Chapter II.

The assertion of the Novatians that they refuse communion only to the lapsed agrees neither with the teaching of holy Scripture nor with their own. And whereas they allege as a pretext their reverence forthe divine power, they really are contemning it, inasmuch as it is a sign of low estimation not to use the whole of a power entrusted to one. But the Church rightly claims the power of binding and loosing, which heretics have not, inasmuch as she has received it from the Holy Spirit, against Whom they act presumptuously.

5. But they say that those should not be restored to communion who have fallen into denial8    Prævaricatio.    S. Luke xiii. 7. of the faith. If they made the crime of sacrilege the only exception to receiving forgiveness, they would be acting harshly indeed, and, as it would seem, would be in opposition to the divine utterances only, while consistent with their own assertions. For when the Lord forgave all sins, He made an exception of none. But since, as it were after the fashion of the Stoics, they think that all sins are equal in gravity, and assert that he who has stolen a common fowl, as they say, no less than he who has smothered his father, should be for ever excluded from the divine mysteries, how can they select those guilty of one special offence, since even they themselves cannot deny that it is most unjust that the penalty of one should extend to many?9    i.e. the penalty of the one sin of denying the faith should be extended to all sins.    S. Luke xiii. 8, 9.

6. They affirm that they are showing great reverence for God, to Whom alone they reserve the power of forgiving sins. But in truth none do Him greater injury than they who choose to prune His commandments and reject the office entrusted to them. For inasmuch as the Lord Jesus Himself said in the Gospel: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye forgive they are forgiven unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained,”10    S. John xx. 22, 23.    Phil. iii. 8. who is it that honours Him most, he who obeys His bidding or he who rejects it?

7. The Church holds fast its obedience on either side, by both retaining and remitting sin; heresy is on the one side cruel, and on the other disobedient; wishes to bind what it will not loosen, and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns itself by its own sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of binding and of loosing should be alike, and sanctioned each by a similar condition. So he who has not the power to loose has not the power to bind. For as, according to the Lord’s word, he who has the power to bind has also the power to loose, their teaching destroys itself, inasmuch as they who deny that they have the power of loosing ought also to deny that of binding. For how can the one be allowed and the other disallowed? It is plain and evident that either each is allowed or each is disallowed in the case of those to whom each has been given. Each is allowed to the Church, neither to heresy, for this power has been entrusted to priests alone. Rightly, therefore, does the Church claim it, which has true priests; heresy, which has not the priests of God,11    This is not a denial of the validity of Novatian ordinations, which were admitted by the 8th Canon of the Council of Nicæa, but of their lawful jurisdiction.    Gen. xviii. 27. cannot claim it. And by not claiming this power heresy pronounces its own sentence, that not possessing priests it cannot claim priestly power. And so in their shameless obstinacy a shamefaced acknowledgment meets our view.

8. Consider, too, the point that he who has received the Holy Ghost has also received the power of forgiving and of retaining sin. For thus it is written: “Receive the Holy Spirit: whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.”12    S. John xx. 22, 23.    Job ii. 8. So, then, he who has not received power to forgive sins has not received the Holy Spirit. The office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it is specially to forgive and to retain sins. How, then, can they claim His gift who distrust His power and His right?

9. And what is to be said of their excessive arrogance? For although the Spirit of God is more inclined to mercy than to severity, their will is opposed to that which He wills, and they do that which He wills not; whereas it is the office of a judge to punish, but of mercy to forgive. It would be more endurable, Novatian, that thou shouldst forgive than that thou shouldst bind. In the one case thou wouldst assume the right as one who rarely offended; in the other thou wouldst forgive as one who had fellow-feeling with the misery of sin.

