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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

3.

By showing the way in which we regard the authority of the Old Testament we have answered the Jews, by whose question about our not observing the precepts Faustus thought we would be puzzled. But what answer can you give to the question, why you deceive simple-minded people by professing to believe in the New Testament, while you not only do not believe it, but assail it with all your force? It will be more difficult for you to answer this than it was for us to answer the Jews. We hold all that is written in the Old Testament to be true, and enjoined by God for suitable times. But in your inability to find a reason for not receiving what is written in the New Testament, you are obliged, as a last resource, to pretend that the passages are not genuine. This is the last gasp of a heretic in the clutches of truth; or rather it is the breath of corruption itself. Faustus, however, confesses that the Old Testament as well as the New teaches him not to covet. His own God could never have taught him this. For if this God did not covet what belonged to another, why did he construct new worlds in the region of darkness? Perhaps the race of darkness first coveted his kingdom. But this would be to imitate their bad example. Perhaps the kingdom of light was previously of small extent, and war was desirable in order to enlarge it by conquest. In that case, no doubt, there was covetousness, though the hostile race was allowed to begin the wars to justify the conquest. If there had been no such desire, there was no necessity to extend the kingdom beyond its old limits into the region of the conquered foe. If the Manichaeans would only learn from these Scriptures the moral precepts, one of which is, Do not covet, instead of taking offence at the symbolical precept, they would acknowledge in meekness and candor that they suited the time then present. We do not covet what belongs to another, when we read in the Old Testament what "happened to them for examples, and was written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come." It is surely not coveting when a man reads what is written for his benefit.

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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

3.

Certe Faustus dixit turbari nos posse, si nobis Iudaei dixerint: quare tenetis vetus testamentum, cuius praecepta non observatis? Quibus nos eiusdem scripturae venerata atque servata auctoritate respondemus. Vos quid respondetis, cum vobis dicitur: Quare tenetis evangelicos libros, quorum vos ad decipiendos imnperitos confingitis sectatores, et quae ibi scripta sunt, non solum non creditis, sed etiam quantis potestis viribus oppugnatis? p. 311,23 Certe videtis vos potius de novo testamento quam nos de vetere obiectis respondere non posse. Omnia enim quae in vetere scripta sunt, nos et vera esse dicimus et divinitus mandata et congruis temporibus distributa. Vos autem, cum vobis obiecta fuerint, quae in libris novi testamenti scripta sunt nec accipiuntur a vobis, deficientes in respondendo et manifesta veritate faucibus pressis anhelitu saucio dicitis esse falsata. Quid aliud possent exspirare praefocata ora fallacium? Vel potius quid aliud possent putere confossa cadavera mortuorum? Et tamen confessus est Faustus non concupiscere aliena non solum se ex novo testamento, sed etiam ex vetere didicisse, quod certe a suo deo non posset discere. p. 312,7 Ille quippe, si non concupivit aliena, quare super terram tenebrarum, ubi numquam fuerunt, nova saecula construxit? An dicturus est: Prior ipsa gens tenebrarum regnum meum concupivit, quod ab illa erat alienum? Ergo imitatus est gentem tenebrarum, ut et ipse concupisceret aliena! An angustum antea fuerat regnum lucis, optandum igitur erat bellum, ut adquireretur de victoria latitudo regnandi? Quod si bonum est, et ante potuit concupisci, sed exspectabatur, ut gens hostilis in bellum prior erumperet, quo quasi iustius expugnaretur; si autem non est bonum, quare inimico victo super alienam terram crescere voluit regnum suum, cum prius contentus suis finibus plena felicitate vixisset? p. 312,19 Sed utinam vere isti haec ipsa praecepta vitae agendae, quorum est unum, ne concupiscamus alienum, vellent ex illis litteris discere: profecto mansuescerent et mites intellegerent etiam illa praecepta vitae significandae, quibus eorum oblatrat offensio, et illi tunc tempori observanda congruisse et huic nunc tempori intellegenda congruere. Nos autem quomodo vetus testamentum tamquam alienum concupiscimus, cum ea legamus, quae in figura contingebant illis; scripta sunt autem propter nos, in quos finis saeculorum obvenit? Puto, quod non concupiscit alienum, qui hoc legit, quod scriptum est propter ipsum.