CHAPTER XVI

RELIGIOUS ARE BLAMED FOR CAUSING THEIR PERSECUTORS TO BE PUNISHED

WE must next expose the grounds on which religious are expected to allow their enemies to persecute them with impunity.

             1. We read in the Gospel of St. Matthew (v. 44): "Do good to them that hate you; pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." Again, in St. Luke (vi.) the same precept is given. If we are to do good to our persecutors, we certainly ought not to cause evil to befall them.

             2. "Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves" (Matt. v. 16). On this passage, the Gloss comments in the following words: "He that undertakes the office of preacher, ought not to inflict evil, but to suffer it." Hence, preachers who procure the punishment of their persecutors, prove themselves, thereby, to be false preachers.

             3. "To no man rendering evil for evil" (Rom. xii. 17). Again in the same chapter it is written: "Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved." Hence, those who cause their adversaries to be punished, act in disobedience to St. Paul.

             4. We read in the Legends of Saints Simon and Jude, that, when the general of the King of Persia wished to punish the heathen priests who had persecuted these Saints, the Apostles cast themselves at his feet, and implored the pardon of their enemies. For, they said, they did not wish to be the cause of death to any of those to whom they came to preach salvation. Hence, they who cause their assailants to be punished, are not true, but false, apostles.

             5. "As then he that was born according to the flesh, persecuted him that was after the Spirit; so also it is now" (Gal. iv. 29). St. Augustine observes, on this passage: "Who are they that are born according to the flesh? The lovers of the world. Who are they that are after the Spirit? The lovers of heaven and of Christ." They, therefore, who cause others to be persecuted, must, seemingly, be lovers of the world.

             6. "Let us not be made desirous of vain glory" (Galat. v. 26). The Gloss says that "vain glory is the desire for victory, where no reward is gained." Now, those who wish to see their enemies worsted, are desirous of victory. Hence, it is, by no means, permissible for holy men to wish to see persecution arise against their opponents.

             7. When St. Luke and St. John said to our Lord: "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them?" He rebuked them, saying, "You know not of what spirit you are." They, therefore, who are filled with the Holy Spirit, ought not to cause others to be punished.

             On the other hand, examples can be adduced, proving that holy men have inflicted chastisement, or caused it to be inflicted.

             1. Our Lord "drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple; their money He poured out, and their tables He overthrew" (John ii. 14).

             2. St. Peter condemned Ananias and Saphira to death, in punishment of their deceit (Acts v.).

             3. St. Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, looked upon Elymas the Magician, saying: "O full of all guile and of all deceit, child of the devil, enemy of all justice, thou ceasest not to pervert the right ways of the Lord. And, now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a time" (Acts xiii. 10). Here we have an example of an Apostle, both rebuking and punishing a sinner.

             4. In the first Epistle to the Corinthians (v. 3), we read the following words: "I have already judged, as though I were present, him that hath so done. In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of Our Lord Jesus, to deliver such an one to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh." The meaning of this, is, says the Gloss, "that Satan may inflict on him bodily torments." Here, we have another proof of chastisement, inflicted by the Apostle on an evildoer.

             5. In the Canticle of Canticles (ii. 15) we read: "Catch us the little foxes." By which words the Gloss understands, "pursue and overcome schismatics and heretics." "For (as another Gloss explains) it will not suffice for us to spend our lives in preaching and setting a good example, unless we correct those that are in error, and preserve the weak from their snares."

             6. Dionysius says (4 cap. De Div. Nom.), "that the angels are not wicked, although they punish wicked men. Now, the ecclesiastical hierarchy is modelled on the heavenly. Hence, a man may, without any malice, punish evildoers, or procure their punishment.

             7. We read (23 Quaest. cap. Qui potest), "To neglect to check evil, is to encourage it; and he who fails to put down public crime, may, legitimately, be suspected of secret connivance at it." Hence, not only is it lawful to resist and punish offenders, but it is sinful not to do so.

