Let them say that those things which I have set down from the Law and the prophets and the Psalms do not pertain to these words of the Lord which are read in the Gospel: I do not care, I do not resist. Yet certainly, unless this had been foretold in the Law and the prophets and the Psalms — whether in those testimonies which I myself have adduced, or in others — by no means would the Lord have said: 'All things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me,' and then, their understanding having been opened so that they might understand the Scriptures, would he have taught those very things which are written of him in the Law and the prophets and the Psalms, in such a way as to say:
'For thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise the third day, and that repentance and the remission of sins should be preached in his name throughout all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.' I for my part might not have been able to recognize these things as written in the Law and the prophets and the Psalms; nevertheless, that this is written there, he declares who is the Truth. But even if he did not say that these things were written there, without doubt it would suffice for Christians that Christ himself had said that repentance and the remission of sins must be preached in his name throughout all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
But his doubting disciples, although his body had been seen and handled, he willed to confirm by the greater evidence of the Scriptures, rather than by that whereby he presented himself, visible and palpable, to the senses of mortals. Let us hold, then, the Church designated from the mouth of the Lord — whence she was to begin and how far she was to reach: beginning, namely, from Jerusalem, and reaching unto all the nations. Here now, whoever shall say that Jerusalem is to be understood not as that visible city, but as placed figuratively, so that it be taken spiritually of the whole Church — eternal in the heavens and in part a pilgrim on earth — can say that this too was said figuratively:
'that it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise the third day' — which whoever should say is by no means to be held a Christian. As, therefore, that was set down in its proper sense, so also is that which was joined to it concerning the Church of all nations beginning at Jerusalem. For the Lord expounded that these things were said of himself in the Law and the prophets and the Psalms, and surely that very exposition could not be figurative; otherwise it would not be an exposition. Moreover, if Jerusalem, placed figuratively and understood spiritually, signifies the universal Church, how does the universal Church begin from the universal Church, as though Jerusalem should begin from Jerusalem?
It is manifest, therefore, that it was set down in its proper sense concerning that city, whence the Church is also proved to have begun — and this again and again, with the Lord himself making it manifest and leaving no lurking-place of snares to heretical cunning. For thus it follows and he says: 'And you are witnesses of these things, and I send my promise upon you; but sit you in the city until you be clothed with power from on high.' In which city he certainly bade them sit until they should be clothed with power from on high — that is, with the Holy Spirit, whom he had promised he would send — he foretold that the Church would begin from that city. But if they think it is not Jerusalem, let them hear what follows: 'And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up his hands and blessed them.'
'And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he departed from them. And they returned with great joy into Jerusalem, and were continually in the temple praising God.' Behold where that city is shown in which he bade them sit until they should be clothed with power from on high. And here indeed it is passed over how many days he was with them, after he showed himself alive after his Passion to their eyes and hands. But it is not left in silence in the Acts of the Apostles, where again, by the same manifestation of the Lord's words, the Church to come throughout the round world is foretold.
Where no one at all may be permitted to doubt — except one who doubts the faith of the holy Scriptures — that this Jerusalem is the visible city, whence the Church began after the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ; nor that he wished to show anything else than the places of this earth from which he would give her a beginning, and how he would diffuse her thence through all things. For thus it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: 'The former account, O Theophilus, I made of all things which Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day on which he chose the apostles through the Holy Spirit, commanding them to preach the Gospel; to whom also he showed himself after his Passion in many signs, appearing to them through forty days and speaking of the kingdom of God;'
'and while he was conversing with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await his promise, which, he said, you have heard from my mouth: for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, whom you shall also receive not many days hence.' But they, coming together, questioned him, saying: 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' To whom, answering, he said: 'It is not for you to know the times which the Father has placed in his own power; but you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the whole earth.'
Behold, here too it is made manifest whence the Church was to begin and how far she was to reach. What do they say to these things, who most proudly call themselves Christians and yet most openly contradict Christ? We hold this Church; against these divine voices we admit no human wranglings. For it moves us greatly that our Lord, whom not to believe is sacrilegious and impious, left these salutary and last teachings of the primitive Church in his very last words which he had on earth. For having said these things, he straightway ascended into heaven, wishing to fortify our ears beforehand against those whom he had foretold would arise in the times to come and would say:
'Behold, here is Christ; behold, there!' — against believing which He warned us. Nor have we any excuse if we have believed contrary to the voice of our Shepherd, a voice so clear, so open, so manifest, that no one, even dull and slow of heart, could say, 'I did not understand.' For who does not understand: 'Thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem'? Who does not understand: 'You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the whole earth'? When He had said these things, He was lifted up, and a cloud received Him, and they saw Him going into heaven. What is this, I ask?
