Tractates on the Gospel of John
118 ST. AUGUSTINE plicity of the dove that "this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit" unless it were because they were not doves who have shattered the Church? They were hawks, they were falcons.^' A dove does not tear to pieces. And you see that they hate us for alleged persecutions which they have suffered. And they have indeed suffered seeming bodily persecutions, although they were the scourgings of the Lord clearly imposing discipline for a time, that he might not damn them for eternity if they did not recognize this [discipline] and correct themselves.
(2) They truly persecute the Church who persecute by deceits; they strike the heart more gravely who strike with the sword of the tongue; they pour out blood more bitterly who, as far as it is possible for them, kill Christ in a man. They seem almost terror-stricken by the decision of the [civil] authorities. What does authority do to you if you are good? But if you are evil, fear authority: "For he does not bear the sword in vain," says the Apostle.^- Take not out your sword with which you smite Christ. Christian, what do you persecute in a Christian? What did the Emperor persecute in you? He persecuted the flesh; you persecute the spirit in a Christian. You do not kill the flesh. And yet not even the flesh do they spare. As many as they could, they have cudgeled to death, and have spared neither their own nor those who did not belong to them.^^ This is known to all. Authority is odious because it is legitimate. He acts odiously who acts lawfully. He acts without arousing hatred who acts contrary to the laws. (3) Let each and every one of you examine closely, my brothers, what a Christian has. In that he is a human being, he shares [his humanity] with many; in that he is a Christian, he is separated from many. And that he is a Christian has more relevance to him than that he is a human being. For in that he is a Christian he is remade according to the image of God by whom he was made a human being according to the
21. The Latin milvus is strictly a "kite" or "glede"; but since this is a less familiar bird, the more generic "falcon" is translated here. 22. Cf. Rom 13.4. 23. The infamous Circumcellions attacked not only Catholics but also the Rogatists and Maximianists, dissident Donatist sects.