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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

18.

Quid habent ergo isti, unde legi et prophetis calumnientur, quod eos Christus solvere venerit potius quam adimplere, quia christiani non observant, quae ibi praecepta sunt, cum ea sola non observent, per quae Christus promittebatur, et ideo non observent magis, quia eadem promissa iam Christus implevit, nec adhuc promittuntur, quia iam impleta sunt, eorumque promissiva signa in eis terminari debuerunt, quos fides Christi haec adimplentis iam talibus imbutos invenerat? Numquid enim non observant christiani, quod in illa scriptura est: Audi, Israhel, dominus deus tuus deus unus est; non facies tibi idolum et cetera huiusmodi? Numquid non observant christiani, quod ibi dicitur: Non accipias nomen domini dei tui in vanum? Numquid ipsum sabbatum, quod ad intellegendam veram requiem pertinet, non observant christiani? p. 517,14 Numquid honorem parentibus christiani non deferunt, quod ibi praeceptum est? Numquid a fornicationibus aut homicidiis aut furtis aut falsis testimoniis, a concupiscenda uxore proximi ‹aut a concupiscenda re proximi› non se temperant christiani, quae omnia in illa lege conscripta sunt? Haec praecepta sunt morum, illa sacramenta sunt promissorum; haec implentur per adiuvantem gratiam, illa per redditam veritatem, utraque per Christum et illam gratiam semper donantem, nunc etiam revelantem, et hanc veritatem tunc promittentem, nunc exhibentem, quia lex per Moysen data est, gratia autem et veritas per Iesum Christum facta est. Denique ista, quae in recte vivente conscientia conservantur, fide per dilectionem operante complentur; illa vero, quae in promittente significatione versata sunt, rebus redditis transierunt. p. 518,1 Ita et ipsa non soluta, sed adimpleta sunt, quia ea non irrita nec fallacia Christus ostendit, cum id quod eorum significatione promittebatur exhibuit.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

18.

The Manichaeans, therefore have no ground for saying, in disparagement of the law and the prophets, that Christ came to destroy rather than to fulfill them, because Christians do not observe what is there enjoined: for the only things which they do not observe are those that prefigured Christ, and these are not observed because their fulfillment is in Christ, and what is fulfilled is no longer prefigured; the typical observances having properly come to a close in the time of those who, after being trained in such things, had come to believe in Christ as their fulfillment. Do not Christians observe the precept of Scripture "Hear, O Israel; the Lord thy God is one God;" "Thou shalt not make unto thee an image," and so on? Do make Christians not observe the precept, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain?" Do Christians not observe the Sabbath, even in the sense of a true rest? Do Christians not honor their parents, according to the commandment? Do Christians not abstain from fornication, and murder, and theft, and false witness, from coveting their neighbor's wife, and from coveting his property,--all of which things are written in the law? These moral precepts are distinct from typical sacraments: the former are fulfilled by the aid of divine grace, the latter by the accomplishment of what they promise. Both are fulfilled in Christ, who has ever been the bestower of this grace, which is also now revealed in Him, and who now makes manifest the accomplishment of what He in former times promised; for "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." ¹ Again, these things which concern the keeping of a good conscience are fulfilled in the faith which worketh by love; ² while types of the future pass away when they are accomplished. But even the types are not destroyed, but fulfilled; for Christ, in bringing to light what the types signified, does not prove them vain or illusory.