Thus they remained until the death of the emperor Constantius (A.D.
361), and Donatus had died in the mean time. Julian, on succeeding to
the empire, gave leave to all whom Constantius had banished on account
of religion to return to their homes.[37] But the Donatists were not the
better for this, as they had not been banished by Constantius, but by
Constans, before Constantius got possession of Africa: so they
petitioned the emperor that they might be recalled from banishment; and
in their petition they spoke of Julian in a way which disagreed
strangely with their general defiance of governments, and which was
especially ill suited for one who had forsaken the Christian faith and
was persecuting it at that very time. Julian granted their request, and
forthwith they returned home in great triumph, and committed violent
outrages against the Catholics. They took possession of a number of
churches, and, professing to consider everything that had been used by
the Catholics unclean, they washed the pavement, scraped the walls,
burnt the communion-tables, melted the plate, and cast the holy
sacrament to the dogs. They soon became strong throughout the whole
north of Africa, and in one part of it, Numidia, they were stronger than
the Catholics. After the death of Julian, laws were made against them
from time to time, but do not seem to have been carried out. And
although the Donatists quarrelled much among themselves, and split up
into a number of parties, they were still very powerful in Augustine's
day. In his own city of Hippo he found that they were more in number
than the Catholics; and such was their bitter and pharisaical spirit
that the bishop of the sect at Hippo would not let any of his people so
much as bake for their Catholic neighbours.
[37] Page 56.
Augustine did all that he could to make something of the Donatists, but
it was mostly in vain. He could not get their bishops or clergy to argue
with him. They pretended to call themselves "the children of the
martyrs," on account of the troubles which their forefathers had gone
through in the reign of Constans: and they said that the children of the
martyrs could not stoop to argue with sinners and traditors. Although
they professed that their sect was made up of perfect saints, they took
in all sorts of worthless converts for the sake of swelling their
numbers; whereas Augustine would not let any Donatists join the Church
without inquiring into their characters, and, if he found that they had
done anything for which they had been condemned by their sect to do
penance, he insisted that they should go through a penance before being
admitted into the Church.
But, notwithstanding the difficulties which he found in dealing with
them, he and others succeeded in drawing over a great number of
Donatists to the Church. And this made the Circumcellions so furious
that they fell on the Catholic clergy whenever they could find them, and
tried to do them all possible mischief. They beat and mangled some of
them cruelly; they put out the eyes of some by throwing a mixture of
lime and vinegar into their faces; and, among other things, they laid a
plan for waylaying Augustine himself, which, however, he escaped,
through the providence of God. Many reports of these savage doings were
carried to the emperor, Honorius, and some of the sufferers appeared at
his court to tell their own tale; whereupon the old laws against the
sect were revived, and severe new laws were also made. In these even
death was threatened against Donatists who should molest the Catholics;
but Augustine begged that this penalty might be withdrawn, because the
Catholic clergy, who knew more about the sect than any one else, would
not give information against it, if the punishment of the Donatists were
to be so great. And he and his brethren requested that the emperor would
appoint a meeting to be held between the parties, in order that they
might talk over their differences, and, if possible, might come to some
agreement.
The emperor consented to do so; and a meeting took place accordingly, at
Carthage, in 411, in the presence of a commissioner named Marcellinus.
Two hundred and eighty-six Catholic bishops found their way to the city
by degrees. But the Donatists, who were two hundred and seventy-nine in
number, entered it in a body, thinking to make all the effect that they
could by the show of a great procession. At the conference (or meeting),
which lasted three days, the Donatists behaved with their usual pride
and insolence. When Marcellinus begged them to sit down, they refused,
because our Lord had stood before Pilate. On being again asked to seat
themselves, they quoted a text from the Psalms, "I will not sit with the
wicked" (_Ps._ xxvi. 5); meaning that the Catholics were the wicked, and
that they themselves were too good to sit in such company. And when
Augustine called them "brethren," they cried out in anger that they did
not own any such brotherhood. They tried to throw difficulties in the
way of arguing the question fairly; but on the third day their shifts
would serve them no longer. Augustine then took the lead among the
Catholics, and showed at great length both how wrongly the Donatists
had behaved in the beginning of their separation from the Church, and
how contrary to Scripture their principles were.
Marcellinus, who had been sent by the emperor to hear both parties, gave
judgment in favour of the Catholics. Such of the Donatist bishops and
clergy as would join the Church were allowed to keep possession of their
places; but the others were to be banished. Augustine had at first been
against the idea of trying to force people in matters of religion. But
he saw that many were brought by these laws to join the Church, and
after a time he came to think that such laws were good and useful; nay,
he even tried to find a Scripture warrant for them in the text "Compel
them to come in" (_St. Luke_ xiv. 23). And thus, unhappily, this great
and good man, was led to lend his name to the grievous error of thinking
that force, or even persecution, may be used rightly, and with good
effect, in matters of religion. It was one of the mistakes to which
people are liable when they form their opinions without having the
opportunity of seeing how things work in the long run, and on a large
scale. We must regret that Augustine seemed in any way to countenance
such means; but even although he erred in some measure as to this, we
may be sure that he would have abhorred the cruelties which have since
been done under pretence of maintaining the true religion, and of
bringing people to embrace it.
While some of the Donatists were thus brought over to the Church, others
became more outrageous than ever. Many of them grew desperate, and made
away with themselves. One of their bishops threatened that, if he were
required by force to join the Catholics, he would shut himself up in a
church with his people, and that they would then set the building on
fire and perish in the flames. There were many among the Donatists who
would have been mad enough to do a thing of this kind; but it would seem
that the bishop was not put to the trial which he expected.
The Donatists dwindled away from this time, and were little heard of
after Augustine's days, although there were still some in Africa two
hundred years later, as we learn from the letters of St. Gregory the
Great.