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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

4.

Cessationem vero sabbatorum iam quidem supervacuam ducimus ad observandum, ex quo spes revelata est nostrae quietis aeternae, non tamen ad legendum et intellegendum, quia propheticis temporibus cum essent ista, quae nobis hoc tempore patefacta sunt non tantum sermonibus, sed et actibus praefiguranda et praenuntianda, illo signo, quod legimus, res ista praenotata est, quam tenemus. Vos autem volo mihi dicatis, cur vestram cessationem nolitis implere? Iudaei quippe sabbato suo, quod adhuc carnaliter sapiunt, non solum in agro fructum nullum decerpunt, sed nec in domo concidunt aut coquunt. p. 288,22 Vos autem cessantes quidem exspectatis, quis auditorum vestrorum propter vos pascendos cultello vel falcicula armatus in hortum prosiliat, homicida cucurbitarum, quarum vobis afferat, mirum dictu, viva cadavera. Nam si non eas occidit, quid vos in tali facto metuistis? Si autem occiduntur, cum decerpuntur, quomodo eis inest vita, cui purgandae atque recreandae manducando atque ructando vos asseritis subvenire? Accipitis ergo viventes cucurbitas, quas, si possitis, degluttire deberetis, ut post illud unum vulnus, in quo eas cum decerpsit vester auditor reus factus est vestra indulgentia liberandus, saltem deinceps ad officinam aqualiculi vestri, ubi deum vestrum illo proelio confractum reformare possitis, illaesae atque integrae pervenirent. Nunc autem antequam eis conterendis dentes incumbant, minutatim, si hoc palato placuerit, conciduntur a vobis. Quibus tam crebris vulneribus earum quomodo vos non estis rei? p. 289,6 Videte, quemadmodum vobis expediret, ut quod uno in septem diebus faciunt Iudaei, vos cotidie faceretis et a tali etiam domestico opere cessaretis! Iam quid in igne patiantur, ubi certe non reformatur vita, quae in eis est? Non enim feruens olla sancto ventri comparari potest. Et tamen irridetis tamquam superfluam sabbati cessationem. Quanto utique sanius non solum eam non reprehenderetis in patribus, quando superflua non fuit, sed etiam nunc, quando iam superflua est, ipsam potius teneretis quam istam vestram non significatione acceptabilem, sed errore damnabilem, quam etiam non implendo rei estis secundum opinionem vestrae vanitatis, et ‹implendo› vani secundum iudicium veritatis. p. 289,18 Dicitis enim dolorem sentire fructum, cum de arbore carpitur, sentire cum conciditur, cum teritur, cum coquitur, cum manducatur. Non ergo debuistis vesci nisi eis, quae cruda et illaesa possunt transvorari, ut unum saltem dolorem, cum decerpuntur, non a vobis, sed a vestris auditoribus paterentur. Sed dicitis: Quomodo subvenimus tantae vitae, si ea tantum absumimus, quae incocta et mollia possunt absorberi? Si ergo ista compensatione tam multos cibis vestris dolores infligitis, cur ab illo solo abstinetis, ad quem maxime ista necessitas cogit? Nam fructus potest et crudus comedi, sicut se nonnulli vestri exercuerunt, ut hoc non tantum de pomis, verum etiam de omnibus oleribus facerent; si autem non vellatur aut decidatur aut quoquo modo dematur ex terra vel arbore, venire ad escam nullo pacto potest. p. 290,6 Hoc ergo facile debuit esse veniale, sine quo ei subvenire non valeretis, non illi tam multi cruciatus, quos in praeparandis escis membris dei vestri non dubitatis inferre. ‛At enim plorat arbor, cum fructus carpitur’; hoc quippe dicere non erubescitis. Certe novit omnia vita, quae ibi est, et praesentit, quis ad ea conveniat. Venientibus ergo electis et poma carpentibus gaudere debuit, non plorare illum transitorium dolorem tanta felicitate compensans et tantam evadens miseriam, si in alios incidisset. Cur itaque pomum non decerpatis, cum decerpto tam multas plagas doloresque ingeratis? Respondete, si potestis! Nec ipsa ieiunia vobis competunt; non enim oportet vacare fornacem, in qua spiritale aurum de stercoris commixtione purgatur et a miserandis nexibus divina membra solvuntur. p. 290,19 Quapropter ille est misericordior inter vos, qui se potuerit ita exercere, ut nihil eius valetudini obsit saepe crudos cibos sumere et multa consumere. Vos autem et tantas poenas escae vestrae irrogando crudeliter manducatis et a membrorum divinorum purgatione cessando crudeliter ieiunatis.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

