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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

18.

If believers are to throw away all the books which have led them to believe, I see no reason why they should continue reading the Gospel itself. The Gospel, too, must be worthless to this inquirer, who, according to Faustus' pitiful supposition, rejects with ridicule the authority of Christ. And to the believer it must be superfluous, if true notices of Christ are superfluous to believers. And if the Gospel should be read by the believer, that he may not forget what he has believed, so should the prophets, that he may not forget why he believed. For if he forgets this his faith cannot be firm. By this principle, you should throw away the books of Manichaeus, on the authority of which you already believe that light--that is, God--fought with darkness, and that, in order to bind darkness, the light was first swallowed up and bound, and polluted and mangled by darkness, to be restored, and liberated, and purified, and healed by your eating, for which you are rewarded by not being condemned to the mass of darkness for ever, along with that part of the light which cannot be extricated. This fiction is sufficiently published by your practice and your words. Why do you seek for the testimony of books, and add to the embarrassment of your God by the consumption of strength in the needless task of writing manuscripts? Burn all your parchments, with their finely-ornamented binding; so you will be rid of a useless burden, and your God who suffers confinement in the volume will be set free. What a mercy it would be to the members of your God, if you could boil your books and eat them! There might be a difficulty, however, from the prohibition of animal food. Then the writing must share in the impurity of the sheepskin. Indeed, you are to blame for this, for, like what you say was done in the first war between light and darkness, you brought what was clean in the pen in contact with the uncleanness of the parchment. Or perhaps, for the sake of the colors, we may put it the other way; and so the darkness would be yours, in the ink which you brought against the light of the white pages. If these remarks irritate you, you should rather be angry with yourselves for believing doctrines of which these are the necessary consequences. As for the books of the apostles and prophets, we read them as a record of our faith, to encourage our hope and animate our love. These books are in perfect harmony with one another; and their harmony, like the music of a heavenly trumpet, wakens us from the torpor of worldliness, and urges us on to the prize of our high calling. The apostle, after quoting from the prophets the words, "The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on me," goes on to speak of the benefit of reading the prophets: "For whatsoever things were written beforetime were written for our learning; that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." ¹ If Faustus denies this, we can only say with Paul, "If any one shall preach to you another doctrine than that ye have received, let him be accursed." ²

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

18.

Abiciant ergo, qui crediderunt, omnes libros, per quos factum est, ut crederent. Nam si hoc verum est, cur vel ipsum evangelium Christi a fidelibus legatur, non video. Ante fidem quippe inutile est, quia ille gentilis, quem ridentem ridendus uel potius flendus Faustus inducit, non credit Christo; post fidem autem supervacuum, si etiam veris de Christo praeconiis iam superfluo creditur, cum in eum creditum fuerit. p. 399,26 Hic forte dicetis: Sed evangelium debet legere iam fidelis, ne obliviscatur, quod credidit. Sic ergo, insani, etiam prophetarum vera testimonia, ne obliviscatur, quare crediderit; quod si oblitus fuerit, firmum apud eum non poterit esse, quod credidit. Aut proicite iam libros Manichaei, quibus testibus credidistis lucem pugnasse cum tenebris, quae lux ipse deus erat, et ut posset ligare lux tenebras, prius esse lucem a tenebris devoratam et ligatam et inquinatam et dilaniatam; quam vos manducando recreatis et solvitis et purgatis et sanatis, ut vobis merces retribuatur, ne cum illa, quae liberari non potuerit, in globo aeterno damnemini. p. 400,6 Hanc fabellam cotidie et moribus et vocibus cantatis. Cur adhuc in eam quaeritis testimonia librorum, ut in rebus superfluis et conficiendis codicibus vestris aliena substantia consumatur et dei vestri ligata teneatur? Incendite omnes illas membranas elegantesque tecturas decoris pellibus exquisitas, ut nec res superflua vos oneret, et deus vester inde solvatur, qui tamquam poena servili etiam in codice ligatus tenetur. Nam si possetis libros vestros vel elixatos comedere, quantum membris dei vestri beneficium praestaretis? An et si fieri posset, carnis immunditia prohiberet paginas ab epulis vestris? Imputet ergo sibi encausti munditia, quae corio inhaesit agnino. Sed et hoc vos fecistis, qui tamquam primo bello vestro, id quod mundum erat in calamo, immunditiae membranarum scribendo affixistis, nisi quod colores contrario testimonio vos arguunt. p. 400,21 Vos enim potius ad lucem candidarum paginarum cum tenebris atramenti venistis. Nobis debetis irasci talia dicentibus, an vobis talia credentibus, ut, velitis, nolitis, ista consequantur! Nos autem et ad commemorationem fidei nostrae et ad consolationem spei nostrae et ad exhortationem caritatis nostrae libros propheticos et apostolicos legimus alterutris vocibus sibimet concinentes et ea concinentia tamquam caelesti tuba et a torpore mortalis vitae nos excitantes et ad palmam supernae vocationis extendentes. De libris enim propheticis quiddam cum commemorasset apostolus, sicut scriptum est: Opprobria opprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me, continuo subiungit utilitatem divinae lectionis: p. 401,4 Quaecumque enim ante scripta sunt inquit ut nos doceremur scripta sunt, ut per patientiam et consolationem scripturarum spem habeamus ad deum. Sed contradicit Faustus. Fiat ergo illi, quod dicit Paulus: Si quis vobis evangelizaverit praeterquam quod accepistis, anathema sit.