When the last words of a dying man about to go down to the grave are heard, no one says he lied; and any heir who should perchance despise those words is judged impious. How then shall we escape the wrath of God, if by unbelief or contempt we thrust away the last words of the only Son of God, our Lord and Saviour — who was about to go into heaven and from thence to look down upon who neglects these things and who observes them, and from thence to come to judge all men? I have the most manifest voice of my Shepherd, commending to me and setting forth without any ambiguity His Church. I shall lay the blame on myself if I choose to be led astray and to wander from His flock, which is that same Church, through the words of men — especially since He has warned me, saying:
'They that are My sheep hear My voice and follow Me.' Behold His voice, clear and open. Having heard it, whoever does not follow Him, how will he dare to call himself His sheep? Let no one say to me, 'Oh, what did Donatus say, oh, what did Parmenianus, or Pontius, or any of them say?' For not even to catholic bishops must one assent, if perchance they err anywhere, so as to hold anything against the canonical Scriptures of God. But if, keeping the bond of unity and charity, they fall into such error, that will happen in them which the Apostle says: 'And if in anything you be otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal unto you.' But now these divine utterances concerning the universal Church are so manifest that against them none but heretics, with wilful perversity and blind fury, can bark.
But we have shown that the aforesaid Church, in the word of God her Bridegroom — whether through the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, or through His own mouth — was to begin from Jerusalem and to reach unto the ends of the whole earth. And how she began from Jerusalem and, diffused thence into all nations, bears fruit, is likewise shown in the same word of God through the Apostles, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, which I have already mentioned, that the Lord said: 'You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the whole earth.' Then it follows: 'And when He had said these things, while they beheld, He was lifted up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.'
'And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said: You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as you have seen Him going into heaven.' Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh to Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into the upper room where they were dwelling — Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon Zelotes and Jude the brother of James. All these were continuing with one accord in prayer with the women, and Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.
'And in those days Peter rose up in the midst of the disciples and said' — and the number of the multitude of persons was about a hundred and twenty. Then it is narrated, as Peter made his discourse, how Matthias was chosen in the place of Judas the traitor of the Lord; and after his ordination the Scripture goes on to say: 'And when the days of Pentecost were fulfilled, they were all together in one place; and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues distributed, as it were of fire; and it sat upon each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Spirit gave them to utter.'
'Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this sound was made, the multitude came together and was confounded in mind, because every man heard them speaking in his own tongue. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another: Are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and they that dwelt in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians — we do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.'
'And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another: What does this mean? But others, mocking, said: These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven disciples, lifted up his voice and spoke, saying: You men of Judea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you' — and the rest whereby he exhorts them to the faith. And when he had finished this, the Scripture goes on to narrate thus: 'Now when they heard these things, they were pricked in their heart, saying to Peter and to the apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren? Show us. And Peter said unto them: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.'
'For the promise is to us, and to our children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.' And with many other words did he testify unto them, saying: 'Save yourselves from this perverse generation.' They then, receiving this word, believed and were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls. Behold how it began from Jerusalem — the Church that was to go forth thence through every tongue — which was also prefigured in those who, being there established, having received the Holy Spirit, spoke with all tongues. Now, as to how it went among the other nations, which Peter himself had foretold when he said:
'The promise is to us, and to our children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call' — let us now see. For there are narrated in due order the things which were then done at Jerusalem, up to the martyrdom of Stephen the deacon, where Saul also is mentioned as consenting to his slaying. When this was accomplished, it is next narrated thus: 'And there was in that day a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles who remained at Jerusalem.' See how thereafter is fulfilled what the Lord had said in order: 'You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the whole earth.'