4.

The rest of the Sabbath we consider no longer binding as an observance, now that the hope of our eternal rest has been revealed. But it is a very useful thing to read of, and to reflect on. In prophetic times, when things now manifested were prefigured and predicted by actions as well as words, this sign of which we read was a presage of the reality which we possess. But I wish to know why you observe a sort of partial rest. The Jews, on their Sabbath, which they still keep in a carnal manner, neither gather any fruit in the field, nor dress and cook it at home. But you, in your rest, wait till one of your followers takes his knife or hook to the garden, to get food for you by murdering the vegetables, and brings back, strange to say, living corpses. For if cutting plants is not murder, why are you afraid to do it? And yet, if the plants are murdered, what becomes of the life which is to obtain release and restoration from your mastication and digestion? Well, you take the living vegetables, and certainly you ought, if it could be done to swallow them whole; so that after the one wound your follower has been guilty of inflicting in pulling them, of which you will no doubt consent to absolve him, they may reach without loss or injury your private laboratory, where your God may be healed of his wound. Instead of this, you not only tear them with your teeth, but, if it pleases your taste, mince them, inflicting a multitude of wounds in the most criminal manner. Plainly it would be a most advantageous thing if you would rest at home too, and not only once a week, like the Jews, but every day of the week. The cucumbers suffer while you are cooking them, without any benefit to the life that is in them: for a boiling pot cannot be compared to a saintly stomach. And yet you ridicule as superfluous the rest of the Sabbath. Would it not be better, not only to refrain from finding fault with the fathers for this observance, in whose case it was not superfluous, but, even now that it is superfluous, to observe this rest yourselves instead of your own, which has no symbolical use, and is condemned as grounded on falsehood? According to your own foolish opinions, you are guilty of a defective observance of your own rest, though the observance itself is foolish in the judgment of truth. You maintain that the fruit suffers when it is pulled from the tree, when it is cut and scraped, and cooked, and eaten. So you are wrong in eating anything that can not be swallowed raw and unhurt, so that the wound inflicted might not be from you, but from your follower in pulling them. You declare that you could not give release to so great a quantity of life, if you were to eat only things which could be swallowed without cooking or mastication. But if this release compensates for all the pains you inflict, why is it unlawful for you to pull the fruit? Fruit may be eaten raw, as some of your sect make a point of eating raw vegetables of all kinds. But before it can be eaten at all, it must be pulled or fall off, or be taken in some way from the ground or from the tree. You might well be pardoned for pulling it, since nothing can be done without that, but not for torturing the members of your God to the extent you do in dressing your food. One of your silly notions is that the tree weeps when the fruit is pulled. Doubtless the life in the tree knows all things, and perceives who it is that comes to it. If the elect were to come and pull the fruit, would not the tree rejoice to escape the misery of having its fruit plucked by others, and to gain felicity by enduring a little momentary pain? And yet, while you multiply the pains and troubles of the fruit after it is plucked, you will not pluck it. Explain that, if you can! Fasting itself is a mistake in your case. There should be no intermission in the task of purging away the dross of the excrements from the spiritual gold, and of releasing the divine members from confinement. The most merciful man among you is he who keeps himself always in good health, takes raw food, and eats a great deal. But you are cruel when you eat, in making your food undergo so much suffering; and you are cruel when you fast, in desisting from the work of liberating the divine members. ¹