391 CAPUT II.

0467A

Quod Novatiani dicunt se non nisi lapsis negare communionem, hoc neque cum Scriptura, neque cum sua ipsorum doctrina congruere: quod vero divinae potestatis reverentiam praetexunt, eos hoc ipso in illam esse injurios; cum is injuriam inferat, qui creditum sibi munus aut ejus partem nolit exercere: caeterum ligandi et solvendi jus quod haeresi non potest attribui, pulchre vindicari ab Ecclesia, quippe quae Spiritu sancto id acceperit, in quem isti superbe agunt.

5. Sed negant his oportere reddi communionem, qui praevaricatione lapsi sunt. Si unum tantum crimen exciperent sacrilegii, cui veniam negarent, dure 0467B quidem, sed tamen divinis tantum redargui viderentur sententiis, assertionibus tamen suis convenirent; Dominus enim crimen nullum excepit, qui peccata donavit omnia. At cum omnia peccata Stoicorum quodam more paribus putent aestimanda mensuris, et aeque eum qui gallum, ut aiunt, gallinaceum, atque illum qui patrem suffocaverit, perpetuo asserant coelestibus abdicandos mysteriis; quomodo unius criminis objiciunt reos, cum indignissimum esse non possint etiam ipsi negare, ut paucorum poena perveniat ad multos?

6. [Alias cap. II.] Sed aiunt se Domino deferre reverentiam, cui soli remittendorum criminum potestatem reservent. Immo nulli majorem injuriam faciunt, quam qui ejus volunt mandata rescindere, commissum 0467C munus refundere. Nam cum ipse in Evangelio suo dixerit Dominus Jesus: Accipite Spiritum sanctum; quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur eis: et quorum detinueritis, detenta erunt (Joan. XX, 22, 23); 0468A quis est ergo qui magis honorat, utrum qui mandatis obtemperat, an qui resistit?

7. Ecclesia in utroque servat obedientiam, ut peccatum et alliget et relaxet: haeresis in altero immitis, in altero inobediens; vult ligare, quod non resolvat: non vult solvere, quod ligavit; in quo se sua damnat sententia. Dominus 392 enim par jus et solvendi esse voluit et ligandi, qui utrumque pari conditione permisit (De Poenit., dist. 1, cap. Verbum Dei, § Dominus). Ergo qui solvendi jus non habet, nec ligandi habet. Sicut enim secundum Dominicam sententiam, qui ligandi jus habet, et solvendi habet: ita istorum assertio se ipsam strangulat; ut quia solvendi sibi jus negant, negare debeant et ligandi. Quomodo igitur potest alterum licere, alterum 0468B non licere? Quibus donatum utrumque est, aut utrumque licere manifestum est, aut utrumque non licere certum est. Ecclesiae utrumque licet, haeresi utrumque non licet; jus enim hoc solis permissum sacerdotibus est. Recte igitur hoc Ecclesia vindicat, quae veros sacerdotes habet: haeresis vindicare non potest, quae sacerdotes Dei non habet. Non vindicando autem ipsa de se pronuntiat, quod cum sacerdotes non habeat, jus sibi vindicare non debeat sacerdotale. Ita impudenti contumacia pudentem cernimus confessionem.

8. Specta etiam illud, quoniam qui Spiritum sanctum accepit, et solvendi peccati potestatem et ligandi accepit. Sic enim scriptum est: Accipite Spiritum sanctum; quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur: 0468C et quorum detinueritis, detenta erunt (Joan XX, 22, 23). Ergo qui solvere non potest peccatum, non habet Spiritum sanctum. Munus Spiritus sancti est officium sacerdotis, jus autem Spiritus sancti in solvendis 0469A ligandisque criminibus est; quomodo igitur munus ejus vindicant, de cujus diffidunt jure et potestate?

9. Quid! quod insolentiores sunt. Nam cum ad misericordiam promptior quam ad severitatem sit Spiritus Dei; quod ait se velle, id nolunt: quod nolle, hoc agunt; cum vindicare judicis sit, remittere misericordis. Tolerabilius igitur, Novatiane, remitteres, quam ligares; aliud enim quasi delinquendi parcus usurpares, aliud quasi aerumnae compassus ignosceres.