Edition Hide
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

1.

Faustus dixit: Accipis testamentum vetus? Si est mihi in eo hereditas, accipio ; si non est, non accipio. p. 268,10 Improbitas enim haec quidem nimia est usurpare tabulas, quae testentur exheredatum.

An ignoras testamentum vetus Chananaeorum terram repromittere, sed eam tamen Iudaeis, id est circumcisis et sacrificantibus et abstinentibus a porcina ac reliquis carnibus, quas immundas Moyses appellat, sabbata observantibus et azymorum sollemnitatem ac reliqua huiusmodi, quae eius ipse testator eis observanda mandavit?

Quae quia christianorum placuere nemini – neque enim quisquam nostrorum ea custodit – dignum est, ut cum refusa hereditate reddamus et tabulas.

Haec ergo causa est, cur ego testamentum vetus abiciendum puto, nisi tu me prudentius aliquid doceas. p. 268,21

Secunda vero causa est, quod tam etiam misera eius et corporalis ac longe ab animae commodis hereditas est, ut post beatam illam novi testamenti pollicitationem, quae caelorum mihi regnum et vitam perpetuam repromittit, etiam si gratis eam mihi testator suus ingereret, fastidissem.

Translation Hide
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

1.

Faustus said: Do I believe the Old Testament? If it bequeaths anything to me, I believe it; if not, I reject it. It would be an excess of forwardness to take the documents of others which pronounce me disinherited. Remember that the promise of Canaan in the Old Testament is made to Jews, that is, to the circumcised, who offer sacrifice, and abstain from swine's flesh, and from the other animals which Moses pronounces unclean, and observe Sabbaths, and the feast of unleavened bread, and other things of the same kind which the author of the Testament enjoined. Christians have not adopted these observances, and no one keeps them; so that if we will not take the inheritance, we should surrender the documents. This is my first reason for rejecting the Old Testament, unless you teach me better. My second reason is, that this inheritance is such a poor fleshly thing, without any spiritual blessings, that after the New Testament, and its glorious promise of the kingdom of heaven and eternal life, I think it not worth the taking.