Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

9.

Dicit et Esaias: Humiliabitur et cadet contumelia hominum et exaltabitur dominus solus in illa die; et manibus fabricata omnia abscondent in speluncis et in scissuris petrarum et in cauernis terrae a facie timoris domini et a maiestate virtutis eius, cum surrexerit confringere terram. Illa enim die proiciet homo abominationes aureas et argenteas, quas fecerunt, ut adorarent supervacanea et noxia. Et forte iste gentilis, quem catechizamus, quem dixit Faustus cum risu dicturum: Non credo prophetis Hebraeis, aliqua manu fabricata idola abscondit in spelunca aut in scissura petrae aut in caverna terrae aut aliquem amicum suum scit hoc fecisse aut in civitate vel in fundo suo scit factum esse a facie timoris domini, qui per reges terrae secundum eandem prophetiam iam sibi servientes seque adorantes severissimis legibus terram confringit, id est terreni cordis frangit audaciam. p. 389,15 Quomodo ergo dicat: non credo prophetis Hebraeis, cum et in se ipso completum forte cognoscat, quod olim praedictum est a prophetis Hebraeis?

Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

9.

In Isaiah we read: "The pride of man shall be brought low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And they shall hide the workmanship of their hands in the clefts of the rocks, and in dens and caves of the earth, from fear of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall arise to shake terribly the earth. For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of gold and silver, which they have made to worship, as useless and hurtful." ¹ Perhaps the inquirer himself, who, as Faustus supposes, would laugh and say that he does not believe the Hebrew prophets, has hid idols made with hands in some cleft, or cave, or den. Or he may know a friend, or neighbor, or fellow-citizen who has done this from the fear of the Lord, who by the severe prohibition of the kings of the earth, now serving and bowing down to him, as the prophet predicted, shakes the earth, that is, breaks the stubborn heart of worldly men. The inquirer is not likely to disbelieve the Hebrew prophets, when he finds their predictions fulfilled, perhaps in his own person.