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Contra Vigilantium liber unus

6.

Sententia Haereticorum hujus temporis. Non sunt legendi libri apocryphi. Basilidis portenta verborum.—Ais enim vel in sinu Abrahae, vel in loco refrigerii, vel subter aram Dei, animas apostolorum et Martyrum consedisse, nec posse de suis tumulis, et ubi voluerint adesse praesentes. Senatoriae videlicet dignitatis sunt; et non inter homicidas teterrimo carcere, sed in libera honestaque custodia in fortunatorum insulis et in campis Elysiis recluduntur. Tu Deo leges pones? Tu apostolis vincula injicies; ut usque ad diem judicii teneantur custodia, nec sint cum Domino suo, de quibus scriptum est: Sequuntur Agnum, quocumque vadit (Apoc. XIV, 4). Si Agnus ubique, ergo et hi qui cum Agno sunt, ubique esse credendi sunt. Et cum diabolus et daemones toto vagentur in orbe, et celeritate nimia ubique praesentes sint, martyres post effusionem sanguinis sui [Mss. ara] arca operientur inclusi, et inde exire non poterunt? Dicis in libello tuo, quod dum vivimus, mutuo pro nobis orare possumus; postquam autem mortui fuerimus, nullius sit pro alio exaudienda oratio: praesertim cum martyres ultionem sui sanguinis obsecrantes, impetrare non quiverint (Apoc. VI, 9). Si apostoli et martyres adhuc in corpore constituti possunt orare pro caeteris, quando pro se adhuc debent esse solliciti: quanto magis post coronas, victorias et triumphos? Unus homo Moyses, sexcentis millibus armatorum impetrat a Deo veniam (Exod. XXXII; Act. VII): et Stephanus imitator Domini sui, et primus martyr in Christo, pro persecutoribus veniam deprecatur; et postquam cum Christo esse coeperint, minus valebunt? Paulus apostolus ducentas septuaginta sex sibi dicit in navi animas condonatas, et postquam resolutus esse coeperit cum Christo, tunc ora clausurus est (Ibid. 27): et pro his qui in toto orbe ad suum Evangelium crediderunt, mutire non poterit? Meliorque erit Vigilantius canis vivens, quam ille leo mortuus (Eccles. IX)? Recte hoc de Ecclesiaste proponerem, si Paulum in spiritu mortuum confiterer. Denique sancti non appellantur mortui, sed dormientes. Unde et Lazarus qui resurrecturus erat, dormisse perhibetur (Joan XI). Et Apostolus vetat Thessalonicenses (I. Thess. IV) de dormientibus contristari. Tu vigilans dormis, et dormiens scribis: et proponis mihi librum apocryphum, qui sub nomine Esdrae a te et similibus tui legitur: ubi scriptum est, quod post mortem nullus pro aliis audeat deprecari: quem ego librum numquam legi. Quid enim necesse est in manus sumere, quod Ecclesia non recipit? Nisi forte Balsamum mihi, et Barbelum, et Thesaurum Manichaei, et ridiculum nomen Leusiborae proferas: et quia ad radices Pyrenaei habitas, vicinusque es Iberiae, Basilidis antiquissimi haeretici et imperitae scientiae, incredibilia portenta prosequeris, et proponis quod totius orbis auctoritate damnatur. Nam in Commentariolo tuo quasi pro te faciens de Salomone sumis testimonium, quod Salomon omnino non scripsit: ut qui habes alterum Esdram, habeas et Salomonem alterum: et si tibi placuerit, legito fictas revelationes omnium patriarcharum et prophetarum: et cum illas didiceris, inter mulierum textrinas cantato, immo legendas propone in tabernis tuis: ut facilius per has naenias vulgus indoctum provoces ad bibendum.

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Against Vigilantius

6.

For you say that the souls of Apostles and martyrs have their abode either in the bosom of Abraham, or in the place of refreshment, or under the altar of God, and that they cannot leave their own tombs, and be present where they will. They are, it seems, of senatorial rank, and are not subjected to the worst kind of prison and the society of murderers, but are kept apart in liberal and honourable custody in the isles of the blessed and the Elysian fields. Will you lay down the law for God? Will you put the Apostles into chains? So that to the day of judgment they are to be kept in confinement, and are not with their Lord, although it is written concerning them, ¹“They follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth.” If the Lamb is present everywhere, the same must be believed respecting those who are with the Lamb. And while the devil and the demons wander through the whole world, and with only too great speed present themselves everywhere; are martyrs, after the shedding of their blood, to be kept out of sight shut up in a ² coffin, from whence they cannot escape? You say, in your pamphlet, that so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and all the more because the martyrs, though they ³ cry for the avenging of their blood, have never been able to obtain their request. If Apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, when they ought still to be anxious for themselves, how much more must they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome, and triumphed? A single man, Moses, oft ⁴ wins pardon from God for six hundred thousand armed men; and ⁵ Stephen, the follower of his Lord and the first Christian martyr, entreats pardon for his persecutors; and when once they have entered on their life with Christ, shall they have less power than before? The Apostle Paul ⁶ says that two hundred and seventy-six souls were given to him in the ship; and when, after his dissolution, he has begun to be with Christ, must he shut his mouth, and be unable to say a word for those who throughout the whole world have believed in his Gospel? Shall Vigilantius the live dog be better than Paul the dead lion? I should be right in saying so after ⁷ Ecclesiastes, if I admitted that Paul is dead in spirit. The truth is that the saints are not called dead, but are said to be asleep. Wherefore ⁸ Lazarus, who was about to rise again, is said to have slept. And the Apostle ⁹ forbids the Thessalonians to be sorry for those who were asleep. As for you, when wide awake you are asleep, and asleep when you write, and you bring before me an apocryphal book which, under the name of Esdras, is read by you and those of your feather, and in this book it is ¹⁰ written that after death no one dares pray for others. I have never read the book: for what need is there to take up what the Church does not receive? It can hardly be your intention to confront me with Balsamus, and Barbelus, and the Thesaurus of Manichæus, and the ludicrous name of Leusiboras; though possibly because you live at the foot of the Pyrenees, and border on Iberia, you P. 420 follow the incredible marvels of the ancient heretic ¹¹ Basilides and his so-called knowledge, which is mere ignorance, and set forth what is condemned by the authority of the whole world. I say this because in your short treatise you quote Solomon as if he were on your side, though Solomon never wrote the words in question at all; so that, as you have a second Esdras you may have a second Solomon. And, if you like, you may read the imaginary revelations of all the patriarchs and prophets, and, when you have learned them, you may sing them among the women in their weaving-shops, or rather order them to be read in your taverns, the more easily by these melancholy ditties to stimulate the ignorant mob to replenish their cups.