or separated in the end. Why have you left me, and why do I suffer anguish over your death? If you hate the evil ones so much, see what sort you yourselves have. If you too tolerate evil ones, why are you not in unity, where no one rebaptizes and there is no altar against altar?

So many evil men you tolerate, but with no good reward, because what you ought to bear for Christ, you wish to bear for Donatus. We have sung to you, brothers, of peace, if you are willing to hear. Our judge is coming: we give, he exacts.

This psalm begins thus: All who rejoice in peace, now judge truly, which is its refrain.