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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

11.

Proinde isti in phantasmatis fabularum suarum idola et daemonia nescientes colunt, in sole autem et luna noverunt se servire creaturae; et quod putant se etiam creatori servire, multum falluntur; phantasmati enim suo serviunt, creatori autem nullo modo serviunt, quando ea negant deum creasse, quae aperte apostolus ad dei creaturam pertinere demonstrat dicens, cum de cibis et carnibus ageret: p. 411,16 Omnis enim creatura dei bona est, et nihil abiciendum, quod cum gratiarum actione percipitur. Videte, quid sit sana doctrina, quam non ferentes vos ad fabulas convertistis. Quomodo apostolus et creaturam dei laudat et ei tamen cultum religionis exhiberi vetat, sic et Moyses, qui vobis videtur nulli divinorum pepercisse – non ob aliud suspicor, nisi quia solem et lunam vetuit adorari, ad quorum circuitum vos per omnes angulos vertitis, ut eos adoretis – solem et lunam vera laude laudavit, cum eos factos a deo et in caelesti ordine ad peragenda sua opera collocatos, sicut est, ita narravit: Solem in potestatem diei, lunam in potestatem noctis. Falsis autem vestris laudibus sol et luna non gaudent. Diabolus novit falsa laude gaudere, praevaricatrix creatura. p. 412,2 Potestates vero caelorum, quae peccato non lapsae sunt, artificem suum in se laudari volunt; quarum illa vera laus est, qua creatori illarum non fit iniuria. Fit autem, cum dicitur, quod partes eius sunt aut membra eius aut aliquid substantiae ipsius. Ille enim perfectus et nullius indigens et nusquam defluens neque discissus neque per loca distentus, apud se totus incommutabilis sibique sufficiens, se ipso beatus propter abundantiam bonitatis; per verbum suum dixit et facta sunt; mandavit et creata sunt. Proinde si terrestria corpora, de quibus loquebatur apostolus, cum cibum nullum immundum diceret, bona sunt, quia omnis creatura dei bona est, quanto magis caelestia, in quibus excellunt sol et luna, cum ipse apostolus dicat: Corpora caelestia et corpora terrestria; sed alia est caelestium gloria, alia terrestrium. p. 412,16

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

11.

As there is an unconscious worship of idols and devils in the fanciful legends of the Manichaeans, so they knowingly serve the creature in their worship of the sun and moon. And in what they call their service of the Creator they really serve their own fancy, and not the Creator at all. For they deny that God created those things which the apostle plainly declares to be the creatures of God, when he says of food, "Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving." ¹ This is sound doctrine, which you cannot bear, and so turn to fables. The apostle praises the creature of God, but forbids the worship of it; and in the same way Moses gives due praise to the sun and moon, while at the same time he states the fact of their having been made by God, and placed by Him in their courses,--the sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night. Probably you think Moses spared nothing divine, simply because he forbade the worship of the sun and moon, whereas you turn towards them in all directions in your worship. But the sun and moon take no pleasure in your false praises. It is the devil, the transgressor, that delights in false praises. The powers of heaven, who have not fallen by sin, wish their Creator to be praised in them; and their true praise is that which does no wrong to their Creator. He is wronged when they are said to be His members, or parts of His substance. For He is perfect and independent, underived, not divided or scattered in space, but unchangeably self-existent, self-sufficient, and blessed in Himself. In the abundance of His goodness, He by His word spoke, and they were made: He commanded, and they were created. And if earthly bodies are good, of which the apostle spoke when he said that no food is unclean, because every creature of God is good, much more the heavenly bodies, of which the sun and moon are the chief; for the apostle says again, "The glory of the terrestrial is one, and the glory of the celestial is another." ²