             8. Job (xxxix. 21) says of the horse, by which preachers are typified, "He goeth to meet armed men"; "because," says the Gloss, "a preacher opposes injustice in defence of the truth, even when this duty be not imposed upon him." Thus we see, that it behoves holy preachers to wrestle with impiety, even when impious men do not attack them. But, the Saints act thus, not out of hatred, but out of love. Thus, St. Paul, as the Gloss observes, when he delivered, "such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh" (1 Cor. v. 3), did so, that the Spirit might be saved; whereby we see, that his act was inspired, not by malice, but by charity. The Gloss further adds: "Elias, likewise, and other good men, punished certain sinners by death. By so doing, they inspired the living with a salutary fear, and diminished the number of sins, which might have been committed by those whom they condemned to death." Hence, the chastisement inflicted by holy men on sinners, cannot strictly be called persecution. For, they do not punish them for the sake of making them suffer, but in order, either to correct, or check them, in their sins; or else, in order to deliver others from their oppression; or to restrain others from crime, by fear of punishment. Sometimes, however, this chastisement may, metaphorically, be called persecution. Thus, St. Augustine writing to the Count Boniface (23, Quaest. 4, cap. Si Ecclesia.) says, "that the persecution inflicted by the wicked on the Church of Christ, is unjust; and that inflicted by the Church on sinners, is just."

             9. David says (Ps. xvii. 38), "I will pursue after my enemies . . . till they are consumed." Again, "The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I persecute" (Ps. c. 5).

             We will now proceed to answer the arguments used by the enemies of religious, to prove that they are acting unlawfully, in causing their persecutors to be punished.

             1. It has already been proved, that, when holy men cause punishment to be inflicted on their enemies, they act, not out of malice, but out of love. Hence, they do their enemies good, rather than harm.

             2. Preachers ought not, in causing their adversaries to be punished, to make their discomfiture their chief object. Their aim in chastising their enemies ought to be their conversion, or the benefit of others.

             3. He, who, out of zeal for virtue, causes another to be punished, does not return "evil for evil," but rather good for evil; since the punishment inflicted, is of benefit to him who suffers it. Punitive measures are, at times, remedial, says Aristotle (2 Ethic). And Dionysius observes (cap. IV. De Div. Nom.): "It is not an evil thing to be punished, but to deserve punishment." The prohibition against returning blow for blow, means, that we must not strike another, out of malice, or from revenge.

             4. The Saints, as we have said, never punish others, nor cause them to be punished, save out of desire for their amendment, or for the public welfare. If men are suffered to commit crime with impunity, they wax bold, and become hardened in sin. "Because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear" (Eccles. viii. 11). Therefore, the Saints inflict penalties on evildoers; but, when they see that indulgence would be more profitable to them, they remit the punishment which is due. The Gloss remarks on the words, "You know not of what spirit you are" (Luke ix.), "It is not well always to take vengeance on the guilty, for, at times, mercy will avail more in bringing them to patience, and the fallen to amendment." For this reason, Simon and Jude averted punishment from their enemies.

             5. The lovers of this world unjustly, as St. Augustine says, persecute them that love God; and they, in turn, are justly persecuted by them.

             6. The saints, as we have already said, do not cause others to be punished, save in the hope of causing them to amend. The benefit of their neighbour they count as their reward. Hence, they cannot be said to incur the stigma of vain glory.

             7. The seventh objection is answered by the Gloss. The Apostles, it explains, were untutored men at the time they spoke thus; they were ignorant of the way in which they might cause others to amend. Therefore, they spoke, not out of zeal for their neighbour's correction; nor out of desire to check vice; but from a spirit of revenge. Our Lord reproved them for their ignorance. At a later time, however, when he had instructed them in a spirit of true charity, he gave them authority to punish sinners. Such power they exercised towards Ananias and Saphira, whose death was profitable, both in inspiring the living with awe, and in preventing the guilty man and woman from adding to their crimes. The same comment is made by the Gloss, on the words in 1 Cor. v. 3, "to hand over such a one to Satan." Or, we may say that our Lord forbade the disciples to call down fire on the Samaritans, because He knew that they would be more easily converted by mercy. The Gloss, also, accepts this view: "The Samaritans, who, in this place, were saved from fire, believed with greater firmness."