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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

5.

Or shall we take another favorite passage of yours: "They shall see their life hanging, and shall not believe their life?" ¹ You insert the words "on a tree," which are not in the original. Nothing can be easier than to show that this has no reference to Christ. Moses is uttering dire threatenings in case the people should depart from his law, and says among other things that they would be taken captive by their enemies, and would be expecting death day and night, having no confidence in the life allowed them by their conquerors, so that their life would hang in uncertainty from fear of impending danger. This passage will not do, we must try others. I cannot admit that the words, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," refer to Christ, or when it is said that the prince or prophet must be killed who should try to turn away the people from their God, or should break any of the commandments. ² That Christ did this I am obliged to grant. But if you assert that these things were written of Christ, it may be asked in reply, What spirit dictated these prophecies in which Moses curses Christ and orders him to be killed? If he had the Spirit of God, these things are not written of Christ; if they are written of Christ, he had not the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God would not curse Christ, or order Him to be killed. To vindicate Moses, you must confess that these passages too have no reference to Christ. So, if you have no others to show, there are none. If there are none, Christ could not have said that there were; and if Christ did not say so, that verse is spurious.

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

5.

An illud offeremus ei, quod perinde soletis inducere: Videbunt vitam suam pendentem, et non credent? Cui vos quidem adicitis in ligno; nam non habet. Sed hoc quoque probare, quod ad Christum minime pertineat, nihil tam in promptu est. Inter maledictorum enim saeva, quae prompsit in populum suum, si a lege sua desciscerent, etiam hoc adiecit, futuros eosdem dicens in captivitate hostium suorum finemque sui meditaturos diebus ac noctibus, ut nec vitae ipsius suae fiduciam gererent, quae sibi esset a victoribus condonata, quia eadem ex incerto penderet pavens ac sollicita semper sub imminentia gladiorum. p. 443,18 Ne hoc quidem ergo ad Christum pertinet; quaerenda sunt alia. Nam illud quidem vix crediderim de Christo vos dictum putare maledictum esse omnem, qui pendet in ligno, aut illud aliud interficiendum esse prophetam sive principem populi, qui eos a deo suo vellet avertere aliquidve infringere mandatorum. Quod ego quidem Christum fecisse plane negare non possum, sed tu contra de ipso haec esse scripta plane fateri non poteris, ne si hoc sit, quaerere rursus incipiamus, etiam in quonam spiritu Moyses prophetaverit, ut aut malediceret Christo, aut eum iuberet occidi. Si enim spiritum dei habuit, haec de Christo non dixit; si haec de Christo dixit, spiritum dei non habuit. p. 444,3 Neque enim divinus spiritus aut malediceret Christo aut eum iuberet interfici. Ut ergo Moysen ab hoc crimine vindicetis, fateamini necesse est, ne haec quidem eum scripsisse de Christo. Quodsi haec de Christo minime scripsit, aut alia dabitis aut nulla erunt. Si nulla fuerint, nec Christus potuit asseverare, quod nusquam est. Ita si Christus hoc minime adseveraverit, capitulum illud falsum esse constiterit.