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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

2.

Augustin replied: After the long reply of last book, a short answer may suffice here. To one who has read that reply, it must seem insanity in Faustus to persist in denying that Christ was foretold by the Hebrew prophets, when the Hebrew nation was the only one in which the name Christ had a peculiar sacredness as applied to kings and priests; in which sense it continued to be applied till the coming of Him whom those kings and priests typified. Where did the Manichaean learn the name of Christ? If from Manichaeus, it is very strange that Africans, not to speak of others, should believe the Persian Manichaeus, since Faustus finds fault with the Romans and Greeks, and other Gentiles, for believing the Hebrew prophets as belonging to another race. According to Faustus, the predictions of the Sibyl, or Orpheus, or any heathen poet, are more suitable for leading Gentiles to believe in Christ. He forgets that none of these are read in the churches, whereas the voice of the Hebrew prophets, sounding everywhere, draws swarms of people to Christianity. When it is so evident that men are everywhere led to Christ by the Hebrew prophets, it is great absurdity to say that those prophets are not suitable for the Gentiles.

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

2.

Augustinus respondit: Prosit nobis hoc loco ad brevitatem respondendi superior tam prolixa responsio. Puto enim iam qui illam legerit, ridet istum talia delirantem et adhuc dicentem Christum filium dei Haebraeos non praenuntiasse prophetas, in qua sola gente nomen ipsum, quod dicitur christus, et in rege et in sacerdote sacratissimum fuit nec inde sublatum, antequam ipse venisset, qui in illis figurabatur. p. 379,14 Respondeant autem ipsi, Christi nomen unde didicerint. Si a Manichaeo, quaero ipsi Manichaeo quomodo crediderint, ut alios taceam, homines Afri homini Persae, cum Faustus reprehendat Romanos et Graecos vel alias gentes, si Hebraeis prophetis tamquam alienigenis de Christo crediderint, dicatque illis accommodatiora esse vaticinia Sibyllae et Orphei vel si qua forte alia sunt vatum gentilium, ut credatur in Christum, nec attendat in nullis ecclesiis illa recitari, cum Hebraei prophetae in omnibus gentibus clareant atque ad christianam salutem tanta fidelium examina adducant. Dicere autem non esse aptam gentibus Hebraeam prophetiam, ut credant in Christum, cum videat omnes gentes per Hebraeam prophetiam credere in Christum, ridicula insania est. p. 379,27