Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume IV/Donatist Controversy/Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist/Book II/Chapter 91

198.&#160; said:&#160; "But you scatter thorns and tares, not seeds of corn so that you ought to be burned together with them at the last judgment.&#160; We do not utter curses; but every thorny conscience is bound under this penalty by the sentence which God has pronounced."

199.&#160; answered:&#160; Surely, when you mention tares, it might bring to your minds the thought of wheat as well; for both have been commanded to grow together in the field until the harvest.&#160; But you fix the eye of malice fiercely on the tares, and maintain, in opposition to the express declaration of Christ, that they alone have grown throughout the earth, with the exception of Africa alone.