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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

2.

Augustin replied: You often speak in your discourses of two gods, as indeed you acknowledge, though at first you denied it. And you give as a reason for thus speaking the words of the apostle: "The god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not." Most of us punctuate this sentence differently, and explain it as meaning that the true God has blinded the minds of unbelievers. They put a stop after the word God, and read the following words together. Or without this punctuation you may, for the sake of exposition, change the order of the words, and read, "In whom God has blinded the minds of unbelievers of this world," which gives the same sense. The act of blinding the minds of unbelievers may in one sense be ascribed to God, as the effect not of malice, but of justice. Thus Paul himself says elsewhere, "Is God unjust, who taketh vengeance?" ¹ and again, "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For Moses saith, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Observe what he adds, after asserting the undeniable truth that there is no unrighteousness with God: "But what if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and that He might manifest the riches of His grace towards the vessels of mercy, which He hath before prepared unto glory?" ² etc. Here it evidently cannot be said that it is one God who shows his wrath, and makes known his power in the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and another God who shows his riches in the vessels of mercy. According to the apostle's doctrine, it is one and the same God who does both. Hence he says again, "For this cause God gave them up to the lusts of their own heart, to uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves;" and immediately after, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections;" and again, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." ³ Here we see how the true and just God blinds the minds of unbelievers. For in all these words quoted from the apostle no other God is understood than He whose Son, sent by Him, came saying, "For judgment am I come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind." ⁴ Here, again, it is plain to the minds of believers how God blinds the minds of unbelievers. For among the secret things, which contain the righteous principles of God's judgment, there is a secret which determines that the minds of some shall be blinded, and the minds of some enlightened. Regarding this, it is well said of God, "Thy judgments are a great deep." ⁵ The apostle, in admiration of the unfathomable depth of this abyss, exclaims: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" ⁶

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

2.

Augustinus respondit: Duos quidem deos in vestris disputationibus solemus audire, quod etsi primo negasti, tamen paulo post etiam ipse confessus es quasi rationem reddens, cur hoc dicatis, quia et apostolus ait: Deus saeculi huius excaecavit mentes infidelium. p. 569,23 Quam quidem sententiam plerique nostrum ita distinguunt, ut verum deum dicant (dicat ?) excaecasse infidelium mentes. Cum enim legerint: In quibus deus, suspendunt pronuntiationem ac tunc inferunt: saeculi huius excaecavit mentes infidelium, quia etsi ita non distinguas, sed exponendi gratia ita verborum ordinem mutes: in quibus deus excaecavit mentes infidelium saeculi huius, idem qui in illa distinctione sensus elucet. Potest enim etiam talis operatio, qua excaecantur mentes infidelium, secundum quendam modum pertinere ad verum deum, quod non facit malitia, sed iustitia, sicut idem Paulus alibi dicit: Numquid iniquus deus, qui infert iram? Item alibi: Quid ergo dicemus? inquit Numquid iniquitas est apud deum? Absit! Moysi enim dicit: ‛Miserebor, cui misertus ero, et misericordiam praestabo, cui misericors fuero’. p. 570,10 Cum ergo praemisisset, quod inconcusse retinendum est, non esse iniquitatem apud deum, paulo post attende, quid dicat: Si autem volens deus ostendere iram et demonstrare potentiam suam attulit _ (tulit?)_in multa patientia vasa irae, quae perfecta sunt in perditionem, et ut notas faceret divitias gloriae suae in vasa misericordiae, quae praeparavit in gloriam et cetera. Certe hic nullo modo dici potest alium deum esse, qui ostendit iram et demonstrat potentiam suam in vasis, quae perfecta sunt ad perditionem, et alium, qui ostendit divitias in vasis misericordiae. Nam unum eundemque deum facere utrumque apostolica doctrina testatur. Hinc est et illud: Propter hoc tradidit illos deus in concupiscentias cordis eorum, in immunditiam, ut contumeliis afficiant corpora sua in semet ipsis; p. 570,24 et paulo post: Propterea tradidit illos deus in passiones ignominiae; item paulo post: Et quoniam non probaverunt deum habere in notitia, tradidit illos deus in reprobum sensum. Ecce quomodo verus deus et iustus excaecat mentes infidelium. Neque enim umquam in his apostoli verbis, quae commemoravi, alius deus intellectus est quam ille, qui filium suum misit dicentem: In iudicium veni in hunc mundum, ut qui non vident, videant, et qui vident, caeci fiant. Nam et hic satis apparet mentibus fidelium, quomodo deus excaecet mentes infidelium. Praecedit enim aliquid occultum in occultis, ubi deus agat iustissimum examen iudicii sui, ut quorundam mentes excaecentur, quorundam illuminentur. Cui verissime dictum est: Iudicia tua abyssus multa. Cuius profunditatis impenetrabilem altitudinem apostolus admiratus exclamat: O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae dei; quam inscrutabilia sunt iudicia eius et cetera. p. 571,15