Now it had already come to pass in Jerusalem; it followed on in Judea and Samaria, for this reason that they were scattered abroad in the regions of Judea and Samaria. For this is presently said of them: 'But they that were scattered abroad went throughout the cities and towns, preaching the word of God.' And because the apostles also had gone, when they heard that Samaria had received the word of God — when by the laying on of their hands they received the Holy Spirit — thus it is said of Peter and John: 'And Peter and John, having testified the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans as they passed through.' Then it is narrated concerning that eunuch who, returning from Jerusalem, was baptized by Philip; and of Philip himself it is said:
'And the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip from him, and the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found to have come to Azotus; and returning thence, he preached the gospel in all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.' Thus therefore the gospel is found to have been preached also throughout the cities of Judea and Samaria. It remained, then, that it should be preached in due order also throughout all nations, as the Lord had said, unto the whole earth. Saul, then, is called from heaven, is made from a persecutor a preacher, and the Lord says of him to Ananias: 'Go, for he is a vessel of election unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, that it may be magnified;
for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.' And so now we hold the Church in Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea and Samaria; whence a little later it is said most plainly: 'So the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified and confirmed in the fear of the Lord, and were filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.' Then, a few things being interposed, we come to that place where Cornelius the centurion believed and was baptized with his household, who were all Gentiles, uncircumcised. And before this came to pass, Peter saw, in a trance of the mind, as he was praying, heaven opened, and a certain vessel bound at four corners, as it were a bright linen sheet, in which was every kind of four-footed beasts and wild beasts and fowls of the air.
And there came a voice: 'Peter, arise, kill and eat.' But Peter said: 'Lord, I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean.' And the voice came again to him: 'What God has cleansed, do not you call common.' Now, that by this vision the Gentiles who were to believe were signified, there is no need for us to conjecture; for the Apostle himself expounds this as shown to him in that vessel. For when he had entered the house where Cornelius was, and many had come together, he said to them: 'You know better how it is an abomination for a Jewish man to join himself or to come near to one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should call no man common or unclean.' Thus he expounded that voice which he had heard concerning the animals shown to him in that linen sheet:
'What God has cleansed, do not you call common.' Now, to whom is it not evident that by that vessel was signified the whole world with all its nations? Whence also it was bound at four corners, on account of the well-known four parts of the world — east and west, south and north — which the Scripture very often commends. But now, into what places Paul, sent to the Gentiles, went round about scattering the word of God and confirming the churches thus born, it would be long to recount. When the Jews had resisted him at Antioch, he and Barnabas said to them: 'It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you; but seeing you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us:
I have set you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.' And it goes on saying: 'And when the Gentiles heard, they received the word of God, and believed, as many as were ordained to eternal life.' Behold, here too is cited the testimony from the prophet Isaiah, which we also set down: that it may be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Therefore, not to mention the nations which after the times of the apostles believed and joined the Church, let those very ones alone which we find in the holy Scriptures — in the Acts and in the epistles of the apostles and in the Apocalypse of John, which both of us embrace and to which both of us submit — let these tell us how they perished by an African sedition.
For these we have received, not from the councils of contending bishops, not from novel disputations, not from forensic or municipal acts, but from the holy canonical writings. The church of Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians — how could it perish by the crimes of the Africans? What south wind was so violent that it could scatter so far away a pestilence carried off, where not even the names of those through whom, or concerning whom, this evil arose could be known — at Athens, at Iconium, at Lystra? Who blotted out the churches founded by apostolic labor? At the end of the epistle to the Romans the same apostle, the teacher of the Gentiles, says:
'But I have written to you the more boldly in part, as reminding you, because of the grace which is given me of God, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, consecrating the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified in the Holy Spirit. I have therefore glory in Christ Jesus toward God. For I dare not to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me, unto the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about even unto Illyricum I have fulfilled the gospel of Christ.' Seek out, you Donatists, if you know not — seek out from Jerusalem, by land journeys round about even unto Illyricum, how many stopping-places there are:
if we reckon up so many churches, tell us how they could have perished through African quarrels. To the Corinthians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Thessalonians, to the Colossians — you retain the apostle's epistles only in reading, but we retain both the epistles in reading and faith, and the very churches themselves in communion. Now Galatia is not one church, but in that region there are innumerable ones. And see how he greeted the Corinthians: 'Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia.' How many churches do you think there are in all Achaia?
Perhaps you do not know where Achaia is, and about a province so unknown to you, you pass judgment with such blindness that you say it perished by the crimes of the Africans. Are not all the places which Peter names — Pontus, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia — full of most flourishing churches? What of those to whom John wrote — Smyrna, Pergamum, Sardis, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Laodicea, which are churches (for Ephesus we have already mentioned) — let some one of you tell me where they are, how far distant they are from one another. Perhaps you are only now seeking to learn this, whether by reading or by hearing.
