(Opera, torn. ix. p. 209): " Origo mea Chris- tus est, radix mea Christus est, caput meum Christus est." ... In the same place : *' Me iunocentem non facit, nisi qui mortuus est propter delicta nostra et 368 THIRD PEEIOD. A.D. 311-590. Lastly, in regard to church discipline, the opponents of the Donatists agreed with them in considering it wholesome and necessary, but would keep it within the limits fixed for it by the circumstances of the time and the faUibility of men. A per- fect separation of sinners from saints is impracticable before the final judgment. Many things must be patiently borne, that greater evil may be averted, and that those still capable of improvement may be improved, especially where the offender has too many adherents. "Man," says Augustine, "should punish in the spirit of love, until either the discipline and correction come from above, or the tares are pulled up in the universal harvest." * In support of this view appeal was made to the Lord's parables of the tares among the wheat, and of the net which gathered together of every kind (Matt, xiii.). These two parables were the chief exegetical battle ground of the two parties. The Donatists understood by the field, not the church, but the world, according to the Saviour's own ex- position of the parable of the tares ; ' the Catholics replied that it was the kingdom of heaven or the chm'ch to which the parable referred as a whole, and pressed especially the warn- ing of the Saviour not to gather up the tares before the final liar vest, lest they root up also the wheat with them. The Donatists, moreover, made a distinction between unknown offenders, to whom alone the parable of the net referred, and notorious sinners. But this did not gain them much ; for if the church compromises her character for holiness by contact with unworthy persons at all, it matters not whether they be openly unworthy before men or not, and no church whatever would be left on earth. On the other hand, however, Augustine, who, no more resurrexit propter justificationem nostram. Xon enim in ministi'um, per quern bapti- zor, credo ; sed in eum qui justificat impium, ut deputetur mihi fides in justitiam." * Aug. Contra Epistolam Parmeniani, 1. iii. c. 2, § 10-15 (Opera, tom^ i.x. p. 62-66). * Breviculus Collat. c. Don. Dies tert. c. 8, § 10 (Opera, ix. p. 559): "Zizania inter triticum non in ecclesia, sed in ipso mundo permixta dixerunt, quoniam Domi- nu3 ait, Ager est mundus " (Matt. xiii. 38). As to the exegetical merits of the con- troversy see Trench's "Notes on the Parables," p. 83 sqq. (9th Lond. edition, 1863), and Lange's Commentary on Matt. xiii. (Amer. ed. by Schaff, p. 244 sqq.). § 71. INTERNAL HISTORY OF DONATISM. 369 than the Donatists, could relinquish the predicate of holiness for the church, found himself compelled to distinguish between a true and a mixed ^ or