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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

4.

Manichaeus enim vester non fuit propheta venturi Christi; apostolum quippe eius se dicit impudentissima quidem fallacia; nam constat non solum post Tertullianum, verum etiam post Cyprianum hanc haeresim exortam. Omnes tamen eius epistulae ita exordiuntur: Manichaeus apostolus Iesu Christi. Huic vos de Christo quare credidistis? Quemnam testem vobis sui apostolatus adduxit? Nomenque ipsum Christi, quod non scimus nisi in regno Iudaeorum in sacerdotibus et regibus institutum, ut non solum ille aut ille homo, sed universa ipsa gens totumque regnum propheta fieret Christi christianique regni, cur iste invasit, cur usurpavit, qui prophetis Hebraeis vos vetat credere, ut vos falsi Christi fallaces discipulos falsus et fallax apostolus faciat? p. 381,13 Postremo ne diceretur ei mentiris, protulerit vobis aliquos et prophetas secundum assertionem suam Christum praenuntiantes. Quid facietis ei, qualem Faustus catechizandum sub exemplo proposuit, qui neque ipsis neque illi credere voluerit? An apostolos nostros pro se testes vocabit? Non, opinor, homines producet, sed libros aperiet: quos non pro se, sed contra se apertos reperiet. Ibi enim Christum natum ex Maria virgine, ibi filium dei factum ex semine David secundum carnem legimus et docemus. Quod si eos infalsatos dixerit, ipse testium suorum fidem oppugnabit; si autem alios, quos dicat apostolorum nostrorum, codices protulerit, quomodo eis ipse auctoritatem dabit, quam per ecclesias Christi ab ipsis apostolis constitutas non accepit, ut inde ad posteros firmata commendatione trancurreret? p. 381,27 Quomodo ille, cui non credo, profert mihi scripturas, quibus de illo credam, et eis ipse conatur dare auctoritatem, cum ego ipsi non credam?

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

4.

Manichaeus indeed was not a prophet of Christ, but calls himself an apostle, which is a shameless falsehood; for it is well known that this heresy began not only after Tertullian, but after Cyprian. In all his letters Manichaeus begins thus: "Manichaeus, an apostle of Jesus Christ." Why do you believe what Manichaeus says of Christ? What evidence does he give of his apostleship? This very name of Christ is known to us only from the Jews, who, in their application of it to their kings and priests, were not individually, but nationally, prophets of Christ and Christ's kingdom. What right has he to use this name, who forbids you to believe the Hebrew prophets, that he may make you the heretical disciples of a false Christ, as he himself is a false and heretical apostle? And if Faustus quotes as evidence in his own support some prophets who, according to him, foretell Christ, how will he satisfy his supposed inquirer, who will not believe either the prophets or Faustus? Will he take our apostles as witnesses? Unless he can find some apostles in life, he must read their writings; and these are all against him. They teach our doctrine that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, that He was the Son of God, of the seed of David according to the flesh. He cannot pretend that the writings have been tampered with, for that would be to attack the credit of his own witnesses. Or if he produces his own manuscripts of the apostolic writings, he must also obtain for them the authority of the churches founded by the apostles themselves, by showing that they have been preserved and transmitted with their sanction. It will be difficult for a man to make me believe him on the evidence of writings which derive all their authority from his own word, which I do not believe.