Against the Epistle of Manichæus, Called Fundamental 1
1 To Heal Heretics is Better Than to Destroy Them PL 42, 172
Against the Epistle of Manichæus Called Fundamental.
[Contra Epistolam Manichæi Quam Vocant Fundamentum.] a.d. 397.
Chapter 1.—To Heal Heretics is Better Than to Destroy Them.
1. My prayer to the one true, almighty God, of whom, and through whom, and in whom are all things, has been, and is now, that in opposing and refuting the heresy of you Manichæans, as you may after all be heretics more from thoughtlessness than from malice, He would give me a mind calm and composed, and aiming at your recovery rather than at your discomfiture. For while the Lord, by His servants, overthrows the kingdoms of error, His will concerning erring men, as far as they are men, is that they should be amended rather than destroyed. And in every case where, previous to the final judgment, God inflicts punishment, whether through the wicked or the righteous, whether through the unintelligent or through the intelligent, whether in secret or openly, we must believe that the designed effect is the healing of men, and not their ruin; while there is a preparation for the final doom in the case of those who reject the means of recovery. Thus, as the universe contains some things which serve for bodily punishment, as fire, poison, disease, and the rest, and other things, in which the mind is punished, not by bodily distress, but by the entanglements of its own passions, such as loss, exile, bereavement, reproach, and the like; while other things, again, without tormenting are fitted to comfort and soothe the languishing, as, for example, consolations, exhortations, discussions, and such things; in all these the supreme justice of God makes use sometimes even of wicked men, acting in ignorance, and sometimes of good men, acting intelligently. It is ours, accordingly, to desire in preference the better part, that we might attain our end in your correction, not by contention, and strife, and persecutions, but by kindly consolation, by friendly exhortation, by quiet discussion; as it is written, "The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle toward all men, apt to teach, patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." It is ours, I say, to desire to obtain this part in the work; it belongs to God to give what is good to those who desire it and ask for it.
Haeretici sanandi magis quam perdendi. Unum verum Deum omnipotentem, ex quo omnia, per quem omnia, in quo omnia, et rogavi et rogo, ut in refellenda et revincenda haeresi vestra, Manichaei, cui et vos fortasse imprudentius quam malitiosius adhaesistis, det mihi mentem pacatam atque tranquillam, et magis de vestra correctione, quam de subversione cogitantem. Quanquam enim Dominus per suos servos regna subvertat erroris; ipsos tamen homines, in quantum homines sunt, emendandos esse potius, quam perdendos jubet. Et quidquid divinitus ante illud ultimum judicium vindicatur, sive per improbos sive per justos, sive per nescientes sive per scientes, sive occulte sive palam; non ad interitum hominum, sed ad medicinam valere credendum est: quam qui respuerint, extremo supplicio praeparantur. Quapropter cum in hac universitate rerum, alia sint quae valent ad corporalem vindictam, sicut ignis, et venenum, et morbus, et caetera hujusmodi; alia quibus apud seipsum non molestiis corporis sui, sed cupiditatum suarum laqueis animus puniatur, sicuti est damnum, exsilium, orbitas, contumelia, et his similia; quaedam vero non sint cruciamenta, sed quasi fomenta et lenimenta languentium, ut sunt consolationes, cohortationes, disputationes; et quaecumque sunt talia: horum omnium quaedam etiam per malos nescientes operatur summa Dei justitia, quaedam autem per scientes bonos. Nostrum igitur fuit eligere et optare meliora, ut ad vestram correctionem aditum haberemus, non in contentione et aemulatione et persecutionibus; sed mansuete consolando, benevole cohortando, leniter disputando: sicut scriptum est, Servum autem Domini non oportet litigare; sed mitem esse ad omnes, docibilem, patientem, in modestia corripientem diversa sentientes . Nostrum ergo fuit velle has partes expetere: Dei est volentibus et petentibus donare quod bonum est.