Learn, then, also how far they are removed from Africa, and tell us why you accuse those churches — utterly unknown to you and yet made manifest in the apostolic writings — with such sacrilegious rashness, and with such madness say they perished by the crimes of the Africans. Finally, what is written of them in the holy canonical books, I know; what you say of them, I do not know. Certainly, as we read them to be churches of Christ from the codices which you also venerate, so also from the codices which we too venerate, read to us how they perished.
Or does it please you that, against the churches which are members of the one Church spread throughout the whole world, which the Holy Spirit has commended and handed down to us through His Scriptures, we should believe whatever curses of men, brought forth from wherever? This indeed pleases you, but it does not please us. But whom it more justly pleases, you too see; yet, overcome by animosity, you are unwilling to be overcome by truth. Behold, there are the Scriptures of God; behold, in them are the churches, designated and expressed both by the universal name of the whole world and by name individually. What their forefathers objected against their colleagues, they did not know; what judges that case had, they did not know: how then did they perish? Behold, there are the Scriptures which I believe; behold, there are the churches with which I hold communion:
where you read to me their names, there read to me their crimes. But if you cry out or recite from elsewhere, we, after the voice of our Shepherd most plainly declared to us through the mouths of the prophets, through His own mouth, through the mouths of the evangelists, do not admit, do not believe, do not accept your voice. 'They that are My sheep,' says the heavenly Shepherd, 'hear My voice and follow Me.' His voice concerning the Church is not obscure. Whoever does not wish to stray from His flock, let him hear this voice, let him follow this. His most faithful steward, the teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth — because He Himself spoke in him — says this: 'I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel, which is not another;
but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so say I now again: If any man preach to you any gospel besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.' There has been proclaimed to us the Church that would be throughout the whole world. That this was foretold in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, the Lord Himself testified, who foretold that she would begin from Jerusalem and would flow through all nations — that there would be witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the whole earth — this He foretold when He was now ascending into heaven. These words spoken, there followed the deeds:
how it began from Jerusalem, and then proceeded into Judea and Samaria, and thence into the whole earth, where the Church still grows, until, even unto the end, it may lay hold also of the remaining nations where it is not yet — this is shown consequently, with the holy Scriptures as witnesses. Whoever preaches another gospel, let him be anathema. But he preaches another gospel who says that the Church has perished from the rest of the world and has remained in the party of Donatus, in Africa alone. Therefore let him be anathema — unless he reads this to me in the holy Scriptures, and then let him not be anathema. 'I do read it,' he says. 'For Enoch alone among all men pleased God and was translated; and afterward, when the whole world had been destroyed by the inundation of waters, Noah alone with his wife and sons and daughters-in-law deserved to be delivered in the ark.'
They add also concerning Lot, that he alone with his daughters was delivered from Sodom; and concerning Abraham himself and Isaac and Jacob, that few were pleasing to God in a land given over to idols and demons. Finally, when the people of Israel had already multiplied, already in the times of the kings in the land of promise, which had been distributed to all the twelve tribes, they recall that ten tribes were divided off and handed over to the servant of Solomon, but two remained to Solomon's son for the kingdom that was Jerusalem. 'So also now,' they say, 'the whole world has apostatized. But we, like those two tribes, have remained in the temple of God, that is, in the Church.'
They add that the Lord Jesus Christ also, when very many disciples followed Him, when the seventy-two apostatized, was left alone with the twelve. By these and suchlike examples the heretics endeavor to commend their own fewness, and cease not to blaspheme the multitude, spread throughout the whole world, of the holy Church. But I ask of them: if — which be far from it — I were unwilling to believe that these very examples which are recalled by them are true, whence would they convince me? Is it not from the holy Scriptures, where they are read with such great manifestation that whoever receives those writings in faith cannot but also confess these things to be most true?
Furthermore, if I were constrained to believe these examples to be true for this reason, that they are written where I cannot say that the things written are false, why do not they too believe, from the same Scriptures, concerning the Church spread throughout the whole world? Behold, we believe all those things. Let them too believe what the Lord says: 'that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem'; let them believe what, being about to ascend into heaven, He said last of all: 'You shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the whole earth.' Let both those and these be believed to be true, and no contention will remain between us, because neither are these hindered by the truth of those, nor those by the truth of these.